NXTcomm08: ECI adds edge ROADM, ADM card

LAS VEGAS -- ECI Telecom today introduced a new version of its reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer (ROADM) for edge networks.

The new two-degree ROADM joins the 10-degree version designed by the Israeli based vendor for the metro core. By adding the less expensive, lower capacity product to areas with lower traffic volume than the metro core, carriers can build a comprehensive network operated by a single, uniform management system, ECI said. And like the 10-degree ROADM, the new edge device can handle 40 channels or, if needed, be expanded to 80.

In pushing ROADM functions (which have been deployed widely in metro networks in recent years) to the edge, ECI follows other vendors such as subsystem supplier Nistica in 2006 and Tellabs and Nortel Networks last year.

Along with the new edge ROADM, ECI announced what it called a multiservice “ADM on a card,” a card capable of handling 8 client interfaces of various types, including fiber channel, Ethernet and Sonet/SDH and multiplex them into one 10-Gb/s optical ring using Optical Transport Network, or OTN, technology. According to ECI the ADM on a card is particularly helpful in transporting video traffic in the metro, as it includes multicast “drop-and-continue” capabilities.

ECI is also introducing another product for use with its XDM optical platform: a four-port “combiner” module that muxes lower rate signals such as fiber channel STM-1 and gigabit Ethernet onto a 2.5-Gb/s WDM wavelength (either coarse or dense WDM).

All the new gear will be available in the third quarter, ECI said.