Pirelli's 128 channel WDM? Either the marketing hype by all the companies is really confusing, or Ciena's technology is seriously behind. Can someone explain?
Digital Teleport And Pirelli Announce Contracts Valued At $240
Million Naming Pirelli As DTI's Primary Supplier Of WDM
Equipment And Exclusive Supplier Of Fiber Optic Cable
PR Newswire - September 09, 1998 11:15
Jump to first matched term
ST. LOUIS, Sept. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital Teleport Inc. (DTI) of St. Louis and Pirelli Cables and
Systems today announced the awarding of two contracts to Pirelli valued at $240 million naming Pirelli
as the exclusive supplier to DTI of fiber optic cable and the primary supplier of the WDM equipment used
by DTI in the completion of its planned coast-to-coast network.
DTI awarded Pirelli a three-year contract valued at $100 million for its wavelength division multiplexing
equipment in which DTI agreed to purchase from Pirelli 80% of the WDM equipment used in completing
the remaining approximately 16,500 miles of the planned 18,500-mile coast-to-coast DTI network. DTI
also awarded to Pirelli a two-year contract valued at $140 million naming Pirelli as its exclusive supplier
of fiber optic cable purchased to complete the DTI network on the approximately one-half of the fiber
routes that DTI intends to construct rather than acquire through long term indefeasible rights to use.
DTI is creating an approximately 18,500-route-mile digital fiber optic network comprised of 19 regional
rings interconnecting primary, secondary and tertiary cities in 37 states. Deliveries of Pirelli WDM
equipment to DTI are scheduled to begin in September.
DTI President Richard Weinstein said Pirelli was best able to meet DTI's network needs and is the only
supplier offering both cable and WDM capability as a means of increasing network capacity. "Pirelli
understands our business needs," he said. "Pirelli offers the WDM technology that makes it possible to
offer to our customers a reliable, more than 150-gigabit, ring-protected solution for their regional transport
needs." Weinstein added that Pirelli's ability to provide consistent quality and consistent on-time delivery
were key factors in DTI's decision to award the exclusive cable contract.
Giuseppe Morchio, chairman and CEO of Pirelli Cables and Systems, pointed out that the WDM and
cable contracts illustrate Pirelli's unique position as a vertically integrated optical systems supplier to the
communications industry.
"Unprecedented growth of demand in the communications industry by rapidly growing companies such
as DTI generates the need to rapidly expand capacity and to manage increased system complexity.
From a business standpoint, managing exponential growth in throughput and complexity demands
deployment of revolutionary technologies in evolutionary upgrades, which can provide high rates of return
on the investment," he said.
"The Pirelli Group is in a unique position to help DTI take full advantage of its growth opportunities. By
exclusively focusing its communications strategy on optical technologies, Pirelli Cables and Systems
has pioneered development and deployment of fiber optic and photonic products, allowing rapid
expansion of communication networks," he added.
Pirelli will provide DTI with a WDM system on its WaveMux(TM) platform, which can grow to 128
channels, giving customers full system flexibility and use of conventional fiber for very high speed
transmission. Pirelli unveiled its 128-channel system at SuperComm '98 in Atlanta. The 128-channel
TeraMux(TM) Hyper-Dense WDM system presents a new generation of optical technology that raises
the level of transmission capacity to a new order of magnitude, from the gigabit to the terabit. Each
optical channel is capable of carrying up to 10 gigabits of information per second over a single optical
fiber. At full capacity, each fiber pair can deliver 1.28 terabits of data per second, the rough equivalent of
16 million simultaneous telephone calls.
The system also features a fully integrated element management system.
DTI is offering to its carrier customers dedicated, virtual circuits through the exclusive use of OC-48
capacity, ring-redundant optical windows from WDM equipment on the regional rings throughout the DTI
network. DTI will use the OC-48 optical windows to offer its carrier customers a high quality,
ring-redundant means to efficiently deliver their calls to a significant number of end-users along these
rings. The DTI regional rings will also offer carriers a means to aggregate, for further long haul transport,
the outgoing calls of that carrier's customers along such rings to regional points of interconnection
between the carrier's network and DTI's network for further transport by the carrier.
Pirelli Cables and Systems North America is headquartered in Columbia, S.C. With facilities in
Lexington and Abbeville, S.C., Colusa, Calif., Surrey, British Columbia, St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec,
and Prescott, Ontario, it provides fiber optic cable and photonics equipment for the communications
industry and energy transmission and distribution cable for the utility and commercial building industries.
Pirelli Cables and Systems is a global manufacturer of communications and power cables and systems.
With 14,000 employees, 49 plants, Research and Development centers in Italy, the United States,
France, Great Britain and Brazil, and total sales of more than $3.5 billion, Pirelli ranks among the world
leaders. The company is increasingly focusing its R&D and manufacturing resources and competencies
on leading edge technologies, based on optical fibers and photonics for communications networks and
superconductivity for power transmission.
SOURCE Pirelli Cables and Systems North America
/CONTACT: Lee Bussell, Pirelli Cables and Systems North America,
803-254-8158 or Gary Douglass, Digital Teleport Inc., 314-253-6600/ |
