Armin --
A quick search turned up the following. Would you consider the MONET project a proof-of-concept on a fairly high level?
Tellium:
edtn.com
By Loring Wirbel
EE Times
(05/20/99, 11:29 a.m. EDT)
WASHINGTON ? Tellium Inc. (Oceanport, N.J.), a wave-division multiplexing newcomer, has announced a successful demonstration of a reconfigurable optical ring network for the government/industry coalition Project Monet (Multiwavelength Optical Networking). Tellium used its Aurora-32 optical cross-connects and DWDM equipment to link the Defense Intelligence Agency, Defense Information Systems Agency and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in a unidirectional path-switched ring topology.
Tellium was founded by Telcordia Technologies Inc. (formerly Bellcore) and Ortel Corp., with additional funding from Cisco Systems Inc. and Science Applications International Corp. It won a $2.5 million award from Monet to demonstrate high-speed optical switching with full, sub-50-ms protection switching.
In the series of Monet tests, mixed traffic of data and high-definition TV ran at OC-48 (2.5-Gbit/second) speeds over the optical ring. Telcordia provided network-management software for the Tellium Aurora-32 Intelligent Operating System.
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tellium.com
EXTANT AND TELLIUM REVEAL PLANS TO BE THE FIRST GLOBAL CARRIER TO DEPLOY OPTICAL SWITCHING TO SPEED SERVICE DELIVERY
ANNOUNCES LONG TERM AGREEMENT FOR TELLIUM?S AURORA OPTICAL CROSS CONNECTS
Oceanport, NJ, June 7, 1999 -- Tellium and Extant Communications announce today a plan to deliver the first intelligent optical switching network. Extant has entered into a multi-year $250 Million agreement with Tellium, Inc. to deploy Tellium?s Aurora series of optical cross connects throughout the Extant network beginning later this year. Extant will always use leading edge thinking to bring better service options to our customers, said Larry McLernon, President and CEO. Optical switching will allow speedier provisioning and immediate restoral in the event of an outage. The selection of this technology will increase the robustness of our hubs without affecting the relationship with our present vendors. Extant will begin by deploying Tellium?s Aurora 32 in 8 cities by the end of 1999 and follow with deployment of Tellium?s recently announced Super Switch, the Aurora 512, in 2000. Visit booth 3041 at Supercomm 1999 to see a live demonstration of both products. Optical switching allows service providers to cross-connect high-speed optical signals (up to OC-48) bypassing the entire SONET/DCS layer. Optical layer switching improves backbone fiber network performance and dramatically lowers cost when compared to traditional methods of operations.
Extant and Tellium have been working together on a plan to build the world?s first network using optical layer switching as the key enabler to faster, more reliable services. Tellium is thrilled to participate in Extant?s network architecture, engineering and delivery. Our common vision of constructing an intelligent optical layer made our Aurora Cross Connect products an excellent fit for Extant?s network deployment strategy, said Richard Barcus, President, Tellium. Jerry Johnson, Executive Vice President of Safeguard Scientifics, the principal investor in Extant, says, "This announcement accelerates Extant's ability to deliver e-commerce applications to the marketplace. We are excited about the Tellium relationship."
The agreement outlines deployment timelines and gives Extant a voice in fine tuning the development of new features planned over the next several months. The reasons we chose to work with Tellium are very basic, they know a lot about optical networking and they are the only company that has a product we can actually see and test, added McLernon.
Last month Tellium announced the introduction of the Aurora-512 optical cross connect switch, the highest capacity optical layer switching element available in the telecommunications industry. Nick-named a super switch, the Aurora-512 has a capacity of 512 OC-48 optical connections for a total switching capacity of 1.28 Terabits per second. The launch of the new Aurora-512 product will take place in June at SUPERCOMM ?99 in Atlanta.
Key features of the Aurora-512 include:
512 bi-directional ports, up to OC-48 line rate
OC-192 port scalable
Fully redundant switch architecture
I/O port protection 1:N user programmable
Optical line protection switching <50 msec
SONET performance monitoring
Optical ring restoration
Optical mesh restoration software
About Extant
Extant, Inc. is the niche provider of wholesale national ATM data transport and clearinghouse services to regional, next-generation telecommunications service providers.
For more information about Extant, Inc. and its services, please call 303-256-6100 or visit their Web Site at extant.net or send e-mail to info@extant.net. Extant, Inc., Pavilion Tower II, Suite 700, 2821 South Parker Road, Aurora, Colorado 80014.
