SCIENCE

BALTIMORE, MD -- Hitachi Telecom (USA) Inc. today began demonstrating two unique optical switching systems in conjunction with its dense wavelength division multiplexer (DWDM) system, the Advanced Multiservice Network (AMN) 6100. Hitachi Telecom is showing the advantages of using its AMN 6100 DWDM system with both an all-optical switching system from Calient Networks and an optical-to-electrical-to-optical (OEO) grooming switch system from Brightlink Networks at the National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference. Hitachi Telecom's AMN 6100 is the industry's longest distance 128-channel DWDM system and has the capability to carry optical traffic up to a distance of 8,000 kilometers at a speed of 10 Gbps without regenerators on a wide variety of fiber types. The demonstration uses both switching systems and incorporates Lucent Technologies' TrueWave(R) RS (Reduced Slope) Fiber. "With DWDM systems, the industry is moving toward dynamic bandwidth switching," said Noboru Ogawa, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Hitachi Telecom. "Hitachi Telecom believes that carriers will want both OEO and all-optical switches in the future for distinctly different purposes. Carriers interested in these specific interoperability results can choose the best switch and the best DWDM equipment for particular network needs. We are pleased to be the first DWDM system manufacturer in the industry to host these multiple optical switching system demonstrations." Because they function differently, the OEO and all-optical switches will be deployed at the edge and core of the network to provide grooming, protection switching, fast provisioning and bandwidth trunking. The basic differences between the OEO and the all-optical approaches are based upon the technology. All-optical switching systems such as Calient Networks' DiamondWave photonic switching system, use micro-mirrors or micro-electrical-mechanical systems (MEMS) and are bandwidth independent. So it does not matter if the signal is an OC-48 at 2.5 Gbps or an OC-192 at 10 Gbps. With the Brightlink OEO approach, the BOSS 1000 switch provides protection switching as well as grooming from STS-1 to OC-48, a function that carriers are beginning to see as a differentiating factor among OEO switching system manufacturers. Hitachi Telecom's product, an enhanced version of the AMN 6100, reportedly offers unique and dynamic system adjustment based on optical switched traffic such that the DWDM system performance is automatically maintained at peak levels no matter the constant switching and traffic reconfigurations caused by either OEO or all-optical switches. This affords carriers cost savings through reduced equipment needed to deploy the system and, resulting in lower installation and maintenance fees. In addition, this product allows for faster and more efficient network deployment and upgrades, based on the minimal engineering upkeep needed to support the system. Interoperability with these latest generation optical switches adds the latest features to the AMN 6100.