19 November 2003 Paris Lightwave -- Alcatel's 1674 Lambda Gate optical cross connect has successfully demonstrated interoperability with the optical transport network (OTN) standard. Acterna carried out the test on one of its high-speed testing platforms.
The OTN, also known as the optical transport hierarchy (OTH) standard defines an intelligent optical layer offering switching and transport capabilities, while providing much of the functionality offered by SDH and SONET networks, such as alarm supervision, path configuration, performance monitoring, and system administration. This capability allows the transport of any data signal at any bit rate--including SDH/SONET, Ethernet, ATM, and Internet Protocol (IP)--in a transparent way. Additionally, the OTN/OTH standard enables the reduction of operation, maintenance, and provisioning costs, thus minimizing operators' total cost of network ownership.
According to Alcatel, its 1674 Lambda Gate can be smoothly introduced into any multi-vendor transport network to provide enhanced flexibility and OTH transmission capabilities. The optical cross connect ensures that transmission links are used to their maximum potential by matching traffic demands with network resources. Thanks to its flexible architecture, it can scale in-service up to 3.2 Tbits/sec, enabling operators to allocate bandwidth according to their changing requirements and secure just-in-time service delivery.
"We are pleased to cooperate again with Alcatel to advance global communications by delivering standards-compliant solutions that elevate operators' and service providers' networks to new levels of performance," asserts Bernhard Mueller, general manager of Acterna's Optical Transport business unit.
"This new achievement with Acterna further confirms Alcatel's ability to implement technology improvements for the cost-effective and future-proof evolution of interoperable optical transport networks," adds Jean-Luc Beylat, vice president of network strategy for Alcatel's optical networks activities.