Tellabs, White Rock in OEM deal

Tellabs and White Rock Networks today said they would integrate their products and create a new metro service delivery platform.

Under the terms of the original equipment manufacturer agreement, Tellabs will integrate White Rock's VLX2010 OC-48 and VLX2020 OC-192 next-generation Sonet add/drop multiplexers into the Tellabs Titan 6100 optical transport system. The result is an enhanced metro DWDM-based service delivery platform. As part of the agreement, Tellabs also will manage, market, sell and support the White Rock products as an integrated part of the Tellabs Titan 6100 beginning in June.

According to Andrew Knott, vice president of marketing for White Rock, the companies had been working together for some time to modify Tellabs’ existing management systems. The two companies also demonstrated interoperability between their products at the National Fiber Optics Engineers Conference in July 2001.

There’s a lot of OEMs that get done but don’t really go anywhere,” said Knott. The difference in this one, he added, was that White Rock’s ADMs are a logical extension to Tellabs’ stated product plans.

“This along with the acquisition of Occular shows that they have a well-thought-out plan of sharpening their product focus,” said Knott.

As part of the agreement, White Rock will continue selling its ADMs through direct channels to U.S. customers. However, Tellabs will be responsible for sales and marketing of the integrated platform worldwide.

“There doesn’t seem to be a lot of likelihood that we’re going to trip over each other,” said Knott.