OFS AND MRV DEMO 1400 NM TRANSMISSION OVER ZERO WATER PEAK FIBER AT SUPERCOMM 2002.

OFS, designer, manufacturer and supplier of leading edge fiber optic products, and MRV Communications Inc. (Nasdaq:MRVC), a provider of high-bandwidth, Ethernet Access solutions, have announced that at SuperComm 2002, both companies will demonstrate commercialization of 1400 nm equipment, using MRV's 16-channel Coarse WDM (CWDM), Lambda Driver WDM system and OFS' AllWave fiber.

MRV's 16-channel CWDM, LambdaDriver solution, running over OFS' zero water peak AllWave fiber, doubles the capacity previously available on other Coarse WDM systems, and dramatically lowers the overall cost for high channel WDM systems. LambdaDriver supports any data centric protocol from 10 Mbps to 2.5 Gbps and is upgradable to 10 Gbps. Support for up to 70 Km spans, Point-to-Point, Linear and Ring topologies with different protection schemes allows deployment of Metro networks based on this technology. More than 32 unprotected services per ring can be provided with LD1600 using 16 wavelengths.

"In order to lower costs, CWDM is an excellent alternative to DWDM deployments, as they require less expensive lasers and simplified "plug & play" hardware. The use of AllWave fibers provides the ability to transfer more CWDM channels than with conventional single mode fibers and in many cases will be preferred over DWDM alternatives," says Noam Lotan, president and CEO, MRV Communications. "Our solution allows WDM transmission over the full spectrum from 1310 nm to 1610 nm, reducing the costs of 16-channel WDM systems in metro areas. MRV is the first company in the market to provide a new technology, with lasers developed by Luminent, a wholly owned subsidiary of MRV, and the LambdaDriver WDM system from MRV.

Fully standardized in ITU as a G.652.C fiber, AllWave, zero water peak fiber, offers 100nm more useable spectrum than conventional (G.652) singlemode fiber.

Ideal for use in metro local and access networks, AllWave fiber can increase network capacity up to 50 percent while reducing application costs by up to 40 percent in typical fiber optic systems. AllWave fiber also is compatible with existing single-mode fiber systems, thereby allowing incremental upgrades as market demand increases.

"Essentially, what AllWave fiber offers carriers is free bandwidth, relaxed specs and a lower cost of application," said Santanu Das, Director of Metro and CATV System Engineering at OFS. "It represents a low cost entry point that can generate revenue fast, while giving carriers the full benefit of up to 16 channels on a single fiber."