With White Rock Networks' standards-based, software-embedded control plane, carriers can achieve one-step, end-to-end provisioning in a SONET network for the first time, the company announced.

Until now, end-to-end, flow-through provisioning has required complex and expensive "manager of manager"-type operational support systems, largely because Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) products are not intelligent networking devices.

White Rock's control plane infrastructure allows carriers to establish connections in a White Rock SONET network in seconds. When the emerging signaling standards are adopted by other equipment vendors, such as cross-connect system vendors, this same high-velocity, end-to-end provisioning will work in a heterogeneous network. Typically, carriers have to manually provision each type of vendor's equipment in order to establish an end-to-end path in a network -- a process that is labor- and time-intensive.

One feature of the White Rock control plane, known as VLXconnect, allows a carrier to provision any type of service in a single step. The control plane sets up connections between devices in the network, so that multiple systems can communicate after being provisioned once.

White Rock offers a family of modular, scalable and stackable building-block optical networking products. While its competitors have integrated multiple metro applications and capabilities into one box, White Rock believes that approach introduces a host of cost, lifespan, proprietary technology, and power problems. Instead, each of the company's low-cost, low-power, easy-to-implement building blocks allows carriers to cost-effectively offer enhanced services to customers, without modifying existing network architectures or management systems. Carriers add only the building blocks that provide the capabilities they need for a specific application or customer.

The first member of White Rock's building-block family is the VLX2010, a small SONET OC-48 add/drop multiplexer (ADM). The VLX2010 seamlessly integrates with other White Rock building blocks, which will incorporate SONET OC-192 and Gigabit Ethernet. With the development of White Rock's control plane technology, these individual products now can function as an integrated system, while still offering the benefits of the building-block concept.

White Rock will be exhibiting June 5-7, 2001 at SUPERCOMM 2001 in Atlanta, Georgia (Booth No.474D in the Georgia Dome).

About White Rock Networks:

White Rock Networks provides carriers with next generation optical transport systems that enable the cost-effective delivery of high-speed services in metro areas. For more information, visit www.whiterocknetworks.com.