this LU article may have given Cien a nudge downward as well..network management is a major issue with these networks
Lucent Technologies Clears Major Hurdle in Race Toward Optical Data Networks
April 6, 1999 07:00 AM
MURRAY HILL, N.J., April 6 /PRNewswire/ -- With its eye on being the company that makes optical data networking a reality, Lucent Technologies LU 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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