Nortel 40G platform achieves JITC certification from DoD

APRIL 21, 2009 -- Nortel Government Solutions (NGS), a U.S. company wholly owned by Nortel (search Lightwave for Nortel), has announced that Nortel's Optical Multiservice Edge 6500 has become the first 40G optical system to achieve approved product listing status from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Joint Interoperability Testing Command (JITC).

Interoperability testing was conducted by the JITC at the Global Information Grid Network Test Facility in Fort Huachuca, AZ. Receipt of JITC certification allows Nortel's OME 6500 optical networking platform, which the company says can increase network capacity four-fold to 40 Gbps per wavelength, to be procured and deployed by DoD agencies. Intelligence and civilian agencies can now reference the JITC's stringent information assurance and interoperability testing as part of their own procurement process.

"Being the first JITC-certified 40G solution is a great achievement, and highlights the innovation from Nortel labs," says Chuck Saffell, chief executive officer, Nortel Government Solutions. "JITC provides the most rigorous product testing in the industry, which ensures that our solution provides the performance, security, resiliency, and ease of operation necessary for the most mission-critical military deployments."

Nortel's OME 6500 is a packet optical convergence platform that enables aggregation, switching, transport, and management of network traffic for a range of communications services. The platform converges multiple network layers to enable agencies to support circuit-based TDM private lines, optical services, packet transport, and transparent wavelength services. Nortel Government Solutions says this technology can streamline government agencies' networks and more efficiently deliver various communications applications with reduced infrastructure costs.

For multiservice nodal consolidation applications in large incumbent operators with either SDH or SONET networks, the OME 6500 has been demonstrated to provide up to 40% capital and operational savings over competing next-generation systems. When compared against traditional networking platforms, the OME 6500-based technology delivers up to 53% projected capital savings, 66% space savings, and 75% power savings.

In addition to providing both cost efficiency and power conservation, the OME 6500 with the 40G/100G Adaptive Optical Engine is scalable and flexible. Presently certified by the JITC for 40G services, agencies' investments are protected as the platform has been engineered to easily scale up to 100G to accommodate growing bandwidth needs. The single platform can be used for ROADM-based wavelength switching, while also capable of delivering services ranging from low-speed electrical DS-1/DS-3 to high-speed 40G optical interfaces, as well as Gigabit and 10-Gigabit Ethernet.

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