Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) and Time Warner Telecom Inc. (NASDAQ: TWTC) have signed an agreement to deploy Lucent's newest optical networking system, which has the capacity to enable every person in the United States and Canada to simultaneously transmit a one-page e-mail across the same network.
Under the terms of the agreement, Time Warner Telecom, a leader in providing local and regional optical broadband networks and services to business customers, will deploy the Lucent WaveStar OLS 1.6T, an ultra-high-capacity dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) system.
This new technology will enable Time Warner Telecom to expand the capacity of its network. The three-year agreement is valued at up to $100 million.
Initially, Lucent is delivering and installing the system with the capacity of 800 gigabits per second (Gb/s). At this rate, a single fiber in Time Warner Telecom's network could transmit the data contained on some 160 CD-ROMs each second. The system Time Warner Telecom is purchasing includes a combiner/splitter that makes it "terabit ready," meaning a carrier can double its network capacity to 1.6 terabits per second, without interrupting service, when its bandwidth requirements call for such a capacity boost.
Lucent's Worldwide Services is engineering, installing and integrating the Lucent systems into Time Warner Telecom's western region network supporting various cities in the western United States. Much of the network in these were recently acquired by Time Warner Telecom in its $690 million purchase of assets from the bankruptcy of GST Telecommunications Inc. Deployment is already underway in phases in the western states and is expected to be completed by mid-2001.
The Lucent WaveStar OLS 1.6T architecture provides Time Warner Telecom a scalable, flexible solution for long-haul applications and builds on the technology platform of the Lucent WaveStar OLS 400G, a DWDM system that offers up to 400 Gb/s of capacity. DWDM technology increases network capacity by transmitting multiple wavelengths, or colors, of light across a single fiber, with each wavelength carrying a distinct stream of information.
In April 2000, Lucent announced the WaveStar OLS 800G, an upgrade to the 400G system that uses DWDM to provide up to 320 2.5-Gb/s wavelengths or 80 10-Gb/s wavelengths for a total capacity of 800 Gb/s. The WaveStar OLS 800G is generally available today, and can be purchased with a combiner/splitter that makes it "terabit ready" - meaning a network provider can upgrade to the new Lucent WaveStar OLS 1.6T without service interruption.
The WaveStar OLS 1.6T, which will be generally available in Spring 2001, offers up to 160 10-Gb/s wavelengths for a total capacity of 1.6 Tb/s on one fiber, the equivalent of transmitting 320 million one-page e-mails per second. This is achieved by using the company's "L-Band" optical amplifier, which enables network providers to transmit traffic through a previously unused frequency, or wavelength range, in a fiber. Using the amplifier and combiner/splitter to open up this previously untapped bandwidth, the network provider can double the number of wavelengths transmitted on the fiber from 80 to 160.
As part of the new agreement, Lucent also will provide its WaveStar Network Management System. This software system will provide Time Warner Telecom with centralized control and a comprehensive set of features for the management of its DWDM network.
About Time Warner Telecom Inc.:
Time Warner Telecom Inc., headquartered in Littleton, Colo., builds local and regional optical networks and delivers "last-mile" broadband data, dedicated Internet access and voice services for businesses.
About Lucent Technologies:
Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Murray Hill, N.J., designs and delivers systems, software, silicon and services for communications networks for service providers and enterprises. Backed by the research and development of Bell Labs, Lucent focuses on broadband and mobile Internet infrastructure; communications software; communications semiconductors and optoelectronics; Web-based enterprise solutions that link private and public networks; and professional network design and consulting services.