Bell Atlantic will use switching equipment from the Calabasas, CA-based Xylan Corp. in its Fiber

Bell Atlantic will use switching equipment from the Calabasas, CA-based Xylan Corp. in its Fiber Distributed Data Interface network services offerings, according to a two-year agreement signed by the two firms. Bell Atlantic will use Xylan`s OmniSwitch to give customers local area network speed access to their metropolitan networks, and offer Ethernet or Token Ring access to its backbone. According to Xylan, OmniSwitch supports long-distance singlemode fiber-optic interfaces that meet the specifications for Category II and long-reach lasers. It also provides a migration path to Asynchronous Transfer Mode transmission, which will allow Bell Atlantic to upgrade its backbone while maintaining its investment in access switches and offering uninterrupted service to customers.