Optical Data Networks:Lucent Technologies Clears Major Hurdle
in Race Toward Optical Data Networks
MURRAY HILL, N.J., April 6 /PRNewswire/ -- With its eye on being the company that makes
optical data networking a reality, Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU - news) today unveiled its
new WaveWrapper(TM) technology.
WaveWrapper will enable Lucent's optical networking systems to cost-effectively monitor and
manage the explosion of data traffic on today's networks. As a result, service providers will be
able to offer their customers faster, more efficient data services.
Developed by Bell Labs, WaveWrapper will provide network management functions such as
optical-layer performance monitoring, error correction and ring-protection capabilities on a
per-wavelength basis. This will help Lucent lead the charge toward optical data networks that
can reliably carry packet-based traffic such as Internet Protocol (IP), Asynchronous Transfer
Mode (ATM) and Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) directly over the optical layer of the network.
Lucent plans to integrate WaveWrapper with its 80-channel Dense Wave Division Multiplexing
(DWDM) system, the WaveStar(TM) OLS 400G, by December, 1999 -- initially focusing on
wavelengths that transmit information at a rate of 10 gigabits per second (Gb/s).
''In 1998, Lucent unleashed the power of light like never before with its WaveStar product line,''
said Gerry Butters, president of Lucent's Optical Networking Group. ''Now, WaveWrapper will
help the industry harness that power.''
Moving toward optical data networks
DWDM technology enables communications providers to transmit different wavelengths -- or
channels -- of light on the same fiber strand, thereby increasing the fiber's bandwidth. Adding
more wavelengths, however, has presented service providers with a new challenge:
cost-effectively managing the increasing number of wavelengths to provide fast, reliable
services to their end customers.
WaveWrapper places a small digital ''wrapper'' around each input wavelength as it enters
Lucent's WaveStar optical transmission systems. These wrappers carry information such as
restoration signals, what type of traffic the wavelength is carrying and where it is headed.
Lucent's WaveStar systems then can determine the health of the signal, whether it needs to be
rerouted and if the necessary equipment exists to receive the signal at its intended destination.
Until now, the only feasible way to monitor, analyze and manage optical channels was to rely on
Synchronous Optical NETworking (SONET) or Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) signals
and equipment throughout the network. Lucent's WaveWrapper technology will provide similar
functionality and reliability, but at a lower cost and without adding more equipment to the
network. By enabling Lucent's optical networking systems to begin to perform functions that,
until now, had to be handled at the SONET/SDH layer, WaveWrapper will help Lucent build
faster, more cost-effective optical data networks for their customers.
''Some of our competitors' visions are limited to thinking of the optical layer as nothing more
than 'big fat dumb pipes,' but we know better,'' said Butters. ''Lucent is bringing intelligence to
the optical layer of the network so carriers can fully realize and benefit from the power of
optical networking.''
Leading the push to evolve the standards
Lucent recently provided detailed information about how digital-wrapper technology could be
implemented as a standard for bandwidth management to the American National Standards
Institute's (ANSI) T1 -- Telecommunications Standards Committee, the Optical Internetworking
Forum (OIF), and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which already recognizes
wrappers technology as a standard for undersea systems. In each instance, the contributions have
received a favorable response.
''This concept made such good sense and is so vital to the future of optical networking that we
felt compelled to disclose it to the industry even as we were defining our product plan,'' added
Butters. ''When we recognized the power of wrappers, we quickly moved not only to evolve the
technology to handle bandwidth management at the optical layer but to urge the standards bodies
to evolve the existing undersea standard so the entire industry could take a important step
forward.''
Enhancing Lucent's optical portfolio
Bell Labs has garnered more than 1,600 patents in optical technology. With approximately 2,000
Optical Line Systems installed, Lucent has the largest deployment of DWDM equipment
worldwide. And according to Frost & Sullivan, a leading market research firm, Lucent has the
largest market share -- 30 percent -- of the $1.6 billion U.S. DWDM equipment market.
Lucent's industry-leading WaveStar OLS 400G currently provides up to 400 Gb/s of capacity on
a single fiber strand. Lucent's WaveStar AllMetro OLS, announced in February, will be the
industry's most flexible, cost-effective series of ''metro'' DWDM products. Lucent's WaveStar
40G Express, also announced last month, will be the first optical transmission system capable of
delivering 40 Gb/s over a single wavelength on a single fiber strand.
Lucent Technologies designs, builds and delivers a wide range of public and private networks,
communications systems and software, consumer and business telephone systems and
microelectronics components. Bell Laboratories is the research and development arm of the
company. For more information about Lucent Technologies, visit its Web site at
lucent.com.
SOURCE: Lucent Technologies
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