Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA), a provider of intelligent optical networking, announced the evolution of its 1631 LMC SONET wide-band digital cross-connect. The new software release that brings this evolution provides carriers with operational and maintenance cost savings via flexibility and upgradability to what the company claims is the largest port matrix in the industry.
Due to industry consolidation and rapid network growth, carriers and service providers are struggling to reduce their operational expenditures and minimize expensive central office floor space. The new software upgrade enables the Alcatel 1631 LMC to scale from a 240 DS3/STS-1 equivalent port system, up to a 3,360-port configuration. Service providers can perform this upgrade while the equipment is in-service, without having to remove any of the original 1631 LMC modules.
Instead of investing in multiple systems to support a large facility, network operators can decrease maintenance and administration costs by reducing expensive tie-lines between equipment. The latest version of the 1631 LMC increases the allowable distance from the system matrix to its input/output bay to half a kilometer.
With this new software, the 1631 LMC offers additional flexibility to network operators since on-site personnel are no longer required to perform software downloads and upgrades. Instead, a person can perform remote downloads and database backups via a local area network, reducing costly man-hours. Network operators will also experience simplified management and network element operation through enhanced circuit identification and facility and alarm summary commands.
Available now, the 1631 LMC is a field-proven wide-band digital cross-connect system.
About Alcatel
Alcatel builds next generation networks, delivering integrated end-to-end voice and data networking solutions to established and new carriers, as well as enterprises and consumers worldwide. For more information, visit www.alcatel.com.