west Communications to Deliver Next Generation Internet Services Faster And at
Lower Cost Over U.S. Network
First All-Optical, Coast-to-Coast Network Will Increase Capacity Over World's Largest,
Completed Fiber Network
Key Network Benefits:
-- New optical technology will reduce operating costs up to 70 percent
-- Decrease the number of network regeneration points by as much as 90 percent
-- Reduce backbone provisioning cycles as much as 95 percent, enabling activation of new
services for customers in a matter of hours instead of months
-- Unlock massive bandwidth that could simultaneously transmit more than 100 times the
traffic of every broadcast channel worldwide, and still have capacity to spare
DENVER, Nov. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Qwest Communications International Inc., the
broadband Internet communications company, today announced plans to aggressively
rollout an all-optical network that will enable a host of new, Internet and
customer-managed bandwidth services while reducing operation costs by as much as 70
percent over traditional network technologies.
Slated for deployment in the first half of 2000, this expansion of Qwest's market leading
18,500-mile completed fiber network exploits the latest optical technology to deliver an
industry-breakthrough architecture, decreasing the number of network connection points
up to 90 percent and provisioning times by as much as 95 percent. By leveraging such
radical new efficiencies, Qwest will not only provide customers with unprecedented
capacity, but will offer it much more quickly, in many more increments and at a lower
cost. Qwest, the first company to deliver a nationwide Optical Carrier (OC)-192 speed
network over a SONET architecture, will now be first to deliver the first coast-to-coast,
all-optical Internet Protocol network at OC-192 and beyond -- all while preserving and
extending the reliability associated with SONET.
"We are continuing to deliver cutting-edge technology with Qwest's next generation
all-optical network," said Joseph P. Nacchio, Qwest chairman and CEO. "Our customers
will continue to have unmatched network performance, deliver services enabled by
massive bandwidth-on-demand, and maintain their lead on competitors."
Qwest plans to build an open, multi-vendor network that will comprise a range of
emerging technologies from promising start-up companies such as Corvis Corp., Qtera
Corp. and Juniper Networks to market leader Cisco Systems.
In another industry first, Qwest has already successfully completed a field trial with Qtera
on the industry's only commercial, all-optical test bed, enabled by Qwest's completed fiber
capacity. As a result of trials such as this effort with Qtera, Qwest's customers will be
assured of quality, reliability and superior performance of services in an actual business
environment as compared with only a laboratory test.
Separately, Qwest has an option to take an ownership position in Qtera and Corvis to
drive development of their leading-edge photonic networking technologies. Qwest has
been working with both companies over the past year to help cultivate and test their latest
optical equipment.
Faster Speeds Enable Advanced Customer Applications
The all-optical network allows Qwest to upgrade its CyberCenters and Internet Protocol
(IP) backbone to OC-192. OC-192 carries traffic at up to 10 Gigabits-per-second -- four
times faster than any existing IP network -- enabling a range of ultra-high-bandwidth
multimedia services for customers. The network will have the capacity to transmit
multiple-terabits of digital information coast-to-coast within seconds. For example, the
network could simultaneously carry the traffic generated by 300,000 broadcast channels --
more than 100 times the number of channels available worldwide today -- and still have
capacity to spare.
"This is a terabit step across the country and into the light for Qwest," said technology
visionary George Gilder, Chairman of GilderGroup Inc.
By leveraging multiple fiber capacity in its existing 18,500-mile network, Qwest plans to
begin delivering new optical network services early next year without any disruption to the
performance of the current network. When fully deployed, the all-optical network will
offer seamless, end-to-end connectivity at OC-192 speed via existing backbone fiber and
newly-installed local fiber in 25 major metropolitan areas, enabling unprecedented
real-time applications.
The new optical network will also enable Qwest to further advance service deployments
already announced with Microsoft and drive Qwest's development of next generation
Internet-based broadband applications and services.
"With the completion of the all-optical network, Qwest will be well positioned to meet the
increasing demands of its customers for a wide range of services," said Thomas Koll, vice
president, Network Solutions Group, Microsoft. "Hosted applications offered by Qwest,
such as the recently announced Microsoft Office Online, can leverage the performance of
this new network to further improve the overall service experience for Qwest's business
customers."
Nacchio said, "Once again, Qwest is upping the ante by delivering the fastest, most
cost-effective IP service available anywhere. We're working with the recognized leaders
and emerging companies in the optical industry so that our customers can tap into the
world's most sophisticated technology -- and lead their own industries. We have the vision,
the infrastructure, low-cost position in the marketplace and now we're ready to execute."
Greater Network Simplicity, Capacity Drives New Services
Under the new network infrastructure, a coast-to-coast OC-192 signal will need to pass
through just two regeneration connection points instead of 30 under a typical SONET
network -- a 90 percent improvement. This simplified architecture, unparalleled in the
industry, will give Qwest one of the most scalable and low cost OC-192 nationwide IP
backbones in the world. In turn, Qwest customers will be able to exploit this architecture
to create advanced bandwidth-on-demand services, such as video broadcasting or
real-time collaboration, at higher speeds and lower costs for their own customer bases.
The upgraded network shifts away from a traditional SONET ring design while improving
upon the self-healing benefits associated with that architecture. At the same time,
implementation of next generation Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) brings
massive amounts of bandwidth to the new all-optical backbone. Optical networking with
new DWDM increases the capacity over a single fiber to multiple terabits per second and
will allow Qwest to assign customers individual wavelengths to build their own
highly-scalable private networks. Qwest and its customers can drive more
revenue-generating services by tapping the ability to easily access, quickly provision,
dynamically restore and intelligently manage all that bandwidth.
The all-optical network will offer unparalleled bandwidth management, allowing customers
to choose from a variety of service levels customized to their needs. Customers can takes
advantage of multiple options relating to latency, restoration times and bandwidth
availability. For the first time in the industry, customers will be able to choose from distinct
wholesale, retail and on-demand bandwidth services, managed and restorable up to
OC-192 capacity and beyond. Once deployed, for example, customers will be able to
choose between express or multiple-hop routes, depending on their requirements. Prices
will be determined when Qwest's new all-optical services are made available to
customers.
New Emerging Technology Division To Drive Industry Partnerships, Standards
In upgrading its network, Qwest will expand existing strategic relationships with Cisco
Systems, Juniper Networks, Lucent Technologies and Nortel Networks. Moreover, the
company has created an Emerging Technologies division, headed by vice president Vab
Goel, that will foster relationships with Corvis, Qtera, Siara Systems and Sycamore
Networks, among others. The new division will work with strategic partners in other key
emerging- technology areas, such as new network applications. The next generation
all-optical network is based upon an open architecture, and Qwest will drive open
standards for new internetworking technologies among the companies involved in the new
network. |
