by Mardi Balgochian Scalise
China Telecom and its subsidiaries have been busy developing optical networking capabilities. Working with Lucent Technologies and Nortel Networks, China's national carrier has expanded services via Liaoning Telecom, Qingdao Telecom, and Hebei Telecom, regional operators of China Telecom.
Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) has announced a contract with Liaoning Telecom of China to deploy the WaveStar OLS 400G, Lucent�s 80-channel DWDM system. Liaoning Telecom is a subsidiary of China Telecom.
The contract, worth $15 million, is for Lucent's flagship optical networking products, developed with Lucent's Bell Labs. Under the terms of the contract, Lucent will deliver its WaveStar OLS 400G, an 80-channel DWDM system with a maximum capacity of 400 Gbits/sec. That is the equivalent of transmitting 5 million simultaneous phone calls, or 80 million one-page emails, per second. Lucent's WaveStar will enable telephone, voice, data, and Internet services to be conducted at an increased bandwidth rate where some provincial routes were previously overburdened. Liaoning sought DWDM technology to expand bandwidth to meet increasing demand from customers.
Liaoning will deploy multiple 400-Gbit/sec systems in multiple locations to significantly increase the capacity of the provincial networks of China's Liaoning Province, and to enable the company to offer new bandwidth-intensive data services to its customers. Previously, customers experienced slow processing times but, with the increased capacity of its backbone network, Liaoning will be able to ensure fewer networking bottlenecks, quicker downloads, faster emailing, and more advanced features such as improved video streaming and file-sharing capabilities.
The WaveStar OLS 400G comprises a shelf system of equipment with amplifiers and filters. With the use of amplifiers and power boosters, signals can travel up to 80 km without regeneration.
The equipment is scheduled to be deployed by May 2001. This is the largest contract that Lucent has signed with Liaoning Telecom.
China continues to forge its optical path with Nortel Networks. Having recently reached a multi-million dollar agreement with China Telecom, Nortel will provide equipment to support local Internet services to Qingdao Telecom and Hebei Telecom, regional operators of China Telecom.
Qingdao Telecom is deploying Nortel Networks' end-to-end, large-scale gigabit networking Optical Ethernet solution to deliver high-performance Internet service to over 100 broadband intelligent neighborhoods. The solution includes deployment of Nortel Networks Passport 8600 routing switch at 25 broadband backbone nodes in the first phase.
Hebei Telecom is deploying Nortel Networks Passport 8600 as a LAN switch for its 11-city 163/169 dial-up network to provide more reliable, high-performance remote access for end users.