About Safeguard
Safeguard Scientifics, Inc. (www.safeguard.com) develops and operates rapidly growing information technology companies that together form a community of shared resources with a strategic emphasis in eCommerce, enterprise applications, and network infrastructure, all of which are expected to benefit from the growing use of the Internet as a fundamental business tool. A long-term partner, Safeguard works closely with its partnership companies providing numerous operational and developmental services to build value in preparation for public rights offerings and beyond. The Company's partnership companies include privately-held companies and public companies. Safeguard also assists in managing and working with several venture capital funds.
About Tellium
Tellium is headquartered in Oceanport, New Jersey. In 1997, it became the commercial spin-off from Telcordia (formerly Bellcore), the one-time research arm of the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs). Corporate investors include Telcordia, SAIC, Cisco Systems, and Ortel Corporation, and financial investors include Oak Investment Partners, Accel Partners, Worldview Technology Partners and Blue Rock Capital Investors. Tellium?s optical cross connect product, Aurora-32, was the first-to-market in the telecommunications industry and, along with a larger Aurora-512 is the cornerstone network element of survivable mesh and ring optical networks. More information about Tellium can be found on the Internet at www.tellium.com .
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pocari.stanford.edu
Chuck Brackett, CTO, Tellium
Dr. Brackett is considered one of the pioneers in optical networking, having formed the optical networking program at Bellcore in 1984, leading it through his departure in 1997 to form Tellium. His group introduced the concepts of optical cross-connects and WDM routing and demonstrated many of the early concepts of optical networking. He organized the Optical Networks Technology Consortium (ONTC) in 1991, which consisted of many of the major industrial research laboratories in the United States, to demonstrate the feasibility of WDM networking and participated in organizing and managing the Multiwavelength Optical Networking Consortium (MONET) project from 1994 to 1996. He was the chair of the MONET Technical Management Committee from 1994 to 1995.
In 1996, Dr. Brackett proposed that the optical networking technology and department of Bellcore be spun out to form an independent corporation for the commercialization of this technology. This was accomplished in May of 1997 with the formation of Tellium of which Dr. Brackett is Vice President and Chief Technology Officer.
Dr. Brackett holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering (1968) from The University of Michigan and worked for AT&T Bell Labs from 1968 to 1984. He joined Bellcore in 1984.
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DARPA's MONET program:
darpa.mil
FY99 Accomplishments
At DARPA's request, a second supplier of multiwavelength network elements will be introduced into the DC network in 1999. A competitive selection process, based on requirements written by the MONET consortium, resulted in DARPA's selection of Tellium, Inc. as the second supplier.
A detailed experimental plan based on input from all six of the agencies that will be served by the Washington Area Network has been prepared. Also, parts of the fiber infrastructure have been characterized in support of the high performance multiwavelength optical transmission.
An embedded channel Data Communications Network operating at 1510 nm was demonstrated in the laboratory as a staging ground for moving it to the MONET Washington Area Network.
The 2000-km long-distance testbed of the WDM Network extendibility task has been operated with 8 10-Gb/s channels using a variety of dispersion maps.
A report entitled "Refining and Quantifying the MONET Vision" was prepared and presented at the 14th Quarterly Program Review. This report documented the research results of the first 13 quarters of the program, and examined the impact of those results on the original MONET vision. The trade-offs among the desirable features of optical networks (Reconfigurability, Transparency, Scalability and Interoperability) for various domains of application were elucidated. These properties are often in conflict, and different applications will implement them to varying degrees.
FY-98 Plans: The MONET program ends in August 1999 with the completion and operation of the Washington Area Network. The network will consist of two interconnected WDM rings, an East Ring consisting of Lucent Technologies equipment and a West Ring consisting of Tellium Inc. equipment. Both rings will be managed by a single network management system. This system will integrate management of the optical, SONET, and ATM layers.
Construction of the East Ring will begin in August 1998 with a scheduled turn-up of January 1999. Construction of the West Ring will follow, with a scheduled turn-up in February 1999. The two rings will operate independently for approximately two months. The rings will be interconnected at the multiwavelength transport interface level in April 1999, demonstrating for the first time transverse compatibility between two WDM network elements from different suppliers.
Technology Transition: MONET multiwavelength technology is being commercialized by the MONET partner companies and through dissemination to the industry through published papers and talks. The MONET program is associated with the Naval Research Laboratory and the National Security Agency. These and other government agencies are in the proccess of being directly connected to the MONET DC Network. The MONET points of contact for NSA and NRL are Dr. Ray McFarland (rimcfar@afterlife.ncsc.mil) and Dr. Hank Dardy (dardy@cmf.nrl.navy.mil). |
