May 15, 2006 Montreal --
Le Réseau d'informations scientifiques du Québec (RISQ), Quebec's scientific information network, has selected all-optical networking equipment from Nortel to upgrade its optical backbone to support the high levels of bandwidth flexibility and reliability that its research and education customers demand.
The new intelligent optical backbone will increase the total capacity of the RISQ network as well as expand its reach across the region. The Nortel deployment will connect major universities and research centers in the province of Quebec, including the University du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), McGill University, Université Laval, Université de Sherbrooke, Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO), several new school board facilities, and multiple colleges of general and vocational education (CEGEPs) in the region.
CANARIE, a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to advancing Canada's research networks, is providing CDN $3 million to fund RISQ's network expansion.
"With Nortel's advanced optical solution and CANARIE's generous funding, the RISQ network's capacity and reliability will be significantly improved," contends Michel Vanier, general manager, RISQ. "These important network and technology advancements will make it possible for Quebec's universities to participate fully in leading-edge international research."
At the core of the network in Montreal, RISQ will take advantage of enhanced reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexing (eROADM) capabilities in the Nortel Common Photonic Layer (CPL) platform, which is designed to enable a more flexible, scalable, and cost-effective network than was previously possible, say Nortel representatives. The eROADM functionality enables the dynamic redirection of individual optical wavelengths, simplifying the network and giving RISQ the ability to dynamically add, remove, and redirect wavelengths in its network.
When the project is complete, RISQ will be able to assign dedicated optical routes according to member needs, providing Gigabit Ethernet and 10-Gigabit Ethernet capabilities via the Nortel Optical Multiservice Edge (OME) 6500, as well as managed wavelength services at up to 10 Gbits/sec.
DWDM capabilities will enable RISQ to transmit up to 72 wavelengths of high-bandwidth traffic at 10 Gbits/sec over a single fiber strand, increasing the total capacity of the network.