Calient Networks unveils standalone GMPLS controller and 'zero loss' integrated optical amplifier module
June 23, 2004 Chicago, IL -- Calient Networks, provider of intelligent, carrier-class photonic switching systems and software, has introduced two new feature sets for use with its DiamondWave PXC and PX switching systems: the GMPLS Controller and the 'zero loss' integrated Optical Amplifier Module, or OAO Module.
Calient's GMPLS Controller is an add-on controller module that enables carriers to extend GMPLS intelligence and optical control plane technology to the network edge, for use not only with the PXC and PX, but also with complementary transport elements from core to edge.
"Carriers need to be able to offer new dynamic services, but are often limited by the equipment they have deployed in their networks today," reports Calient Networks chief marketing officer Ron Mackey. "With our GMPLS Controller--one of the first such elements in the industry--we can extend a dynamic GMPLS control plane to encompass DWDM, SONET/SDH, and IP networking equipment. Today these devices do not natively support a control plane, and the GMPLS controller opens up the possibility for carriers to more quickly deploy dynamic end-to-end networking."
"While the DiamondWave optical switches have had control plane capabilities since 2001, now carriers and OEMs can add control plane capabilities in line systems and edge routers as well, with the full confidence of interoperability and end-to-end manageability across the control plane," adds Mackey. "These new end-to-end solutions will be able to offer rapid provisioning and restoration, dynamic call set-up, standards-based routing and reconfigurable edge-to-core connections."
The new OAO Module enables carrier migration to photonic switching--even in networks not originally designed for all-optical switching--at "zero insertion loss." The OAO Module adjusts the amplification of an incoming signal to compensate for optical loss, or to balance power levels as wavelengths traverse between rings. The module can also be used on banded groups of wavelengths, minimizing the number of ports needed to support interconnections of rings or add-drop networks at the band level and provides dynamic gain equalization between different wavelengths.
By creating an optical switching solution that has no insertion loss, optical switching can be overlaid onto almost any existing network without re-engineering. This opens the door for supporting new services such as bandwidth-on-demand, says the company.
"As we pledged to the industry, we are helping to lower the proprietary barriers preventing vendors' management elements from interoperating with other elements in the network," contends Charles Corbalis, Calient CEO. "The GMPLS Controller lets carriers benefit from one common set of management semantics and software. Such unified signaling software and the selective amplification capability of the OAO Module dramatically open up today's optical networks, unleashing performance, cost-effectiveness and carrier freedom to choose best-in-class elements."