Nortel (Northern Telecom) Builds on Data Networking Leadership by Launching the Next Generation of High-performance Switches
PR Newswire - February 16, 1998 10:04
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Passport 6400 and 7400 Series are Tailored to Enterprise and Service
Provider Markets
DALLAS, Feb. 16 /PRNewswire/ - On February 3rd, Nortel (Northern Telecom)
announced the creation of the new Enterprise Data Networks business unit with
a focus on delivering high-performance data networks globally. Enterprise Data
Networks today launched its next-generation of Passport switching products for
enterprise and service provider networks.
The Nortel Passport switch is the global market share leader for ATM
enterprise network switches (Source: Vertical Systems Group, 1997) and has an
installed base of more than 8000 systems worldwide. The new Passport products
build on this leadership position with specific platforms and capabilities for
enterprise and service provider networks.
The products being announced today are the Passport 6400 series of
enterprise network switches for enterprise and managed network service
customers, and the Passport 7400 multiservice carrier switches for service
providers' point of presence applications. The Passport 6400 products meet the
sophisticated enterprise networking requirements of global businesses and the
multi-purpose networking needs of general business customers. The Passport
7400 series addresses the high-density, high-performance data networking
infrastructure needs of service providers. Each product series is tailored to
meet the unique performance, reliability, and feature set required by these
two markets. Customers with Passport models 30, 50 and 160 can seamlessly
evolve their systems when and if they require the new performance levels.
''With the next-generation Passport 6400 and 7400 products, we are
leveraging both our technology leadership and our market success to offer
enterprises and service providers a higher level of network performance,''
said Bill Conner, president, Enterprise Data Networks, Nortel. ''We are also
offering our existing customers the option of seamlessly evolving their
Passport systems to take advantage of next-generation capabilities.''
The Passport 6400 enterprise network switch provides service
consolidation, routing, and switching functions for the in-building
environment. For the wide area network, the Passport 6400 leverages a variety
of public networking options including leased line, frame relay and ATM.
Enterprise customers that depend on their network for mission-critical
applications will find that the Passport 6400 switch, when coupled with the
Passport 4400 series of multiservice access devices, provides a complete Power
Network infrastructure that is more reliable, secure, responsive and
cost-effective than traditional networks. The Passport 6400 series will
continue Nortel's leadership in the enterprise network switch category through
the increased focus on driving down the cost of ownership, integrating IP
applications and leveraging new carrier services.
''We expect our new Nortel Passport 6400 systems to double the
performance of the Passport network we currently have in place in
California,'' said Doug Crawford, director, Information Technology Planning,
Kaiser Permanente. ''The success we've experienced with the existing Passport
network has given us the confidence to move forward with expanding our ATM
network nationally. Also, it's great to know the development of new features
will be focused on the needs of enterprise customers.''
The new Passport 7400 series of multiservice carrier switches further
strengthens the solution Nortel offers to service providers by delivering
standards based high-performance frame relay and ATM permanent and switched
virtual circuit services. The new systems will also deliver frame/cell based
voice services, including voice over ATM. Designed with the redundancy and
reliability demanded in a service provider network, the Passport 7400 switches
support an industry-leading 3000 frame relay Virtual Circuits on a single
card.
''Enterprise and service provider customers have different requirements
for network scalability, software migration and management. Enterprise
customers are primarily concerned with a standards-based network architecture
that meets a broad range of bandwidth requirements. Carriers and service
providers are looking for a high-density, high-bandwidth solution,'' said Dan
Taylor, director of telecommunications research, Aberdeen Group. ''Nortel is
the first to have met this challenge with the introduction of these robust new
products.''
Enterprise Data Networks Unit delivers Power Networks to key customer
groups: global businesses with sophisticated networking requirements, and
general business markets with multipurpose networking needs. Enterprise Data
Networks also offers next generation data networking infrastructures to
carriers and service providers, and includes Nortel's Passport, Micom and
Entrust Technologies product portfolios.
(x) Nortel, Power Networks, Passport and Micom are trademarks of Northern
Telecom. Entrust is a trademark of Entrust Technologies, a majority owned
subsidiary of Northern Telecom.
BACKGROUND
Nortel Passport 6400 and 7400 Series Backgrounder
The Nortel (Northern Telecom) Passport 6400 and 7400 product lines are
the next generation of the industry-leading Passport switch portfolio.
Passport was originally introduced in 1994 and there are now more than 8000
nodes installed globally in enterprise and service provider networks. The
Passport switch was the first in its category to couple routing and switching
capability on one platform, enabling customers to consolidate ATM, frame
relay, LAN, voice and video traffic efficiently and cost-effectively.
Passport models 160, 50 and 30 have captured the number one position in
the ATM ENS market (Vertical Systems Group, 1997,) number one in the
Enterprise Network Switch market and number one in the ATM WAN market (Yankee
Group, 1996.) Industry awards include Best of Show at Interop Atlanta and
Paris in 1995, consecutive ''Hot Product'' Awards in 1996 and 1997 from Data
Communications magazine, and the prestigious Network Computing ''Editor's
Choice'' and ''Editor Refuses to Give It Back Award'' for Hardcore ATM WAN
Switches in October 1997.
Building on the success of the Passport models 160, 50 and 30, Nortel has
introduced the Passport 6400 and 7400 product lines, which provide
high-performance, tailored solutions to address enterprise and service
provider requirements. Nortel has designed these products to stay ahead of
customers' performance and scaleability needs, while providing a seamless
transition path for current Passport systems. The next generation Passport
platform offers 200%-300% improvement in performance, with industry leading
call set up and scalability.
The Passport 6400 enterprise network switch has been developed for
enterprise and managed network service customers. The product line consists of
a three-slot Passport model 6420, a five-slot Passport model 6440 and a
16-slot Passport model 6480. The Passport 6400 series builds on and enhances
the performance, scalability and connectivity options of the current Passport
platform, and supports frame relay, ATM, SNA/APPN, Voice Networking, AAL1
circuit emulation, and IP/IPX routing services. Passport 6400 systems, when
integrated with the Passport 4400 product line, provide a comprehensive Power
Network infrastructure for small to large corporations.
The Passport 7400 multiservice carrier switch provides services including
frame relay, ATM, LAN, voice and video data across the WAN. The switch
supports virtual private networking, circuit emulation service, extensive
billing capabilities, and comprehensive Quality of Service options for the
prioritization of IP/IPX, voice, and other traffic. Designed for service
providers, the Passport 7400 series supports up to 24,000 terminating Frame
Relay data link connection identifiers (DLCIs), throughput of 35,000 fps on
the Frame Relay cards, and up to 24,000 terminating frame relay DLCIs on a
single node. It is ideal for point-of-presence installations, with high fan-in
DS0/DS1 capabilities to maximize services revenue.
In order to provide a seamless transition path for current Passport
customers, Nortel has made all of the building blocks of the Passport 6400 and
7400 products available for installation in their Passport networks. Customers
who are interested in taking advantage of the performance improvements and
advanced features of the Passport 6400 and 7400 series can benefit from an
incentive program to evolve their existing systems.
SOURCE Northern Telecom Limited
/CONTACT: Marie MacLean, Nortel, (972) 684-8097, mariem(at)nortel.com;
Frank McNally, Nortel, (703) 712-8374, frank.mcnally(at)nortel.com; Or visit
Nortel's web-site at www.nortel.com; Nortel's press releases are also
available through CNO-Call by fax at (800) 758-5804, ext. 122158 or at
prnewswire.com
/Company News On-Call: prnewswire.com or fax at
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