Friday, September 11, 1998
Pirelli, in Conjunction With Ascend, to Demonstrate Wide Range of ATM Over WDM Capability During NFOEC
Friday September 11 5:00pm
PR Newswire
COLUMBIA, S.C., Sept. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Pirelli Cables and Systems North America, in conjunction with Ascend Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: ASND), will demonstrate the unmatched capability and flexibility of Pirelli's wavelength division multiplexing equipment during the National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference in Orlando, Fla., Sept. 13-17.
Pirelli will use its T-31 OMDS 1632 system in concert with Ascend's GX 550 "Smart" Core ATM switches and will transmit traffic simultaneously over a single optical fiber in five variations of bit rate: OC-3, OC-12 and OC-48 over ATM and OC-12 and OC-48 over SONET.
"This demonstration provides a look at what leading service providers are doing today -- building and simplifying the new public network using platforms that consolidate multiple functions and services. It illustrates the benefits interoperability between Ascend's GX 550 switch and the DWDM equipment bring to the equation," said Dr. Hassan Ahmed, executive vice president and general manager, Core Systems Division, Ascend Communications. "Because the GX 550 has built-in SONET and Digital Cross-Connect System (DCS) functionality and redundancy, directly connecting it to fiber or DWDM equipment greatly simplifies service provider networks by preserving SONET and DCS functionality while eliminating the need for an entire layer of traditional networking hardware."
The system on display also will demonstrate the ability to add/drop a channel of OC-12 over ATM in mid-span, a feature of particular value to a network provider in a metropolitan area that needs to provide high-volume ATM capability to a single customer.
Pirelli will be in Booth 143.
"No other optical multiplexing systems provider comes close to being able to provide the flexibility that Pirelli will demonstrate at NFOEC," Walter Alessandrini, president and CEO of Pirelli Cables and Systems North America, said. "The combination of leading-edge technologies from Ascend and Pirelli provides the capability to cost-effectively and efficiently enhance the quality and bandwidth capacity of ATM data networks, and the ability to also transmit at varying bit rates over SONET represents the maximum in flexibility, speed and performance."
Earlier this year, Pirelli and Ascend, working with Williams Network, announced successful trials employing Pirelli's DWDM technology to directly connect ATM switches into an optical network for a lower-cost, higher- reliability architecture.
At that time, Pirelli and Ascend spokesmen noted that the successful trials opened the door to numerous possibilities for cost-savings and shorter turn-up times.
The ability to connect ATM directly to fiber permits service providers to build networks without the need for costly legacy SONET equipment.
In addition, the T-31 OMDS system allows the customer to increase network capacity without the expense and time that adding fiber entails. The scaleable system can be upgraded incrementally from 2 to 32 channels as demand for bandwidth dictates, which allows low initial cost. Turn-up time of additional channels typically is less than two days, and can be accomplished without disruption of network traffic. The system also has the unique capability to drop/add up to four channels.
Pirelli introduced its T-31 OMDS 1632 system this spring as the highest capacity wavelength division multiplexing system available for metropolitan applications.
Ascend Communications, Inc. develops, manufactures, sells and services wide area networking solutions for telecommunications carriers, Internet service providers and corporate customers worldwide. For more information about Ascend and its products, please visit the Ascend web site at www.ascend.com, or send e-mail to info@ascend.com.
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
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