Alcatel secures Telstra contract to further light its optical backbone
network in Australia
Turnkey solution will increase network's coverage and capacity
Paris, November 7, 2001- Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA, NYSE:ALA), world leader in intelligent
optical networking, has signed with Telstra, the incumbent telecom service provider in
Australia, a new multi-million US dollar contract for implementing Alcatel's advanced Dense
Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) system. The project represents a major milestone in
accelerating Telstra's national network capacity to meet the Internet traffic growth and
extending the country's backbone coverage by another 8,000 kilometres. This award positions
Alcatel as the main supplier of DWDM equipment to Telstra.
As part of a complete turnkey solution, Alcatel will provide, install and commission its
16-channel DWDM system, part of the OptinexTM family, to enhance transmission capacity on
major routes in Australia. In June 2000, Alcatel was selected by Telstra to supply a DWDM
transmission link connecting Melbourne and Sydney. With this new contract, another five links
will be added to Telstra's network.
David Piltz, General Manager, Core and Enterprise Planning, Telstra, underlined that enhancing
the capability and robustness of Telstra's international and interstate transmission network
would assist the provision of converged voice and data communications – with a high quality of
service and at a low cost. "It's a major part of Telstra's national network that is growing quickly
to absorb the significant demand for Internet traffic throughout Australia. Alcatel's solution is
attractive both commercially and technically, principally because it gives us the capability to
steadily augment the system as traffic demand grows over the coming years," said Mr. Piltz.
"We are eager to support Telstra to spread the reach of new high-speed services into
demanding end-user environments," said Jean-Marie Vansteenkiste, president of Alcatel's
Terrestrial Networks activities. "The full turnkey solution leverages the existing Alcatel
management platform to enable Telstra to remotely manage the DWDM system from its Global
Operations Centre in Melbourne, thus delivering its customers broadband services more
efficiently."
This new contract reinforces Alcatel's lead in building carrier grade optical networks that help
customers keep up with the rapid pace of innovation. Over the years, Alcatel has established a
long series of world-records in high-speed optical transmission. The most recent, dated July
2001, was set in long-haul transmission spanning 2,400 km with 32 wavelengths at 40Gbit/s.
About OptinexTM 1686 WM
The OptinexTM 1686 WM system provided by Alcatel supports up to 32 wavelength channels
working at different channel bit-rates up to 10 Gbps. Different wavelengths are used for
different traffic signals along the same fiber route. High performances for very long multi-span
applications are obtained through wide-band in-line amplifier and Forward Error Correction
devices while optical add-drop capabilities, partially re-configurable, are used in the
intermediate nodes for traffic partial termination.
FEC is a technique by means of which redundancy (i.e. extra information) is transmitted
together with transported data, using a pre-determined algorithm. Thanks to redundancy, the
receiving device can detect and correct multiple bit-errors that may occur during transmission.
The signal transmitted with FEC is more "robust", thus allowing operators to build up longer
distance connections without the deployment of many repeater stations.
About Alcatel
Alcatel is the only vendor to master all optical network elements, from optical components,
optical fibers, DWDM systems and microwave radio links to core routers and network
intelligence, and from terrestrial to submarine solutions. Alcatel is also the only company to
provide both terrestrial and marine services for the installation and maintenance of global,
seamless optical networks. According to RHK's 2000 study, Alcatel holds the number two
position in global optical transport market with 20% market share, distancing itself from other
competitors. RHK also reported that Alcatel reaffirms its number one position in submarine
networks with 41% worldwide market share. Moreover, Alcatel claims to be the world leader in
total terrestrial and submarine DWDM systems, in digital cross-connects, which contain the
enabling technology for operators to offer high bandwidth services, in SDH networks and in
microwave radio links. Alcatel's optics business comprises terrestrial and submarine
transmission systems, fiber optics, optical components and microwave radio links. Alcatel has
launched a new class of Alcatel stock which is intended to track the performance of Alcatel
Optronics, the Company's optical component business.
Alcatel builds next generation networks, delivering integrated end-to-end voice and data
networking solutions to established and new carriers, as well as enterprises and consumers
worldwide. With sales of EURO 31 billion in 2000 and 110,000 employees, Alcatel operates in
more than 130 countries.
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