Hitachi, Nexabit link optical systems

Hitachi Telecom and Nexabit Networks announced that they have made their systems interoperate in the optical domain. Nexabit's NX64000 terabit switch router and Hitachi's AMN 6100 dense wave division multiplexing system share a 10 Gb/s optical interface that enables them to transmit wavelengths without electrical conversion via transponders.

The combined system, on display at Supercomm this week, supports direct transport of Internet protocol and asynchronous transfer mode traffic directly over Sonet at up to OC-192 rates.

"We are implementing Hitachi's OC-192 long-reach lasers directly on our router," said Mukesh Chatter, president and CEO of Nexabit.

Today, carriers that deploy OC-192 networks are required to have an interface to lower Sonet levels such as OC-48. The Nexabit device supports OC-3, OC-12, OC-48 and OC-192 interfaces, Chatter said. "We are saying you don't need to do all that or put that many boxes in. You can make a direct connection into DWDM and get rid of an entire [intermediate] layer of Sonet."

The system will save carriers in terms of procurement, management, maintenance, power and floor space, Chatter said.

The cost savings will be substantial, but the key is in the integration of long-range lasers, said Paul Strauss, senior analyst with International Data Corp. "You no longer have to have an interface between the router and the optical connection," he said. "Many [routers] still use short-range lasers or an electronic interface directly to that device, which will cost $100,000, or in many cases, $150,000 more."

Separately, Hitachi announced that MCI WorldCom is testing its optical cross connect in a six-node, dual ring configuration. The OXC accepts various traffic types originating from multiple vendors' equipment for transport over the optical backbone.

The ability to support multiprotocol traffic over WDM is key as optical backbones adjust for the increase in data traffic, said Shoichi Hanatani, general manager of Hitachi's Dallas advanced system center. "Our goal is to [have] everyone understand that optical protection or OXC technology is more cost-effective and should work well for data-centric networks," he said.