April 20, 2005 Las Vegas, NV -- Scientific-Atlanta, a supplier of digital content transmission and distribution systems, and Tropic Networks, a developer of optical networking platforms, have reached an agreement whereby Scientific-Atlanta will resell and support Tropic's advanced intelligent wavelength transport platform. According to the companies, the reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer (ROADM) platform enables cable operators to rapidly deploy a variety of high bandwidth video, voice, and data services. The companies say the platform's integrated hardware / software design creates infrastructure efficiencies and raises services reliability, while supporting future network scalability.
Under the terms of the OEM agreement, Scientific-Atlanta will have sales, distribution and support rights for the Tropic-developed family of intelligent optical transport products for the MSO market.
"Digital transport continues to be a vital part of Scientific-Atlanta's strategy for helping MSOs and broadcasters leverage their networks to generate incremental revenues and strategically differentiate their service offerings," explains Bart Spriester, director and general manager of transmission network systems at Scientific-Atlanta. "When we did an extensive evaluation of the marketplace, Tropic's software, hardware, and management solutions really stood out, both for their technological innovation, and for the way their digital transport philosophy matched ours."
According to a press release, the platform's ability to manage and monitor traffic at the wavelength level increases network reliability and efficiency. The companies say the platform's support of managed, transponder-less transport leverages existing optics to help control costs, while enabling remote reconfiguring of DWDM networks for reduced operational expenses.
"The Scientific-Atlanta/Tropic solution can help cable operators reduce expenses as they leverage much of the infrastructure already in place, improve service reliability, and squeeze maximum performance from existing fiber," concludes Robert Lane, vice president of sales and marketing at Tropic Networks.