BIG Contract:
HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 25, 1998--Ascend Communications,
Inc. (NASDAQ:ASND) a leader in wide area networking (WAN) and
Intelligent Networking (IN) solutions for providers and users of the
next-generation public network, today announced that the company has
won the bid to provide ATM equipment to build the China Post
Multiservices Network. The next-generation ATM network will be the
switching backbone for the nation's postal service, connecting 16
provincial networks to support more than 100 cities.
Financed by China's postal department, the China Post
Multiservices Network will ultimately cover 31 provinces and 200
cities. Based on asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), Frame Relay, TCP/IP
and related technologies, this multiservices network will provide IP
data services, as well as voice, video and data services. Upon
completion, this network will interconnect the local area networks
(LANs) within the postal service system, and also support Frame Relay
and N-ISDN services.
In view of the importance of China Post's multiservices network,
there were stringent bid requirements on the switching equipment in
terms of capacity, network capability, connection and call processing
tasks. In particular, the bid had to satisfy criteria from the Postal
and Telecom Appliance Corp. on system compatibility, network
stability, Y2K compliance and quality control. In accordance with the
technological requirements of the project, Ascend recommended its
broadband multiservice switching system B-STDX 9000 as ATM switching
equipment for the network.
The B-STDX 9000 multiservice switch offers a combination of Frame
Relay, ATM, SMDS, ISDN and Internet protocol (IP) technology in one
platform. The B-STDX 9000 has the highest available port density in
the industry, and its Virtual Network Navigator, advanced network
management and standards-compliant architecture are all leading
technologies in the industry. Since its debut in October 1993, the
B-STDX 9000 has emerged as the global leader in Frame Relay switching
equipment. Many major telecommunication providers such as AT&T, NTT,
Deutsche Telecom, Bell Atlantic, GTE and Sprint have adopted this
technology.
In this project, Ascend Communication's NavisCore will undertake
the network administration of up to 100 units of switching equipment.
NavisCore is a centralized management application which can support
Frame Relay, ATM and IP multiservices management. The software has
five key functions - common network management platform, switch and
network performance monitoring, fault handling, billing and security
management. These key features fully comply with the requirements of
China Post's multiservices network.
"It is the largest IT infrastructure project throughout China
Post," said Liu Zhong-Liang, representing Liu Li-Qing, director of the
General Office of the State Postal. "Ascend Communications proves to
be a powerful equipment provider in the Telecom field and has
contributed a lot to Chinese data communications with its widely
accepted ATM equipment."
"Ascend takes it as a great honor that China Post has chosen
Ascend for their multiservices network. Ascend is not only the leader
in Frame Relay, ATM, IP services equipment, but also has end-to-end
WAN solutions with high reliability and scalability for public and
private network operations," said Tony Wise, vice president of Ascend
Communications.
"Although Ascend has only two years of history in China, we have
been offered a series of national-level projects including the
nation's ATM/Frame Relay multiserivces backbone infrastructure,
multimedia network and provincial broadband projects in ZheJiang,
FuJian, GanSu, ChongQing and HaiNan. Today, working with China Post,
we are marking another milestone on China's journey toward a
nationwide broadband network. We will apply all of our resources to
assure the nation great success in building the multiservices network
and establishing it as a model for China's next-generation Telecom
network," continued Wise.
About Ascend Communications
Ascend Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASND) develops, manufactures,
sells and services wide area networking solutions for
telecommunications carriers, Internet service providers and corporate
customers worldwide.
Since the company first entered China in August 1996, Ascend has
won many projects to develop prime ATM/Frame Relay multiservices and
multimedia backbone networks in over 20 cities across China. |
