Mahi, LastMile ally to deliver CWDM optical transport platforms

March 8, 2005 Petaluma, CA and Dietzenbach, Germany -- Mahi Networks, a supplier of optical transport, switching, and aggregation devices designed to transition service providers to IP services networks, and LastMile, a German supplier of optical networking products, have announced the formation of a strategic performance alliance to co-develop, market, and sell end-to-end optical transport platforms for the enterprise and access markets.

The companies will address the alliance at this week's OFC/NFOEC conference in Anaheim, CA (booth 1116), and at CeBIT in Hannover, Germany (Hall 12, booth C83/1).

"We're excited to be working with LastMile to promote and deploy enhanced IP services over next generation optical networks," declares Ron Longo, Mahi's VP of worldwide marketing. "Mahi's Vx7 and Mi7, together with LastMile's FiberPilot, create an automated, reconfigurable, and scalable end-to-end solution that provides carriers and enterprise customers with improved performance and lower lifecycle costs."

Under the alliance, Mahi will become a strategic, global supplier of LastMile products to wireline carriers and enterprise customers. LastMile products will play a pivotal role in Mahi's product strategy, supporting an end-to-end portfolio that includes edge products for IP and video service delivery, core optical switching systems, and core optical transport systems. LastMile's products are expected to extend Mahi's product reach to access networks and campus environments that frequently connect to Vx7 DWDM regional networks.

"LastMile products are a natural extension to the Mahi IP service portfolio, and we look forward to delivering innovative WDM solutions meeting the highest standards of flexibility, scalability, reliability, and manageability," affirms Eric Hoedt, CEO of LastMile.

LastMile's portfolio of DWDM, CWDM, and TDM products will become Mahi's family of Lx7 Multi-Service Optical Transport System products. Mahi will initially offer the Lx5 FiberPilot and Lx3 LightPilot systems.

According to a press release, the Lx5 FiberPilot WDM platform supports CWDM and DWDM within a single compact shelf configuration, providing cost-effective optical transport for each new application while incorporating a capacity expansion path for future deployments of higher density.

The Lx3 LightPilot complements the Lx5 FiberPilot with its compact, integrated form factor. Multiplexing any optical application from 100 Mbit/sec to 2.5 Gbit/sec onto a single fiber pair, the unit fits a complete eight-channel optical multiplexer system into a single rack unit.

The Lx7 Multi-Service Optical Transport System joins Mahi's portfolio of service provider and enterprise transport systems. The company's Vx7 Multi-Service Core Transport System is a 32-wavelength DWDM system that enables dynamic, reconfigurable optical add/drop module (ROADM) functionality with SONET simplicity. Its Mi7 Multi-service Core Aggregation System supports any combination of TDM and packet traffic while aggregating hundreds of SONET/SDH rings into a single aggregation system. The Mi7 integrates the functionality of a digital cross-connect system, a SONET/SDH add/drop multiplexer, and an Ethernet/L2 switch into a unified 320 Gbit/sec platform to enable transition from today's TDM infrastructure to an IP services network architecture.