Siemens wins its first order for carrier-class Ethernet technology in Europe

September 20, 2004 Munich--The Dutch cable network operator Casema is the first European customer to commission Siemens to supply Ethernet equipment for its IP network. The contract also includes installation, maintenance and operation of the equipment.

Siemens' Ethernet switches will be used in a fiber-to-the-home project. Since the switches support multi-casting and quality of service, they will enable Casema to offer triple-play services such as video-on-demand. Casema operates primarily in the central and southwest parts of the Netherlands and has more than 1.3 million subscribers.

Carrier-class Ethernet is among the rapidly growing market segments in the access area for carrier networks. Ethernet, the dominating protocol in LANs, is used here -- without conversion to ATM technology -- from the multiplexer in the exchange right through to the end user. This means that a homogeneous network infrastructure can be set up that is easy to manage. In addition, costs for expensive network interfaces can also be saved.

Siemens presented its carrier Ethernet strategy presented in the spring of this year. Part of the strategy is the involvement and close partnership with the Korean network specialist Dasan, which offers broadband access products such as DSL access multiplexers and Ethernet-based switches. With Casema, Siemens and Dasan have now also won their first customer in Europe for their Carrier Ethernet solutions following successes in Japan and Korea. The future-oriented product strategy will be complemented by a comprehensive service portfolio, which embraces all necessary services from installation support to optimized operational support at customer locations.