Nortel Streng Thens Optical Portafolio, Providing Agility For Carriers To Deliver New Revenue-Generating Services

OTTAWA – Nortel* [NYSE/TSX: NT] has revamped its optical portfolio with product improvements and new service capabilities that simplify network enhancements for carriers while providing the agility required to deliver new, revenue-generating services that meet customer demand.

By simplifying network operations as well as increasing capacity through super-fast Ethernet technologies, Nortel is positioning carriers to take advantage of Hyperconnectivity, a global megatrend where everything that can be connected to the network, will be connected.

“To win in today’s competitive market, carriers need to introduce new revenue-generating services quickly while minimizing operational complexity that can increase costs,” said Dana Cooperson, vice president, Network Infrastructure, Ovum RHK. “Ensuring that the transition for carriers to Ethernet is simple and straightforward, with maximum reuse and minimal disruption of existing infrastructure, is critical to cost-effectively meeting increasing bandwidth demand for new services like video and multimedia.”

“Providing services to our customer via our Ethernet network offers a simplified approach to doing business that both speeds time to service delivery and reduces operational expenditures. The ability to offer Ethernet services over our optical network enables us a more agile network that utilizes our existing infrastructure,” Hardy Rehmann, technical chief officer, T-Systems. “We need to provide very high-bandwidth services to our business customers, and our Nortel solution allows us to do that quickly and easily.”

“Carrier networks are becoming increasingly difficult to implement and maintain because of different protocols and technologies that are inherently complex and can be a drain on support resources,” said Scott McFeely, vice president, Metro Ethernet Networks, Nortel. “Most of this complexity can be eliminated by incorporating Ethernet as the primary data transport in the network. These new optical technology enhancements Nortel is introducing today provide a seamless transition to Ethernet through a simple path to deployment that uses existing infrastructure.”

Nortel’s optical portfolio has been enhanced with new features, including an enhanced PDH gateway capability and an integrated Reconfigurable Optical Add-drop Multiplexer (ROADM) into the Optical Multiservice Edge (OME) 6500 convergence platform as well as a new 2.5G global multi-service platform, called the OME 6130.

With the new PDH Gateway solution, service providers can reach more customers and immediately start to offer Ethernet services cost-effectively over their existing copper network infrastructure without requiring a fiber upgrade. The solution consists of Nortel’s new Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF)-certified OME 6500 PDH Gateway interface and, through a new partnership with ANDA Networks, for ANDA’s MEF-certified EtherReachB. 2000 series products. The OME 6500 with the PDH Gateway will be able to terminate hundreds of ANDA EtherReachB. 2000 units, enabling carriers to extend their Ethernet service footprint by offering network services that are significantly less expensive, more bandwidth efficient, and are easier to maintain, all resulting in significant OPEX savings.

For delivering best in-class 2.5G networking optimized for high-bandwidth services at an attractive price, Nortel is introducing the OME 6130 multiservice convergence platform. The OME 6130 can be integrated with any of Nortel’s Optical Metro 3000/4000 and OME 6500 platforms to provide multiservice transport for business services, broadband and wireless backhaul. The OME 6130 offers both TDM and Ethernet services, with integrated Ethernet switching capabilities in one platform, enabling a seamless migration to carrier-grade Ethernet transport.

To enable the reduction in the number of platforms required, and to simplify operations, Nortel is integrating ROADM and amplifier functions into the OME 6500. The ROADM capability will enable faster add or drop and redirection of optical wavelengths, providing the flexibility and service agility required for metropolitan networks. The integrated photonics capabilities leverage innovative technology from the Common Photonic Layer to benefit operators with proven simplified service turn-up and operations efficiency through automated wavelength performance monitoring and optimization. This will enable providers to capitalize on the high-bandwidth services such as video and multimedia.

The OME 6500 PDH/Ethernet enhancements and the OME 6130 will be available in July. The OME 6500 with the integrated ROADM and amplifier capabilities will be available by the end of the year.