BellSouth opts for JDSU's passive optical platform

June 1, 2005 San Jose, CA-- JDS Uniphase (JDSU) announced today that BellSouth has selected the company's WaveReady platform for passive optical transport in the loop portion of the carrier's broadband network. According to a press release, the company's optical subsystems will enable delivery of next-generation services, in addition to serving as a new WDM platform for the carrier. Shipments of the subsystems are expected to begin within a year.

"The JDSU passive optical technologies will be a key component in allowing us to economically get Gigabit Ethernet from the edge aggregation router to the IP-DSLAM," asserts Bill Smith, CTO of BellSouth. "In cases where we do not have a dedicated fiber available because the fiber is already in use, the CWDM approach will allow multiple wavelengths of light to share the fiber."

JDSU says its WaveReady 3000 WDM optical multiplexing subsystems form a reliable, cost-effective platform for fiber exhaust and multi-service applications. The company says the subsystems multiply the capacity of existing singlemode fiber, by combining up to eight ITU-T G.694.2 compatible channels into a single optical fiber. The WaveReady subsystems are NEBS qualified and designed to operate reliably under remote office environmental conditions, according to the company.

"BellSouth is leading the market in the deployment of the next breed of broadband services, and is therefore raising the bar in network architecture flexibility," concludes Tom Znotins, vice president of JDSU's subsystem products group. "Our long relationship with BellSouth and the selection of our WDM subsystems highlights both the multi-service capabilities of our platform, as well as its high reliability characteristics."