ACADEMIA

Metrobility Optical Systems today announced that Consortium GARR, the organization managing and deploying the Italian Research and Education high-bandwidth network, has adopted Metrobility's Radiance suite of products for implementation, management and expansion of its national high-speed telecommunications network. The GARR network connects with other European and worldwide R&D networks to support education and scientific research. Metrobility provides managed CWDM solutions supporting 16 standard-based ITU-grid wavelengths to the GARR network and to several major metropolitan and regional networks, including the Academic MAN of Bari University, the Milan regional R&E network and the Gigabit link between the GARR network and the Cineca supercomputing Centre in Bologna. Solutions range from 10/100/1000Mbps Ethernet to STM-16 data rates connecting users throughout Italy. The network at Cineca uses Metrobility's patented line protection and restoration technology to create a managed, protected Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) service over CWDM. In Milan, Metrobility's solutions inter-connect five metropolitan cities in a ring configuration using GbE and STM protocols over CWDM. At the University of Bari, Metrobility efficiently utilized the existing fiber optic infrastructure to provide Ethernet services to five sites over CWDM. The Metrobility solution has allowed GARR to move from E3 leased line circuits to high-speed GbE services. Since moving to Metrobility, provisioning the GARR network is more flexible and low-cost. CWDM and Ethernet technology allow GARR to use the network more efficiently and provide greater bandwidth to end users with no increase in cost. "GARR network users are top researchers, students and faculty who have a wide range of requirements and differing levels of expertise," said Massimo Carboni, coordinator of planning and operations for the GARR consortium. "Many are involved in national and international projects and experiments that are demanding in terms of bandwidth requirements, reliability and advanced end-to-end services. With Metrobility, we are able to support these demanding requirements and create an ideal network environment that provides quality services that world-class academic institutions require." "Academic research institutions like GARR are at the leading edge of technology adoption, particularly in terms of optimizing voice, video and data network services to users," said Alex Saunders, president and CEO of Metrobility. "We are pleased to work with the GARR community and to be supporting international students and researchers by helping to provide a more advanced and reliable network experience."