9 June 2003 Las Vegas Lightwave--Nortel Networks enhanced its metro optical portfolio to extend the benefits of coarse WDM (CWDM) to an increased number of applications for both service providers and enterprises. Building on the CWDM technology the company introduced in March 2002, this enhancement will allow a broader range of enterprises to leverage the benefits of CWDM in their own private networks or through service providers.
The CWDM enhancement--to the OPTera Metro 5100 platform--is designed for medium to large enterprise customers looking for cost-effective, reliable networks to deploy optical storage connectivity, Ethernet, and other optical broadband services. By bringing wavelengths from multiple technologies onto a common optical layer, enterprises will be able to optimize fiber utilization to provide a cost-effective solution for point-to-point and multi-site connectivity.
Service providers will also be able to leverage the new technology to cost effectively offer a full suite of managed services, including managed private networks and managed wavelength services. Completel, a national facilities-based carrier in France, is already deploying this CWDM technology to offer fiber relief and optical broadband connectivity to support enterprise customer requirements.
"Nortel Networks has an unparalleled reputation for being the leader in DWDM optical networking, and we are certain that success will continue into the CWDM market," said Jean-Marie Lemonze, chief technology officer, Completel. "The optical solutions we have deployed from Nortel Networks will enable us to offer a cost-effective, simplified solution to deploy optical broadband services."
"Nortel Networks is taking new steps in CWDM that allow their metro WDM products to retain carrier-grade management and reliability while offering new, more cost-effective options for enterprises to connect with service providers," said Michael Howard, principal analyst and co-founder, Infonetics Research.
"Service providers are driven by 'success based' applications for metro WDM, principally storage networking and Gigabit Ethernet connections," Howard said. "Nortel Networks new CWDM capability will enable service providers to offer more cost-effective wavelength services that address the lower lambda requirements of a wider range of enterprise customers as an integral part of their existing metro DWDM systems."
Completel already uses the scalable, hybrid C/DWDM technology introduced by Nortel Networks in 2002. This technology provides an evolution path from CWDM to DWDM and 10-Gbit/sec networks. Deployment of the new CWDM technology will position Completel to provide Gigabit Ethernet services, as well as a migration path to higher capacity networks for its carrier customers.
Nortel Networks has introduced eight new CWDM blades to take advantage of the latest CWDM components and technology. The new blades will use the same wavelength grid as Nortel Networks Passport 8600 data products, enabling cross-platform CWDM interoperability. Nortel Networks has also introduced a stand-alone CWDM filter that enables more cost-effective aggregation of customer traffic in multi-tenant buildings, as well as central office aggregation of remote services.