SCIENCE

ALLENTOWN, PA -- Agere Systems (NYSE:AGR.A), a leader in communications components, today announced enhancements to its family of transceivers and receivers for optical networking systems. With small-form-factor size and speeds that range from OC-3 (155 megabits-per-second) to OC-192 (10 gigabits-per-second), these products provide systems manufacturers the design flexibility to enable a variety of network configurations and service offerings for service provider customers. Agere's transceiver/receiver product family includes a new set of pluggable transceivers, new Netlight(TM) transceivers with extended temperature range, a high-performing 10 Gbit/s positive-intrinsic-negative (PIN) receiver, and new 2.5 Gbit/s 1R/2R/3R receivers. "Agere's transceiver and receiver portfolio can satisfy systems makers looking for discrete components or integrated solutions, no matter what design level they require," said Meg Acker, access marketing director for Agere's Optoelectronics division. For the first time, Agere is announcing a family of small-form-factor pluggable transceivers that send and receive light signals across fiber-optic networks. These transceivers, called the NLP series, allow systems makers the flexibility of designing communications boards without the need to solder transceivers onto the board during manufacturing. With pluggable transceivers, systems manufacturers can improve manufacturing efficiency and give service providers the option to "plug in" transceivers based on the speed or distance required, as well as easily upgrade or reconfigure their systems over time. These transceivers are available in OC-3 (155 Mbits/s), OC-12 (622 Mbits/s), OC-48 (2.5 Gbits/s) and Gigabit Ethernet (1.25 Gbits/s) and Fibre Channel (1.0622 Gbits/s) versions. The OC-3 and OC-12 versions provide intermediate reach (up to 15 km) ATM connections, while the gigabit versions have been designed for applications up to 5 km over single-mode fiber. The OC-48 version provides short reach (up to 2 km) connections. Agere expects to sample the transceivers in the third calendar quarter of 2001, with production quantities available by the end of 2001. For more information visit www.agere.com