Atoga Systems Introduces Instant Provisioning of Application Services with AppDirector.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

Comnet 2001

Booth 750

WASHINGTON, D.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--January 30, 2001

Service Providers Use Policy-based Network-Management System

to Increase Service Velocity and Set Meaningful SLAs

that Drive OAR 5, Atoga's Innovative,

Tunable DWDM Solution

Atoga Systems, a developer of intelligent Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) solutions, today introduced AppDirector, an easy-to-use network-management system for harnessing metered application services on intelligent optical networks. AppDirector and Atoga's first product, Optical Application Router 5 (OAR 5), form a complete provisioning solution for metropolitan service providers, enabling them to pursue higher-margin revenues through broadened service offerings. The Atoga solution will be demonstrated in Booth 750 at COMNET 2001, continuing through Feb. 1 at the Washington D.C. Convention Center.

AppDirector is a service provider's window to the OAR 5 network. Using AppDirector's intuitive graphical user interface (GUI), a network administrator dynamically manages bandwidth by defining service-level agreements (SLAs) and network-usage policies that optimally drive the tunable lasers. The Atoga platform provides a metro service provider with the service velocity and provisioning simplicity it needs to roll out a variety of high-bandwidth, latency-sensitive, metered services such as video on demand, content hosting, data mirroring, remote backup and other business-critical applications.

"AppDirector gives service providers a simple tool for marketing and retailing their assets in new ways. More customers are encouraged to buy services because they are able to choose the service package that most closely fits their particular business needs to run applications," said Debasish Biswas, founder and vice president of software with Atoga Systems. "For example, with AppDirector, a service provider could define 'Platinum,' 'Gold' and 'Silver' service packages -- each with graduated specifications for network resources such as guaranteed bandwidth and latency and for other attributes such as number of mailboxes, allowed storage space and security factors. AppDirector communicates the service policies to the OAR 5 network; OAR 5's tunable lasers regulate the bandwidth to satisfy the service-provider requirements spelled out in the various SLAs."

AppDirector and OAR 5 are in beta tests with several service providers. General availability is scheduled for March 2001.

About AppDirector

AppDirector is a policy-based network-management system for the OAR 5. Provisioning information, entered once, is distributed throughout the network so that traffic flows can be classified, policed and metered. AppDirector's repositories of network policies, customer SLAs and usage statistics are based on the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), which enables easy integration with a service provider's third-party business systems.

AppDirector includes three other standards-based components:

-- a ring manager which, with a single click at AppDirector's GUI, can
re-provision metro rings as customer needs dictate, giving service providers
the flexibility to optimize the usage of network resources;

-- a fault manager for collection, correlation, storage and display of
network-element alarms, enabling administrators to monitor network status and
ensure smooth operation; and

-- a Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) interface to facilitate
communication between AppDirector clients and the AppDirector policy server and
integration with third-party Operations and Support Systems (OSSs) or other,
home-grown network applications.

About Atoga

Atoga Systems designs, develops and manufactures intelligent, integrated WDM platforms for the optical Internet. Atoga's solutions for the metro network allow service providers to increase service velocity through intelligent and simplified provisioning of applications and services. Atoga's integrated optical platforms enable service providers to broaden service offerings, increase the aggregate performance of their network infrastructure and radically reduce the total cost of operation. Atoga was founded in December 1999 and is located in Fremont, California. Visit http://www.atoga.com.