ADVA Optical Networking provides first 10G Fibre Channel DWDM transport solution between universities of Stuttgart and Hohenheim

December 5, 2006 - Mahwah, New Jersey, USA and Martinsried/Munich, Germany - ADVA Optical Networking announced today that its Fiber Service Platform (FSP) 2000 DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing) transport system has been successfully deployed in a leading-edge field demonstrator for the transmission of 10Gbit/s Fibre Channel (10G-FC) signals between the German Universities of Stuttgart and Hohenheim.

The field demonstrator involved 10G-FC DWDM transmission using the FSP 2000 on a link between the High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (HLRS), University of Stuttgart, and the University of Hohenheim in southwest Germany. Throughout the course of the testing, speeds of more than 10.1 Gbit/s were achieved. The multi-layer system was connected in part using 4G-FC local interfaces, which deliver 100 percent more bandwidth than 2Gbit/s links, but at only 10 to 20 percent higher cost. Both 4Gbit/s or 10Gbit/s systems enable higher bandwidth levels with the potential to lower operating expense, and are critical for enterprises launching newer, bandwidth-intensive applications utilizing graphics and video.

Delivering the bandwidth and support of leading-edge protocols like 10G-FC, ADVA Optical Networking’s WDM systems can support up to 80 channels ready for 10G-FC or other high-speed protocols. With a WDM solution in place, customers can connect any storage area network (SAN) fabric or high-performance computer over high-bandwidth metro and regional transparent optical networks. This enables applications such as grid computing, server and storage consolidation, disaster recovery and business continuity. These applications allow universities and enterprises to deliver leading-edge data center performance, increased security and reduced costs.

“We are connecting high-performance computing clusters over longer distances, enabling collaboration with other universities and us to build a flexible, scalable internal network for storage and other critical applications,” explained Peter Haas, director of data and network management at HLRS. “We are now sharing scientific research and data around the world and have established grid computing architectures that allow us to share processing power across disparate sites for high-capacity scientific applications in a virtual setting. This network capability would not be possible without WDM as the foundation.”

ADVA Optical Networking has supported the Universities of Stuttgart and Hohenheim since 2001 with an FSP 2000 link operating at 2.5Gbit/s. In 2004, ADVA Optical Networking demonstrated upgradeability of this link to 10GbE. Now, with this latest 10G-FC demonstrator, ADVA Optical Networking again showed its commitment to providing leading-edge functionality and interoperability for scientific, educational and enterprise customers.

“With a WDM-enabled optical network now in place, these universities have a powerful tool for management of current resources and can plan for growth into the future,” stated Dieter Will, VP business management enterprise for ADVA Optical Networking. “The drivers for high-performance WDM-based optical networks will not slow. The ability to simultaneously drive down costs and drastically improve performance with innovative optical transport technologies is exciting for organizations with growing storage and communications needs.”

The ADVA Fiber Service Platform is a portfolio of Optical+Ethernet networking products designed specifically for the delivery of high-speed services and network infrastructure rollout. Their modular design and flexible architecture options enable the most comprehensive and cost-effective solutions for customer premises, access, metro core and regional deployment.

Contact Information

Christine Keck

press and industry analysts

ADVA Optical Networking

Contact via E-mail