Alcatel-Lucent provides optical and services for Belgian research net

NOVEMBER 6, 2007 -- Alcatel-Lucent (search for Alcatel-Lucent) has announced an agreement with BELNET to roll out a new, highly flexible optical-data network and services to link 160 national research and education institutions throughout Belgium.

Facilitating collaborative projects with local and international entities, the BELNET network will offer high-speed Internet services as well as new Ethernet-based and grid computing applications to the scientific and education community.

Alcatel-Lucent will assist BELNET in delivering the network flexibility required to allow real-time communications among research and education centers with maximum reliability. Providing direct optical connectivity to BELNET's IP network, Alcatel-Lucent will deliver a combination of reconfigurable add-drop multiplex (ROADM) technology and managed services.

"Research networking allows scientists to maximize inter-exchanges in collaborative projects and contribute to the best of their abilities whatever their location is," said Pierre Bruyère, director at BELNET. "Alcatel-Lucent is supporting us with a valuable technical and service proposition. Advanced technology and extreme network flexibility are key to support new applications dedicated to furthering scientific research."

Alcatel-Lucent will deploy its 1696 ROADM to meet BELNET's requirements for simplified network planning, accelerated wavelength/service provisioning, and advanced optical monitoring capabilities. In addition to installation and commissioning services, Alcatel-Lucent will provide managed services capabilities to monitor and operate the multi-vendor network from its Global Network Operations Centers across Europe. Also included is nationwide maintenance, including spare parts management and logistics, field maintenance, and technical support. Alcatel-Lucent also will provide a single-point-of-contact help desk that will support network users in three languages and will monitor the network.

BELNET is a Belgian federal government agency with a separate management within the Federal Research policy department. BELNET provides Internet access to Belgian educational institutes, research centers, and government departments. More than 550,000 end-users use bandwidths of up to 10 Gbits/sec.

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