June 6, 2005 Chicago, IL -- Fujitsu Network Communications and BTI Photonics Systems today announced an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) alliance, in order to begin the Telcordia OSMINE process and fully integrate BTI's Netstender platform into Fujitsu's Flashwave portfolio, where it will be re-named the Flashwave 7120 optical extension system.

According to Fujitsu, the Flashwave 7120 optical extension system enables cost-effective transport of advanced services over spans that exceed the available fiber capacity or typical reach of metro optics. The company says the platform allows carriers to combine multiplexing, amplification, signal conditioning, optical add/drop, and performance monitoring in a managed platform that can be easily deployed in metro and regional networks.

The company says the system is available in three shelf sizes to accommodate a wide variety of installation and upgrade options. The passive shelf is a1U (1.75") chassis that supports two passive circuit packs in low-density applications. The small shelf allows any combination of two active or passive circuit packs to be installed in a 1U chassis. The large shelf supports up to five hot-swappable service interface packs within its modular 2U (3.5") chassis. The company says the optical extension system supports direct connection narrowband optics, including optics from other Flashwave products, in order to reduce cost and complexity for carrier networks.

The company says the Flashwave 7120 architecture scales to allow 23 service slots from multiple shelves to be managed as a single network element with a single processor. According to the company, integration with its Netsmart 500 craft interface and Netsmart 1500 Element Management System (EMS) allows the 7120 platform and other Fujitsu optical transport products to be managed by a common support infrastructure.

In a separate announcement, Fujitsu and Hammerhead Systems today announced that they are pursuing an OEM agreement for the integration of Hammerhead's HSX 6000 platform into the Flashwave portfolio as the Flashwave 6400 Layer 2.5 aggregation switch.

According to Fujitsu, the Flashwave 6400 Layer 2.5 aggregation switch is a single-box platform designed for Ethernet aggregation, packet-enabled access, and pseudowire termination. The company says the platform's architectural advantages, including bandwidth pooling and service agile ports, serve to optimize its aggregation and grooming efficiency. The company says the aggregation switch integrates with existing SONET/SDH infrastructure using Generic Framing Procedure (GFP) and X.86 procedures, interoperating between them. The company says that these benefits, when combined with the platform's granular Quality of Service (QoS) architecture, enable superior service segregation and service level agreement (SLA) assurance, critical for aggregation of diverse data and packet voice services feeding a common IP/MPLS core. The company says the switch provides density for Gigabit Ethernet aggregation, disruptive aggregation economics, Ethernet, Frame Relay and ATM service interworking, and non-disruptive data revenue migration.

According to a press release, the Hammerhead platform was an important component of Fujitsu's Flexible Architecture for Subscriber Service Termination (FASST) platform suite, since the platform's inception in June 2004. As the Flashwave 6400 aggregation switch, the company says the role of the Hammerhead platform will be expanded to allow tighter coupling with existing Fujitsu Flashwave SONET and DWDM products.

The Flashwave platform is showcased at Supercomm 2005 in Fujitsu's booth # 41015.