Alcatel SONET Radios -- Industry Innovation Provides Wireless SONET Connectivity for Quebec Telephone and US West.RICHARDSON, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 17, 1995--Two recent contracts underscore The underscore character (_) is often used to make file, field and variable names more readable when blank spaces are not allowed. For example, NOVEL_1A.DOC, FIRST_NAME and Start_Routine. (character) underscore - _, ASCII 95. the importance of Alcatel's SONET (synchronous optical network (networking) Synchronous Optical NETwork - (SONET) A broadband networking standard based on point-to-point optical fibre networks. SONET will provide a high-bandwidth "pipe" to support ATM-based services. ) radio to the telecommunications industry. Alcatel is upgrading previously-installed radios to SONET interfaces for Quebec-Telephone and is establishing an all-SONET radio route for US West in Wyoming. These contracts, with a combined value of just under US $5 million, establish important industry precedents for Alcatel and carriers seeking complete SONET connectivity, notably the first in-service upgrade of an asynchronous Refers to events that are not synchronized, or coordinated, in time. The following are considered asynchronous operations. The interval between transmitting A and B is not the same as between B and C. The ability to initiate a transmission at either end. or plesiochronous high-capacity microwave radio system to SONET. Quebec-Telephone This project shows the strategic importance of SONET radio links to allow the affordable completion of high-capacity, high-reliability SONET rings The architecture used in SONET technology. SONET rings, known as "self-healing rings," use two or more transmission paths between network nodes, which are typically digital cross-connects (DCSs) or add/drop multiplexers (ADMs). across the St. Lawrence River, where Alcatel and Quebec-Telephone are building SONET fiber routes on the north and south shores. The SONET technology also permits automatic service restoration between host and remote switching facilities. "Alcatel's innovative solutions will provide an invaluable access to the protection channel for video transmissions and will facilitate network management from the point of view of trouble location," said Claude Gendron, Quebec-Telephone Vice President -- Network Operations. Alcatel recently provided and installed software and hardware upgrades to the existing radio infrastructure and has completed system testing (testing) system testing - (Or "application testing") A type of testing to confirm that all code modules work as specified, and that the system as a whole performs adequately on the platform on which it will be deployed. . Specifically, the project calls for two terminals of Alcatel MDR-4102s (2 Ghz 1x52 Mb/s link) and ten upgrade terminal kits to convert existing Alcatel MDR-4306e (6 Ghz 3x45 Mb/s links) radios into the SONET equivalent MDR-4306s (6 Ghz 3x52 Mb/s links). One 77-kilometer link and one 56-kilometer link are now carrying three STS-1s of traffic each (one DS-3 or STS-1 equals 672 voice channels). The upgrades were performed on live, in-service radio links with no loss of traffic or service interruption. The remaining three hops will be converted to SONET over the next few months so that all communities on both sides of the river will enjoy seamless SONET connections. US West Alcatel radios will increase capacity by 100 percent in some portions and 50 percent in others as US West shifts to digital SONET technology for its Jackson to Casper, Wyoming Casper is the only city in Natrona County, Wyoming, United States, although the county is home to a number of small towns and Casper suburbs. With a population of 49,644, Casper is the second largest city in Wyoming, after the capital city of Cheyenne with 53,011 inhabitants, route. Systems levels will vary from 6 to 18 DS-3s, depending on local community traffic requirements. US West is deploying these radios to provide eventually direct SONET STS-1 connections in Jackson. Alcatel will begin shipment of its MDR-4306s and MDR-4311s radios in mid-October and begin installation shortly thereafter. This schedule will enable US West to establish first SONET services by the end of 1995 and convert the entire route by early 1996. This route consists of seven sites -- some installed on mountain tops, six hops and 48 transmit/receive units. "This SONET technology will enable US West to diversify our routes for network protection. It also gives us the flexibility to offer the latest services to all of our customers," said Stan Bader, Vice President for US West Wyoming. "Alcatel radio technology has proven itself time and again in our network and we look forward to the benefits of SONET microwave radio." Alcatel is playing a leading role in developing SONET radios for advanced network applications. Carriers of all types find SONET radios useful for low- and medium-density traffic wherever geographic obstacles or other conditions make laying fiber optic cable Noun 1. fiber optic cable - a cable made of optical fibers that can transmit large amounts of information at the speed of light fibre optic cable transmission line, cable, line - a conductor for transmitting electrical or optical signals or electric power too expensive or impossible. The Alcatel MDR-4000s series SONET radios are critical elements to fill gaps and ensure the advantages of SONET connectivity throughout the network. In ring configurations, for example, radios with an OC-3 (optical carrier level 3, 155 Mb/s) interface option will maintain full uni-directional path switch protection features, as found in the advanced Alcatel 1603/12 SM OC-3/-12 add/drop multiplexers A device installed at an intermediate point on a transmission line that enables new signals to come in and existing signals to go out. In a typical example, most signals pass through the device, but some would be "dropped" by splitting them from the line. . In this configuration, an Alcatel radio can work directly with the multiplexer See multiplexor and multiplexing. multiplexer - multiplexor so that a carrier may extract T1 traffic streams wherever needed. Alcatel Network Systems designs, manufactures and services a full line of voice, data, video and multimedia transmission products -- such as ATM switching systems Switching systems (communications) The assemblies of switching and control devices provided so that any station in a communications system may be connected as desired with any other station. , digital cross connects, fiber optic transmission systems, optical amplifiers A device that boosts light signals in an optical fiber network. Unlike regenerators, which have to convert light to electricity in order to amplify it and then convert it back again to light, the optical amplifier amplifies the light signal itself. , microwave radios, video codecs (1) A hardware circuit that converts analog video (NTSC, PAL, SECAM) into digital code and vice versa. The term may refer to only the A/D and D/A conversion, or it may include the compression technique for further reducing the signal (definition #2 below). See codec. , and network management systems. These products are used in high performance networks throughout the telecommunications, broadcast and utility industries. The parent company, Alcatel, is one of the world's leading communications equipment manufacturers, with plants in 32 countries and markets in over 125 countries. CONTACT: Alcatel Network Systems, Richardson Michael Newsom, 214/996-7896 or Internet: michael_newsom@aud.alcatel.com |
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