Lucent Unveils High Speed Product Line

The WaveStar product line offers "an end-to-end 10G networking solution that cuts across IP, ATM, and all other networking elements."

by Wayne Kawamoto

Lucent Technologies announced its high-speed optical networking system that is capable of bringing 10-gigabit (OC-192/STM-64) networking capacity to local Internet Service Providers' (ISP) networks. According to the company, this enables carriers to build local data networks that are four times faster than those today. OC-192 is the SONET standard used for 10 Gb/s networking in North America. STM-64 is the SDH standard rate used outside North America.

The system is comprised of::

• Multiplexer: WaveStar OLS 400G DWDM with 40 channels, WaveStar TDM 10G SONET, or WaveStar TDM 10G SDH.
• Bandwidth manager: WaveStar Bandwish Manager 10G SONET (2 and 4 fiber rings) and 10G SDH (2 fiber). Both are compatible with 2.5G networks.
• Gigabet Ethernet and 2.5G TDM networking: WaveStar DataExpress can connect eight 1GbE or four 2.5G TDM tributaries.
• Cross-connect: WaveStar LambdaRouter is an optical switching system that has wavelength-level granularity bandwidth management and supports 10Gps networking.
• IP switch/router: Lucent claims the NX64000 Multi-Terabit Router is the world's fastest. It has SONET and SDH interfaces.
• Additional equipment, services, and software are offered.

Lucent says that buying it all from one provider will cut down on the amount of equipment you need, which will in turn bring savings on space, wiring, and power consumption, and reduce "points of failure."

Designed by Bell Labs, Lucent's WaveStar DataExpress 10G is optimized to carry IP traffic, and Lucent Technologies claims that the device enables ISPs to build highly reliable, local and regional data networks that operate at speeds of 10 gigabits per second (Gb/s)-the equivalent of transmitting a 2 million-page document every second.

Lucent's WaveStar 10G products use a single laser that turns on and off 10 billion times per second. The pulses generated by this ultra-fast laser carry voice, data and video traffic across a single wavelength at OC-192/STM-64 rates.

"Lucent is now the only player in the industry capable of delivering an end-to-end 10G networking solution that cuts across IP, ATM and all other networking elements. Our WaveStar DataExpress will push high-speed fiber-optics into ISP networks as we help break through the bottlenecks that slow down the Internet and other data transport," says Harry Bosco, group president of Lucent's Optical Networking Group.

The 10-Gigabit Ethernet Alliance, consisting of Lucent, 3Com, Cisco Systems, Extreme Networks, Intel, Nortel Networks, Sun Microsystems and World Wide Packets, will promote 10G products and the standards they will require.

Availability
The WaveStar 10G system will be available in March.

Sales
WaveStars have already been sold to the following high-profile purchasers:

• In the US, Metromedia Fiber Network will be first to test this system.
• In the UK, the Lucent 10G system will be a fundamental part of BT's Global Transport Network (GTN) -- the UK's first terabit network.
• Beijing Telecommunications Administration (BTA) will be the first to deploy Lucent's 10G systems in China.
• Tele1, the Nordic region's first CLEC, will deploy Lucent's 10G systems throughout Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland.
• UPC in the Netherlands will also deploy products from the 10G family.

 —End