Lucent Technologies Chosen by EuroTunnel for Optical Networking Products to Expand Communication Network Between Paris and London

Business Wire, March 4, 1999

PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar. 4, 1999--Lucent Technologies today announced that it has been selected by EuroTunnel (ETT) to supply optical networking equipment to expand ETT's communications network between Paris and London to meet customers' increasing demands for advanced voice and data services.

ETT will use Lucent's WaveStar(TM) optical networking products to provide end-to-end telecommunication network services to its business and service provider customers. ETT will supply its customers with managed capacity and bandwidth traffic from 2Mb/s to STM-16.

"Lucent is an experienced supplier that knows how to design, build and manage high-capacity networks, and is offering ETT a complete solution, including services, so we can provide our customers, both incumbent and new operators, with the sophisticated, high-speed communications they demand," said Alain Bertrand, deputy managing Director of EuroTunnel.

"This integrated SDH and DWDM pan-European optical network is a major milestone that will allow ETT to significantly expand the communications highways between continental Europe and the United Kingdom" said Michel Rouilleault, vice president of Lucent in France. "Lucent is committed to providing innovative and cost-effective optical networking solutions for European operators as they move their networks into the 21st century."

Under the agreement, Lucent will supply its WaveStar OLS 80G, high-capacity dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) system, that transmits up to16 wavelengths, or channels, on one fibre pair -- each with 2.5 gigabit-per-second capacity. With a total capacity of 40 gigabits in both directions on one fibre pair, ETT customers can transmit the equivalent of one-half million simultaneous phone calls.

Lucent also will supply its WaveStar ADM 16/1 -- synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) add/drop multiplexers -- and the associated network management system known as the Integrated Transport Management (ITM) system. The ability to manage all of these network elements with a single ITM is one of the advantages of Lucent's WaveStar family of products.

Designed by Lucent's research and development arm, Bell Labs, Lucent's WaveStar optical networking product family is a global platform for flexible and cost-effective network transport, and is optimised for diverse services spanning access, junction, regional and long-haul communications.

Lucent's 16-channel systems are being delivered to major customers around the world including Bayernwerk of Germany, British Telecom, KPN of the Netherlands, NETs of France, Telefonica of Spain, WorldPort of Netherlands, AT&T of the US, Alestra of Mexico, China's Ministry of Information Industries and Dacom of Korea.

Lucent is a leader in the optical networking industry, having already delivered approximately 2,000 DWDM systems to major customers around the world.

Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Murray Hill, New Jersey, US, designs, builds and delivers a wide range of public and private networks, communications systems and software, data networking systems, business telephone systems and microelectronics components. For more information on Lucent Technologies, visit the company's web site at http://www.lucent.com