24 OIF Member Companies to Demonstrate Interoperability at OFC 2003; Successful Interoperability Test Completed.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

OFC 2003

FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 17, 2003

The Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) announced that 24 vendor companies participated in the initial interoperability testing of the OIF's User Network Interface (UNI), Network-to-Network Interface (NNI) and Physical and Link Layer (PLL) technical work. All vendors that participated were able to successfully demonstrate interoperability and will take part in the event at OFC 2003 in Atlanta on March 25-27 in OIF's booth #7620, Hall B3.

"Our OFC interoperability tests demonstrate the breadth of the OIF's work and its impact on the entire industry," said Joe Berthold, CIENA Corporation, president of the OIF. " Implementation agreements that enable interoperable solutions and that are broadly deployed is the goal of the OIF, and we're making great progress. We plan to show the industry the real world solutions that we work on every day."

"Network operators, particularly the large incumbents, consider interoperability - at the physical, data, management, and control levels - as critical when planning how and when to evolve their optical networks," noted Dana Cooperson, group director of RHK, Inc.'s optical networking research programs. "The OIF's OFC demos will highlight the progress the industry has made on interoperability at the physical and control levels and move network operator dreams of intelligent optical internetworking one step closer to reality."

The following companies will participate in the OIF interoperability demo at OFC 2003; Alcatel, AMCC, Avici Systems, Big Bear Networks, CIENA Corporation, Data Connection Limited, ELEMATICS, Intel Corporation, Iolon, Mahi Networks, Motorola Computer Group/NetPlane, Multiplex, Inc., NEC, NEC Electronics, Network Elements, Nortel Networks, Santur Corp., Sycamore Networks, Inc., Tellabs, Tellium, Inc., Tyco Electronics, Velio, Vitesse, Xilinx. Agilent and Tektronix, Inc. will support the demonstration by providing test equipment.

OIF's Interoperability Demonstration at OFC 2003

The OIF will sponsor the first Physical and Link Layer (PLL) Interoperability Demonstration and the broadest demonstration of optical networking capabilities (UNI/NNI) at OFC 2003.

The first-ever demonstration of the OIF's integrated UNI/NNI specifications will highlight the dynamic, end-to-end connection establishment between client devices and optical network elements in the Control Plane.

The PLL demonstration will highlight the interoperability of multiple OIF IA's, including:

-- SPI-4.2: System Packet Interface Level 4, Phase 2: System Interface for Physical and Link Layer Devices

-- SFI-4.1: Serdes Framer Interface for a common electrical interface between SONET framer and serial/deserializer parts for OC-192 interfaces

-- SFI-5: Serdes Framer Interface Level 5: 40Gb/s Interface for Physical Layer Devices

-- VSR-4: OC-192 Very Short Reach Interface

-- Tunable Laser IA

-- TFI-5 work in-progress: Time Division Multiplexed (TDM) switch Fabric to Framer Interface

About the OIF

Launched in April of 1998, the OIF is a rapidly growing, non-profit organization with more than 250+ international member companies, including many of the world's leading carriers and vendors. As the only industry group uniting representatives from data and optical networks, the OIF helps advance the standards and methods of optical networks. OIF's purpose is to accelerate the deployment of interoperable, cost-effective and robust optical internetworks and their associated technologies. Optical internetworks are data networks composed of routers and data switches interconnected by optical networking elements.

With the goal of promoting worldwide compatibility of optical internetworking products, the OIF actively supports and extends the work of national and international standards bodies. Formal liaisons have been established with The ATM Forum, IETF, ITU-T Study Group 15, MEF, NPF, T1M1, T1X1 and the TMF. More information on the OIF can be found at www.oiforum.com.