New Brunswick Telephone Chooses Alcatel Multiplexers for Advanced SONET Ring Networks Serving Entire Province.

RICHARDSON, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 12, 1997--New Brunswick Telephone (NBTel) is installing Alcatel 1603/12 SONET multiplexers in 17 SONET (synchronous optical network) ring networks as part of a new high-speed, high-capacity system serving the province.

NBTel already has inaugurated several new networks and expects to have all 17 operational by the end of this year. The ring networks will operate at either 155 Mbit/s or 622 Mbit/s to make possible improved voice, data and multimedia (including Internet) services.

The Alcatel 1603/12 SM can operate at both the 155 Mbit/s and 622 Mbit/s line rates from a single shelf and features a range of configurations and applications, such as, simultaneous grooming of VT (virtual tributary), STS, and ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) circuits. Also, when carriers need to expand capacity to meet growing traffic requirements or changing traffic patterns, the 1603/12 SM minimizes network downtime by allowing in-service upgrades from 155 to 622 Mbit/s. Alcatel expects to ship to NBTel in 1997 more than 50 1603/12 SM units in add/drop and terminal configurations.

"The Alcatel multiplexers will help us pass along all of the benefits of SONET to our customers as we grow and diversify one of the most sophisticated networks in North America," said Gary Lund, General Manager of Future Services for NBTel. "We are making steady progress towards our goal of achieving a 100 percent SONET infrastructure."

More and more carriers are deploying SONET-standard equipment because users benefit from unified network management, high transmission rates and standardized optical interfaces that facilitate the transport of any type of communications traffic that can be converted into a digital bit stream. SONET also creates highly-reliable and survivable services.

The rings are connecting all major population centers in New Brunswick and will indirectly link all NBTel customers. Each unidirectional ring will have an average of five nodes. In another demonstration of Alcatel's advanced SONET interoperability capabilities, NBTel is using 20 Alcatel 1603/12 SMs in a linear add/drop configuration to provide 622 Mbit/s rate drops to a higher capacity (2.4 Gbit/s) multiplexer made by another manufacturer.

NBTel also is testing the extended performance monitoring (EPM) features of the 1603/12 SM, specifically Alcatel's DS1 (a 24-voice circuit equivalent) EPM card. EPM gives carriers the ability to monitor circuits and quality of service all the way to their customer premises, which allows them to reduce service downtime and maintenance activities.

Alcatel's 1603/12 SM product is gaining more market share because of the features described above and Alcatel's unique FlexPoint(TM) option, available with release 6.0. FlexPoint(TM) provides comprehensive traffic management and interconnection between new SONET and older, but still prevalent, asynchronous DS1 and DS3 networks. The 1603/12 SM accommodates three FlexPoint(TM) drop or tributary options -- any mix of electrical DS1, DS3/STS-1 (672 voice channels) or optical 155 Mbit/s interfaces. Network operators now can map high-speed DS3s intact, DS3s with groomed-out DS1s, or map DS3 drops built from groomed and concentrated VT 1.5 high-speed circuits.

Alcatel's activities in North America include the design, manufacture and service of a full line of voice, data, video and multimedia telecommunications products -- such as ATM switching systems, digital cross connects, DSL systems, fiber optic transmission systems, optical amplifiers, microwave radios, wireless communications switches, video codecs, and network management systems. The telecommunications and broadcast industries, private operators and corporations use these products to create high performance networks. The global operations of Alcatel make it one of the world's leading communications equipment manufacturers. Alcatel is part of the Alcatel Alsthom group, which maintains its headquarters in Paris. Alcatel Alsthom trades on the New York Stock Exchange as ALA.

CONTACT: Alcatel

Michael Newsom, 972/996-7896

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