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RESTON, VA -- Firstwave Secure Intelligent Optical Networks, Inc., an advanced optical network solution provider, today announced that its Federal Systems subsidiary has been awarded a $29 million research and development contract by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). Under the terms of the five-year contract, Firstwave will develop a new generation of high-speed, affordable, secure optical network management and switching solutions. NRL is focused on accelerating availability of light-speed, low-cost, flexible, and reliable optical networking technologies to support a host of data- and connection-intensive applications. These solutions will find initial applications in the U.S. intelligence community, connecting supercomputing and intensive number-crunching platforms to support homeland security and other mission-critical requirements. The contract requires Firstwave to build out the capabilities of its CreaSION network management and SIOS family of intelligent optical switches. Delivered to NRL in September 2001, Firstwave first-generation CreaSION and SIOS products are deployed on the Advanced Technology Demonstration Network (ATDNet), an experimental research network connecting NRL with other U.S. Government agencies. Network elements from Firstwave carry live ATDNet traffic, including OC-48c and OC-192c SONET, 2.5 billion bits per second Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), and High-Definition Television (HDTV) links at 1.6 billion bits per second. The U.S. Government intelligence community has used Firstwave's Management Plane, Optical Control Plane, and Network Engineering Tool software for live traffic for more than six months. "The world is demanding the power to send and receive audio, images, video, even HDTV in real time over the Internet," said Dr. John C.W. Taylor, chairman and CEO, Firstwave Secure Intelligent Optical Networks, Inc. "NRL sees the future. Firstwave is dedicated to developing next-generation, totally optical networks that deliver a new class of speed and manageability performance. Our products will provide the building blocks for tomorrow's light-speed, high-quality, secure networks." Firstwave offers a family of wide area, metro, and local access, all-optical switching and Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) transport products. Firstwave all-optical overlay network solutions push protocol processing (IP, ATM, etc.) to the edge of the network, allowing for light-speed transport at the core. This approach significantly reduces network complexity and security vulnerabilities. Firstwave solutions provide tremendous flexibility in high-capacity networking and offer significant cost advantages over current networking options. Key solution attributes include: -- Speed - End-to-end optical switching eliminates routing latency at the core to deliver light-speed connections -- Low-Cost - Eliminates requirement for routing and switching at the network core, therefore eliminates need for expensive and complex multi-tier electrical equipment required in traditional core networks. Standard edge access slashes set-up and operating expenses Firstwave increases existing fiber transport capacity, therefore enhancing existing efficiency and reducing the requirement for new investment in fiber to support increasing traffic volumes -- Flexibility - Transparent to signal format, bit rate, and protocol processing -- Reliability/Manageability - All-optical switching at the network core increases reliability and reduces network management complexity. A Firstwave network can be managed from a single Network Operations Center -- Scalability - Interoperability or overlay capability allows organizations to implement Firstwave products alongside legacy products to easily scale network capacity and speed. Increases fiber transport capacity, enhancing existing efficiency and reducing need for new fiber to support growing traffic volumes -- Security - Solutions meet U.S. Federal network database protection and authentification of user and server requirements