(PR NEWSWIRE)
LuxN Enters High Growth Optical Access Networks Market; Approach Will Enable
New Carriers to Deliver Affordable Gigabit Services to Top 200 US Metros
SUNNYVALE, Calif., Sept. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- LuxN, a one-year-old developer
of optical network access platforms, today launched its entry into the rapidly
growing ultra-high speed local access market.
LuxN will deliver carrier-grade platforms to service providers planning to
offer managed optical services for enterprise networks nationwide. The
company believes high growth in user demand for managed optical access is
imminent, and can readily be addressed by new US service providers. This
demand is driven by the availability of 60 million km of local fiber installed
in the top 200 metro markets, the emergence of low cost/low complexity optical
service platforms, and the explosion of Gigabit Ethernet LAN and high-speed
WAN port purchases by enterprises.
"We're working with CLECs, particularly new fiber CLECs, to deliver a
managed solution that gives end-users a new level of ultra-high speed service
affordability and simplicity," stated LuxN's president and CEO, Thomas
Alexander. "Service providers know many users are reaching the Gbps threshold
for LAN interconnection, but they're poorly served by the limited and
expensive SONET and ATM offerings available. LuxN wants to minimize carriers'
cost and deployment barriers to delivering affordable optical bandwidth.
Equally important, we will deliver protocol and transport-independence for
both legacy and new services, easy scalability, rapid provisioning and
intelligent network management for optical access."
Initial end-user applications for LuxN-enabled optical access include
Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) LAN interconnection, Fibre Channel extension, Storage
Area Networks, upgrades to high-speed legacy SONET and ATM enterprise
backbones, and Internet connectivity for locally hosted high traffic web
servers. LuxN has targeted a range of service provider segments in order to
enable delivery of these applications, including first-generation copper and
new fiber CLECs, Internet Service Providers and Internet Service Exchanges,
dark fiber providers, cable operators, multi-tenant access providers and
storage providers.
"LuxN has correctly identified a massive pent-up demand for multi-gigabit
access in metropolitan areas," said Andrew Cray, Research Analyst for
Telecommunications Hardware with Aberdeen Group of Boston. "It can still take
six months to turn up a cross-town SONET OC-3, and customers pay a fortune for
the privilege. LuxN's low entry-cost platforms make big bandwidth services
affordable, accessible, and usable. Particularly impressive is an intelligent
service management suite that allows for immediate turn-on of incremental
services -- a capability otherwise known as just-in-time provisioning."
"Offering new services enabled by LuxN can differentiate new providers
from the high-cost, SONET-based fiber access services of traditional
carriers," described Cathy Gadecki, Senior Analyst, Broadband Carrier Services
with Telechoice. "New Gigabit Ethernet access services to IP-based networks
are among the most promising of these offerings. The simplicity of flexible
bandwidth rates in transmission services will hold broad appeal to ISPs, ASPs,
and others."
Critical Factors for Optical Access
LuxN and targeted carriers view three elements as essential in ensuring
successful new offerings:
Breakthrough end-user economics
Current SONET and ATM carrier services range from $5,000 to $45,000 or
more per month for 155 Mbps and higher rates of throughput. LuxN plans to
offer carrier service platforms at the CO level at substantially lower price
points than traditional SONET multiplexers, and managed network interface
devices priced under $10,000 per customer site. Bundled with single or
multi-wavelength dark fiber, these platforms will enable new optical services
to be priced at 30 to 60% less than the current SONET or ATM tariffed rates.
Easy-to-find, broadly-available fiber in the access network
Market experts estimate close to 25,000 optical ports already in service
in the US, composed of a mix of SONET and ATM ports as well as
customer-terminated point-to-point dark fiber (Fibre Channel/ESCON) and
user-purchased terminating equipment. Forecasts project that by 2002, the
base of enterprise optical ports in service will increase 20X, to nearly
500,000.
With 60 million kilometers of fiber already deployed in the top 200 metro
areas and 13 million km added yearly, fiber availability appears not to be the
primary bottleneck to broadly-available ultra-high speed access at this point.
Furthermore, very recent FCC rulings on the mandatory unbundling of RBOC-owned
dark fiber facilities will add greatly to the number of "on-net" buildings
able to be served by optical access. Locating the fiber provider who can
serve a given location remains a complicated and cumbersome proposition, and
to address this problem, LuxN will work with fiber-based service providers to
consolidate and make available served site information by market.
Service Delivery that dramatically improves on current alternatives
Effective service delivery is a combination of various factors. These
include initial installation intervals (i.e., order backlog); length of time
to install live service (on-site service activation); length of time/cost
involved in service moves, adds and changes; and the degree of service
performance monitoring and management by the service provider. LuxN has
developed practical and unique technologies to improve these service
dimensions, including non-intrusive bandwidth monitoring, remote and real-time
optical bandwidth provisioning. These steps are intended to pare down by at
least 50% the installation time and complexity, and to reduce the time needed
for ongoing service upgrades and bandwidth allocation to near-zero. In
addition, LuxN's technology is based on full signal reshaping, regeneration
and retiming, the "3R" signal delivery method. This ensures the highest level
of signal integrity, robust optical links, and full/standard data rates.
LuxN Architecture and Platform
LuxN's modular, carrier-class platform includes integrated concentration
and terminating devices for the Central Office, Collocation and
Point-of-Presence environments as well as multi-tenant/ large end-user and
small/entry-level sites. The platform and supporting software and service
suites will deliver:
-- Simplicity -- easy, rapid design, provisioning, installation and
maintenance for optical access;
-- Scalability -- from single wavelength to multiple wavelengths; from 155
Mbps to 2.5 Gbps;
-- Flexibility -- to support many protocols and bit rates at the optical
layer, and deliver identification and management of wavelength
channels;
-- Breakthrough cost-effectiveness -- enabling a SONET alternative at 2 --
5X lower pricing;
-- Carrier-class performance -- NEBS and ETSI-compliant, 3R technology,
SNMP interfaces, both data and telephony service-enabling;
-- Intelligence -- for communication with data and transport layers;
remote diagnostics, provisioning and signal quality monitoring;
-- Interoperability -- both with legacy internetworking and transport
elements, as well as with new wave network elements such as GbE
switches, terabit routers, layer 2/3 devices, and with TDM as well as
IP-centric protocols.
LuxN is working aggressively at its beta customers' sites to verify the
robust performance of its access platform, with trials continuing throughout
1999. Formal interoperability testing with Layer 2/3 network elements is
scheduled for the same period. The company plans to make further
announcements regarding product and applications in the coming months.
About LuxN
LuxN is a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based developer of optical access network
platforms. LuxN solutions will enable local service providers to
cost-effectively extend their managed optical networks from metropolitan
points of presence to enterprise customer premises. The company was founded
in 1998, and funded by prominent Silicon Valley IT venture partners New
Enterprise Associates and US Venture Partners. LuxN is currently in the
process of closing its second round of funding. For more information, visit
the LuxN website at luxn.com
SOURCE LuxN
-0- 9/28/1999
/CONTACT: Jill Budzynski or Tina Tan, Public Relations of Market Ready,
612-341-8126, jmb@marketready.com , for LuxN/
/Web site: luxn.com /
CO: LuxN
ST: Minnesota, California
IN: CPR
SU:
*** end of story ***
|
