Global Photon and Alcatel Sign Contract to Supply Terrestrial and Submarine Optical Network for Coastal California Cities and Silicon Valley

Business Wire, June 7, 2000

Business/Technology Editors

SUPERCOMM 2000

ATLANTA, SUPERCOMM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 7, 2000

Self-healing DWDM network to provide high capacity Internet

connection to the Silicon Valley

Global Photon Systems, Inc. and Alcatel (NYSE: ALA) have signed a contract, valued at more than US$100 million, for a fully integrated submarine and terrestrial Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) network in California. It will provide high level capacity ? more than four Tbits/s - for Internet, voice and data services to all the major cities on the coast of California from San Francisco to San Diego and also will meet the high capacity, high bandwidth demands of Silicon Valley.

The network is designed to interconnect with the main undersea cable networks that will connect the U.S. to the Asia-Pacific area, such as Japan-U.S., China-U.S. and Southern Cross, providing secure and compatible alternate capacity distribution for international communication traffic along the coast and inland.

"Working closely with Alcatel, we have designed a festoon system with a unique architecture, combining the strengths of both off-shore and terrestrial optical networking technologies. This network is an important element in protecting the critical infrastructure of California, which has some of the most demanding customers in the world for broadband communications," said Tim Stamnitz, president and CEO of Global Photon Systems. "Using Alcatel's state-of-the-art technology, this network is able to serve as a reliable backbone for our main customers such as the international and domestic carriers, ISPs (Internet Service Providers), CLECs (Competitive Local Exchange Carriers) and large corporations."

The network, named Global West Network, will span a distance of more than 2,000 km. The system will use 24-fiber pair underwater cable, with each fiber pair having 16 wavelengths at 10 Gbit/s. Higher fiber counts will be used on certain terrestrial segments. Alcatel is also supplying the network management systems and the Synchronous Optical Network equipment capable of providing the full range of electrical and optical interfaces to meet the needs of Global Photon's customers. The system takes advantage of Alcatel's technological lead in the field of high capacity unrepeatered DWDM systems in having no undersea in-line components in the cable ? either electronic or optical. The wavelength division multiplexing used for transmission means that the network also has considerable inherent flexibility in terms of future upgrades.

The Global West Network will comprise five submarine segments and five terrestrial segments, which will allow for two or more separate rings, offering a robust protected architecture. The network will provide diverse connectivity between the main cities along the coast of California, with direct connections between San Francisco, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and San Diego. The network also will connect the international communication gateway in San Luis Obispo to San Jose, and the heart of Silicon Valley via a dedicated self-healing ring. The entire system will be operational by the first quarter of 2001, with earlier availability on certain key segments.

"This contract shows once again that Alcatel has a unique position in being able to design and provide fully integrated optical city-to-city networks with a submarine, terrestrial or combined solution, according to our customers' needs," said Christian Reinaudo, president of Alcatel Optics. "These solutions range from the most advanced DWDM systems to the most comprehensive and customized services."

To ensure the continued operational reliability of the network, Global Photon has also awarded to Alcatel a multi-year renewable operation, administration and maintenance contract to provide a full-service package for all marine, terrestrial and cable station elements of the network. Under this contract Alcatel will provide a dedicated on-site team of experts to continually monitor and maintain the network and provide the necessary end-customer support.

While California is at the forefront of the Internet revolution, with ever increasing capacity needs, the existing terrestrial networks along its coast are subject to a high-risk earthquake zone. However, seismic studies demonstrate that an undersea offshore cable provides maximum resistance against cable breaks. One of the principal advantages of the Global West Network is that the continuity of the whole network will be ensured in the event of seismic disruption, thanks to the submarine link architecture.

About Global Photon

Global Photon Systems, Inc. is a high-tech telecommunication start-up located at One America Plaza in downtown San Diego. The key employees have a wealth of experience in fiber optic communications, having provided leadership in the development of both submarine and terrestrial fiber optic systems for AT&T, Alcatel, and the U.S. Navy throughout the world over the last two decades. After conducting feasibility studies for several coastal fiber optic systems in the U.S., they focused their attention specifically on the development of Global West. The system design, development, planning, route surveys, and permitting are well advanced. After a year and one-half environmental study for the California State Lands Commission, lead agency for the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the Global West Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) was certified and a permit for lease of state lands approved on April 20, 2000.