Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Ciena (CIEN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Freeflight who wrote (7768)	11/16/1999 6:32:00 AM
From: James Fulop	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12623

Courtesy of TPN35 over on the Yahoo CIEN thread.. >>Players like Chorum Technologies, Monterey Networks and Lightera have stepped to the forefront this year with products designed to reroute wavelengths at the core of a carrier's network. But now, one of them has landed a customer for its product. Ciena [CIEN], which bought Lightera in mid-March, has penned a contract with Williams Communications Group [WCG], the national fiber optic backbone provider. Williams will beta test and then buy Ciena's MultiWave CoreDirector switch. The carrier is expected to purchase at least $40 million worth of the switches by the end of the three-year agreement. "We're still developing a plan as far as the total number of points of presence the CoreDirector will be in," says Greg Floerke, vice president of engineering and construction at Williams. "If everything goes according to plan, we will have close to 10 switches deployed by the end of next year. Ultimately, we could have 20 to 25 switches in our network. Our network planning group is still working on this. "A lot of the total number of switches deployed will depend on the current or projected traffic patterns, and us determining where our needs are," Floerke adds. First, Williams will test the CoreDirector. The company will have a CoreDirector switch in its labs by the end of this month. Williams will slowly begin running traffic over the switch to check out its specifications. In March of 2000, Williams will begin a field trial on its network and, by late in the second quarter or early in the third quarter, the carrier will begin deploying CoreDirector switches across its backbone. "The deployment process will be slow at first, so we can see how the switches react to live traffic," Floerke says. Why did Williams decide to invest in the CoreDirector instead of other systems on the market? "Our technology development group became aware of the switch 18 to 24 months ago," Floerke says. "We are always looking for higher density and higher capacity systems, and this system met our requirements. It has higher capacity than other systems that are in development." Floerke declines to say which other systems have less capacity, however. Floerke also says the CoreDirector is further along in development than other optical switching systems on the market, although he refuses to say which ones. Williams wanted to avoid setting up sonet rings on its network as well, which is a weakness of the Monterey Networks system. It still requires sonet add/drop multiplexers to aid in the aggregation of signaling. Cisco bought Monterey Networks, and its optical switching technology, in late August. Williams execs also went with the CoreDirector because they like the combination of Ciena's manufacturing and the Lightera design. In particular, the executives like the design of the application specific integrated circuits for the switching fabric of the CoreDirector. Williams' executives say they expect a reliable, on-time product from Ciena. The full mesh restoral available on CoreDirector also attracted Williams. "We need full mesh restoral because we have a lot of traffic running from one city to another," Floerke says. "With full mesh restoral, we can pre-calculate the back-up path for a downed wavelength or fiber. But, we don't have to reserve the back-up path for back-up traffic alone because there is intelligence in the CoreDirector, and it knows whether traffic is high priority or not. When a cut occurs, the CoreDirector can decide which traffic to run over the back-up route." Other Benefits Charles Chi, Ceina vice president of marketing, says Williams will receive another benefit as well: CoreDirector can automatically select and install paths from end-to-end on a network in real time. It uses an operating system and custom protocol to accomplish this feat. Conversely, each network element in a sonet network has to be programmed to set up a communications path, which can take from days to weeks. "The Williams purchase is not the biggest surprise," says Lawrence Gasman, president of Communications Industry Researchers, a high-tech consultancy in Charlottesville, Va. "I know Williams wanted to trial that product and Williams worked with Lightera on its development. So the sale shouldn't be taken as a sign the product will be sold everywhere. One of the things about Williams is that the company sells bandwidth, and this product fits that need."<< No link to original article provided...