Astral Point Receives CLEI Codes From Telcordia To Expedite Service Provider OSS Integration.

Business/Technology Editors

CHELMSFORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 14, 2000

Use Of Equipment Identification Codes Completes First Phase Of OSMINE 

Services Compliance, Supports Network Customers

Astral Point Communications, Inc. announced today that it has received Common Language Equipment Identifier (CLEI) codes from Telcordia Technologies as part of the Operations System Modifications for the Integration of Network Elements (OSMINE) compliance process. OSMINE is a requirement when selling telecommunications equipment to incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs).

The OSMINE process is intended to facilitate the integration of networking equipment into the legacy operations support systems (OSS) of ILECs. All network elements must be integrated into the OSS for seamless provisioning, billing and monitoring across a service provider's network for rapid service deployment. Without the consistent set of interfaces that OSMINE provides, there is no assurance that disparate vendor products can interoperate under the OSS environment.

CLEI codes are assigned by Telcordia to each network element component to provide a standard method of identifying telecommunications equipment based on a common language. The codes are incorporated in service providers' OSS systems, such as inventory and billing systems, and affixed as text/barcode labels on each equipment module to facilitate ordering, inventory, maintenance, planning, investment tracking and circuit maintenance by service providers under a single set of rules.

Astral Point -- which initiated its OSMINE compliance program in August 2000 -- provided Telcordia with technical data on its ON 5000 Optical Services Node and related equipment, and has been assigned CLEI codes that now make it possible for a service provider to order Astral Point equipment in conformity with the process.

"Our interest in the CLEI code effort is two-fold. First, it provides the initial step for ILECs to integrate Astral Point products into their networks, as our elements can now be recognized in their circuit provisioning systems for end-to-end service creation. Second, this certification is also attractive to competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) that co-locate in a point-of-presence (POP), since they often have a CLEI code requirement from the ILECs as well. Such conformity improves every product's marketability and should benefit Astral Point in its sales and support activities with every customer," Pam Dodge, director of product management at Astral Point, stated.

Astral Point's ON 2000 and ON 5000 optical nodes support numerous metropolitan networking functions, including optical, SONET, distributed cross-connect, carrier-class IP, leased-line and Gigabit Ethernet traffic. They also convert signals into DWDM optical wavelengths through switching fabrics and high-density DWDM transponders. These and other features enable the nodes to dramatically improve the performance of high-speed optical networks used to carry voice, data, video and other traffic. The low-cost, small-footprint ON 2000 node supports low-cost traffic aggregation, Ethernet transport and T1 voice services near the edge of a metropolitan network, while the larger, more powerful ON 5000 node supports high bandwidth multi-service traffic demands in the metro network's core.

About Astral Point

Privately held Astral Point Communications, Inc., of Chelmsford, MA, is pioneering the development of equipment to manage optical bandwidth for new types of services in the emerging metro optical network. Its patent-pending self-healing protection algorithm, ON 5000 Optical Services Node, ON 2000 Optical Access Node and Galaxy Distributed Control Plane(TM) software combine to maximize the efficient use of optical power, simplify service upgrades and optimize use of the optical infrastructure. The company's ONset Optical Network Management System (ONMS) also enables service providers to add circuits in minutes from a single console. The ONset system also provides centralized management of circuit aggregation, grooming, LAN interconnection, banding and transport functions, and integrates many of the OSS support sub-systems required under the OSMINE Services process. Additional information about these capabilities can be found on the Astral Point web site at www.astralpoint.com.