Ciena, Cisco & Enron To Launch DWDM IP Network
LINTHICUM, MARYLAND, 1998 NOV 6 (Newsbytes) -- By Steve Gold, Newsbytes. Ciena Corp. [NASDAQ:CIEN] has secured a major contract deal from Enron Communications [NYSE:ENE] to build the first high-speed Internet protocol (IP)-only backbone network in the US.
Based on Ciena's Multiwave Sentry 400 dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) technology, the Portland to Los Angeles section of fiber route -- installed at a cost of $23 million -- is already operational.
Stan Hanks, Enron's vice-president of research and technology, said that, by directly connecting to the firm's Cisco hardware, Ciena's equipment has made it possible to create a network architecture that is elegantly simple, yet hugely powerful with tremendous bandwidth capacity.
"No Sonet, no ATM, and no frame relay components -- just pure IP over DWDM fiber," he explained, adding that, when compared to existing data-centric architectures, the IP over DWDM fiber approach eliminates intermediate protocols and simplifies the architecture.
"In addition, it lowers costs, increases reliability and reduces errors, ultimately differentiating Enron and enabling us to offer our customers better service," he explained.
At Ciena, meanwhile, Patrick Nettles, the firm's president said that Enron is the first carrier to create an IP-to-the-glass via DWDM architecture on a network-wide basis.
According to Nettles, in its present configuration, Enron's Pure IP network will transport data at speeds of 2.4 gigabits per second (Gbps) (OC48) on each DWDM channel. |
