29 October 2003 Bonn, Germany Lightwave -- Lucent Technologies has been selected by Deutsche Telekom's systems house, T-Systems International, to increase the capacity of the North American element of its international network ("Telekom Global Net"), which connects the largest economic centers of Europe, North America, and Asia. Lucent will provide T-Systems with its LambdaUnite MultiService Switch (MSS), a next-generation optical transport system and switch with an element capacity of 320 Gbits/sec.
By upgrading the current 2.5-Gbit/sec network with the LambdaUnite MSS, T-Systems will be able to quadruple the capacity of its North American network to a full coverage 10-Gbit/sec network. Further capacity expansion to a multiple 10-Gbit/sec or even 40-Gbit/sec meshed network is possible at any time.
This new generation of optical transmission technology also has advantages for T-Systems' key international customers, say Lucent representatives. They can access the same service worldwide, such as a LAN-to-LAN over Ethernet service using Lucent's TransLAN technology.
"With this upgrade, we are taking into account the increased bandwidth requirement in North America," explains Torsten Soldan, vice president, Competence Center Transport Networks at T-Systems International. "At the same time, with the new systems, we can make better use of our network capacity and again increase failure safety."
"A network of the magnitude of the Telekom Global Net poses special challenges for the technology partners," adds Timon Lutze, Customer Group Leader for Lucent's fixed line business in Germany, Austria, Switzerland. "With our next-generation equipment able to handle both SDH and SONET optical standards, we are delighted to have helped T-Systems offer higher-speeds and new, value added services such as Ethernet over optical, to its global corporate customers."
Developed by Bell Labs, the LambdaUnite MSS bridges traffic between data-intense metro networks and high-speed optical core networks, connecting cities, campuses, and corporate networks to larger, long-haul public networks. The product enables service providers like T-Systems to seamlessly upgrade their networks and enables them to deliver new value-added services such as Gigabit Ethernet.
The compact size and low energy requirements of LambdaUnite MSS also means operators can make significant cost savings compared to traditional systems, say company representatives. This flexible single-shelf system was recently optimized for smaller metro applications, supporting in-service upgrades from 160 Gbits to 320 Gbits, as well as to 640 Gbits, allowing the system to grow when network capacity increases. Mesh restoration capabilities were also added to help carriers migrate to new mesh-based networks, while leveraging traditional restoration architectures.