October 12, 2004 Reston, VA -- Optical network solutions provider LAMBDA OPTICAL SYSTEMS announced today that its LAMBDA NODE 2000 Intelligent Optical Switch successfully completed interoperability testing hosted by the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL). The tests confirmed LAMBDA NODE 2000 interoperability with multi-vendor implementations of the Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching (GMPLS) standard, an enabler of a broad suite of new communications applications.
UNH-IOL designed "Plugfest"--a multi-vendor, multi-protocol test bed--to improve the interoperability of products supporting optical signaling, routing, and management (OSRM). The test items were selected to reflect the most up-to-date requirements of today's carrier-class network and service scenarios. The results suggest that IP-based optical networking technology is maturing to be suitable for commercial use.
"UNH-IOL does not just test GMPLS protocol conformance," explains Henry He, UNH-IOL MPLS services consortium engineer. "We have developed a rigorous set of tests to emulate the service providers' real-world networks. Much of what we have seen in our lab demonstrates that service providers should soon be able to expand their product portfolios with new GMPLS-enabled applications like super-wide bandwidth virtual private networks (VPNs) and bandwidth-on-demand," he adds.
GMPLS provides enhancements to the Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) standard, supporting optical network switching for time, wavelength, space switching, and packet switching. GMPLS adoption will improve packet switching and photonic networking device performance, providing telecommunications carriers with a scalable and cost-effective means to use optical bandwidth to facilitate the deployment of new services.
The testing included Japanese service provider Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (NTT), as well as optical equipment and IP routing companies LAMBDA OPTICAL SYSTEMS, Agilent Technologies, Juniper Networks, Navtel Communications, Sycamore Networks, and Tellabs Inc. LAMBDA OPTICAL SYSTEMS worked with NTT on Layer-1 VPN.