June 14, 2002 --NEC Corp. (www.nec.com) has added a new next-generation SDH system to its product line. The SpectralWave C-Node will dramatically save space and cost, according to the company. NEC will start delivering the product in July 2002 and expects to sell 30,000 systems in the first 3 years.

The new system is part of the company's metro network system product line, which ranges from the next-generation SDH/SONET "SpectralWave U-Node," Gigabit-Ethernet multiplexing system "SpectralWave MG Series," metro WDM "SpectralWave MW Series," and metro multi-service platform "SpectralWave MMSP Series."

The compact -- 88 (H) x 482 (W) x 300 mm (D) -- low-power SpectralWave C-Node is positioned as an entry model to next-generation SDH/SONET. It provides the flexibility to be adopted to any network topology and STM-1(155M) /STM-4(622M) multiplexing.

The new product also features high port density and easy upgrading of transmission capacity on a module basis so it saves initial cost and operating cost. The SpectralWave C-Node can be used in combination with NEC's other optical transmission productssuch as large capacity SDH/SONET and WDM and achieves any kind of network configurations flexibly.