KPN Delivers Broadband in Belgium with Nortel 40G-Ready Optical Solution

ncreasing Network Capacity for Enabling Improved Service Experience Across Belgium-Wide Network

AMSTERDAM - KPN Belgium NV/SA, a subsidiary of KPN is providing pervasive broadband services across Belgium using a Nortel* [NYSE/TSX: NT ] 40G-ready optical solution. The updated KPN optical backbone network will significantly increase the network capacity and improve the overall service experience. KPN is a leading European provider of new generation telecommunications services.

KPN plans to use its enhanced Belgian backbone optical network to meet the increasing demand for bandwidth-sapping applications for business and residential users such as corporate VPN’s, storage solutions, Internet video and other bandwidth consuming applications. It will also be cost-competitive helping to satisfy growing consumer appetite for competitively-priced bundled multiplay packages of land line and broadband services.

“We aim to free our customers from bandwidth constraints so that users can access the services they need - such as high-speed Internet as well as related Internet-based applications and services,” said Pär Nilsson CEO, KPN Belgium. “Carriers all over the world are wrestling with staggering demand for more bandwidth and we believe that our enhanced network equips KPN Belgium to address those challenges and deliver the very best customer experience.”

“With Nortel’s 40G optical technology carriers like KPN can increase network bandwidth simply and economically,” said Tim Watkins president Northern Region, EMEA, Nortel. “Our optical technology not only increases network capacity, to accommodate the looming bandwidth demands, but is the only one that leverages existing network investment to provide the most cost-effective solution today, while also providing the simplest migration to 100G at some future point.”

The new 40G-ready network uses products from the Nortel Metro Ethernet Network’s portfolio including Common Photonic Layer and Optical Multiservice Edge 6500 . The solution for KPN Belgium features Nortel’s electronic Dynamic Compensating Optics (eDCO) technology. This leverages the value of Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexing (ROADM) in 10G/40G all optical networking, with its superior system reach and integrated dispersion management capabilities. The next generation DWDM network provides connectivity between several major locations across Belgium while the 40G solution enables KPN Belgium to make more efficient use of the existing network and deliver higher bandwidth.

By simply plugging in 10G or 40G transponder cards into the Optical Multiservice Edge 6500 shelves an end-to-end wavelength is readily provisioned with the Optical Service Provisioning (OSP) tool. This solution requires less equipment to plan for, deploy and maintain and will therefore help KPN Belgium to accelerate its service delivery to end user customers. This DWDM solution is capable of supporting 88 x 40G wavelengths (3.52 Terabits/sec). Optical Service Provisioning and Network Service View are applications within the Nortel Optical Network Manager .