Interfacing data to Sonet >BY BETH SNYDER, Switching &Transmission Editor

Lucent Technologies intends to integrate a DS-3 interface onto its Sonet DDM-2000 multiplexer to connect to edge data switches, company officials said last week.

In addition, Lucent is offering a seamless fit with its October-acquired asynchronous transfer mode and Ethernet edge switch, Agile Networks' ATMizer-2000.

"If a customer already has deployed other edge switches in the network, we can connect to them, but we do think that the ATMizer offers unique capabilities," said Steven Hersey, manager of Sonet applications engineering.

There are several hundred ATMizer switches in networks around the country, but there are thousands of Lucent DDM-2000 multiplexers in service provider networks.

Hersey said the selling will go both ways, to those providers that already have ATMizers and to DDM-2000 users. If a service provider is using the DDM-2000, adding data from the ATMizer switch would be the same kind of circuit pack as the voice circuit packs already running on the multiplexer, said Brian Milewski, Sonet marketing communications manager.

Two other advantages to the ATMizer, Lucent officials said, are its ability to allow corporate local area network users to move within the LAN easily; and to give service providers the ability to guarantee service levels and bandwidth.