Calient Networks supports rapid growth in "IP over Optics" Networking

January 24, 2005

San Jose, Calif. and Bangkok, Thailand. January 24, 2005—Calient Networks, a leading carrier-class photonic switching systems and software provider, has announced expanded support for the growing base of ‘IP Over Optics’ networking in research, government and commercial applications . The company is adding sales teams and expanding industry partnerships to address rising demands in the Service Provider market and among the world’s 100+ National Research and Educational Networks (NRENs). The company will also speak at this week’s Asia-Pacific Advanced Network (APAN) conference, to present findings from its forefront engagement with IP over Optics based networks throughout the world.

With IP over Optics, commercial service providers and private government and research networks can migrate from separate packet -switched and circuit switched network infrastructures to multi-layer and end-to-end service architectures by integrating physical-layer optical transport and switching elements with routing devices. Together with telecom industry ex perts and advanced network developers and vendors, Calient sees this trend as one of the most important in high-performance networking, and one which will exert a powerful influence on carrier deployments over the next three years.

IP over Optics Trends in Research Networks
The shift from pure IP networking over leased circuits to hybrid IP/optical networking is enabling the launch of new applications with quantum leaps in performance and speed. Supercomputer clusters thousands of miles apart are now interconnected at faster-than-data-bus speeds. Optical switching is virtually erasing latency and throughput limits, to enable distributed e-science applications such as high- resolution geophysical visualization and Very Long Base Interferometry (VLBI) astrophy sics R&D.
IP over Optics will let global scientific communities share petaflops of critical data across Grid computing networks.

For these applications, photonic switching and Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) technology
can result in as much as a 90% cost reduction over traditional SDH/SONET networks. Multiple streams of light (lambdas) travel simultaneously over a single fiber, and all-photonic switch ports enable an order-of- magnitude cheaper, simpler and more reliable switching than electro-optical systems.

Government and scientific research institutions now often opt for DWDM and dark fiber instead of leased circuits as they can transport 10 Gigabit Ethernet over a wavelength without costly SONET/SDH encapsulation or router termination at intermediate nodes.

Calient has been a leader in IP over Optics networking since 2000, through early trials and deployments with carriers and research networks in Japan. Its DiamondWave ? photonic switching systems and GMPLS software have been deployed since 2001 in Japan’s nationwide Super Science Information Network (Super-SINET), and expanded in 2004 to support the Japan Gigabit Network II (JGN II). This network delivers GbE and 10GbE bandwidth-on-demand services, and carries revenue-bearing traffic.

“We’ve built tremendous expertise in both experimental and production research networks, which we are now leveraging to support new waves of IP/optical deployment in Europe and North America,” states Calient Chief Marketing Officer Ron Mackey. “NRENs worldwide have already harnessed the tremendous efficiencies of IP networking, and the performance and economic advantages of optical facilities. Now mainstream commercial operator deployments are occurring, with Asian carriers leading the way.”

“GMPLS is the glue that makes broad-based IP/optical work,” continued Mackey. “Our GMPLS -powered switches interoperate seamlessly with other vendors’ advanced routing and transport equipment in these global networks”.

GMPLS also saves substantial costs through network resource discovery, automated bandwidth provisioning, mesh network protection and easier network planning. GMPLS protocols are critical to support end-to-end provisioning across multiple network domains. This is particularly important in the context of the National Research and Education Networks, and it is expected to become more important for multi-carrier networks in the coming years.

GMPLS provides a flexible and scalable network foundation to develop new services such as Grid networking. Calient support s the OptIPuter and UltraLight research programs to integrate new middleware like Authentication, Authorization and Accounting (AAA) and MonALISA with photonic switches and GMPLS to support advanced e-science applications.

The Calient product portfolio addresses the R&D experimental network market with its low-cost DiamondWave PX switching sub-system, and the carrier-grade production network market with its carrier- class and in-service upgradeable DiamondWave PXC switching system. Calient’s DiamondWave Controller is an effective way to add GMPLS capability to non-native GMPLS devices.

About Calient Networks, Inc.
Calient Networks is a leading provider of intelligent, carrier-class photonic switching systems and software that help service providers scale their networks for expanding bandwidth demands and deliver new wavelength services. Calient's DiamondWave switching system and GMPLS -powered networking innovations provide a seamless, 'opto-electronic-to-photonic' migration path that is non-disruptive to
legacy operations, highly cost-effective, and an enabler to revenue-generating optical services. Calient is shipping its DiamondWave PXC systems and PX switching subsystems to production networks, labs and OEMs worldwide. The company is headquartered in San Jose, Calif. Additional engineering and manufacturing operations are located in Santa Barbara, Calif., while MEMS design and fabrication operations are located in Ithaca, N.Y. For additional information about Calient, visit http://www.calient.net.