Photuris Rolls Out V32000 Optical Distribution System; Disciplined Design Combines Critical Metro Regional Transport Functions, Fully Automates Optical Layer.

Business Editors & Technology Writers

NFOEC 2002

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 17, 2002

Photuris, a developer of metro regional optical transport systems, launches its V32000 Optical Distribution System this week at NFOEC 2002. The purpose-built system delivers a fully automated optical layer, reconfigurable OADM and modular, carrier-selectable SONET/SDH add/drop functions. Together with intelligent optical amplifier features, these functions put wavelength deployment and management on par with the ease and familiarity of SONET. Systems are NEBS 3 qualified and shipping to carriers for trials and first office applications.

Carrier Requirements

Service providers want to deploy WDM for fiber and space relief in high-traffic metro regional applications, but emphasize that deployment will be minimal until the technology is less costly, more SONET-like to provision, and available at single wavelength granularity.

Carriers also see stacked SONET rings as capital inefficient and cumbersome. Massive ADM farms at major nodes waste ports, fibers and technician hours. Providers want to cap this outdated model, replacing it with one simplified solution for both WDM and SONET transport needs.

"Photuris' V32000 addresses underserved metro regional transport needs in the WDM and TDM domains," states Ashish Vengsarkar, company co-founder and VP of Product Marketing. "These include reconfigurable OADM with single wavelength granularity; `judiciously' integrated WDM and TDM; and wavelength/TDM-layer flexible protection. To achieve SONET-like simplicity, the system provides one-time node engineering, live node insert and jumperless provisioning."

Features

The V32000 includes four in-house innovations that distinguish it from all other transport devices:

-- Versicolor(TM) integrates four functions on a single optical line card: WDM demux/mux at the system input/output; fully flexible, reconfigurable OADM wavelength switching (any wavelength to any port, independent of any other wavelength); per-wavelength power balancing; and real-time per-wavelength optical power monitoring.

-- ADM-on-a-Wavelength(TM) line cards deliver the full functionality of a SONET ADM terminal, enabling transceivers to be added to hot-pluggable ports as services are activated.

-- VersiNET(TM) Software Suite includes VersiNET Engine intelligent network element software; automated network configuration; a GMPLS-based distributed control plane; VersiNET Planner optical layer configurator and traffic planning tools; and VersiNET Manager Element Management System (EMS), Command Line Interface (CLI), and Craft Interface Terminal (CIT).

-- Mix-and-Match Optical Layer Protection(TM) delivers granular and flexible protection at both the Optical and SONET layers on a per-wavelength selectable basis. This allows carriers to mix and match different protection schemes for diverse services and traffic patterns, on the same physical ring.

Combined with patented gain equalization and transient control via integrated optical amplifiers, these features allow Photuris to offer a fully automated optical layer and disruptive cost savings.

"Photuris has introduced a step-function improvement through its converged WDM/SONET functionality, without disturbing existing carrier ops paradigms," says Rick Thompson, Principal with PointEast Research. "Given providers' resistance to abandon the SONET provisioning processes, this was a very smart move."

Photuris' carrier-grade system has entered the Telcordia OSMINE Services process for Telcordia TIRKS and NMA Systems.

Economics

In the past six months, Photuris has extensively modeled its system economics with carriers in RFP responses and lab configurations. The V32000 was configured side-by-side against conventional fixed OADM and SONET ADM solutions in a wide variety of metro network topologies and traffic patterns, including full mesh, single hub hybrid and dual hub hybrid.

As Michael Howard, Principal Analyst and Co-Founder of Infonetics Research, describes it, "part of the competitive edge and economic value of Photuris lies in the ability of the system to free up 'banded strandwidth'. Unlike fixed OADM systems, which add and drop a band of several wavelengths, this approach enables per-wavelength add and drop, as well as re-use and management of single wavelengths. This single wavelength add-drop capability allows service providers to gain full utilization of their DWDM capacity."

Against existing solutions, Photuris achieved the following efficiencies:

-- Up to 40% savings in capital expense, through elimination of

systems, ports and fibers

-- Up to 4x fewer OADM systems and fibers, resulting in dramatic

power and footprint savings

-- Up to 2x savings in operational expenses and 3x reduction in

site visits, through streamlined engineering processes,

automation, elimination of dispatches to intermediate nodes

-- Up to 7x lifetime savings (measured as the ratio between opex

savings and capex invested)

Economic analysis and product detail are available to press upon request.

"Photuris' V32000 will attract carrier interest due to its flexibility and the early refinement in its VersiNET software", says Dave Dunphy, Principal Analyst of Optical Infrastructure at Current Analysis. "Ring termination capabilities offer tangible savings, and features like real-time power monitoring, per-wavelength power balancing and transient control help streamline OPEX. The VersiNET suite extends above and beyond the EMS and planning tool functionality most startups address in the first release, and carriers will appreciate Photuris' early attention to OAMP issues."

In a separate release, the company details its collaboration with White Rock Networks' SONET multi-service provisioning platforms, to ensure end-to-end metro network interoperability and cost-effectiveness. The Photuris V32000 is being demonstrated at NFOEC in booth 2841.

About Photuris

Photuris develops metro core and regional optical transport systems that deliver disruptive cost savings and new services over existing transport networks. Photuris' innovative Versicolor(TM), Optical Amplifier and ADM-on-a-Wavelength(TM) line cards enable its V32000 Optical Distribution System to satisfy the unique requirements of interoffice networks, with a carrier-preferred SONET operational approach.

Photuris was founded in January 2000 with a mission to merge WDM and TDM networking infrastructures. The founders have recruited a strong management and technical team with deep carrier implementation expertise from Alcatel, Cisco, Corning, Ericsson, Lucent, Fujitsu and Zhone Technologies. The company's Optical Distribution System is fully developed, has passed NEBS Level 3, ETSI and UL certification, as well as nine months of lab trials with incumbent and non-traditional carriers. For more information, go to www.photuris.com.