NEXTLINK Chooses Lucent Technologies' Optical Networking Equipment to Manage and Distribute Bandwidth Along Its North American Fiber-Optic Backbone Network

Business Wire, Sept 12, 2000

Business Editors

MCLEAN, Va. & MURRAY HILL, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 12, 2000

--NEXTLINK's Inter-city Fiber-optic Network Deployment Continues

On Target for 2001 Completion--

--Lucent to Supply Its 10-Gigabit Networking

System and Its WaveStar BandWidth Manager--

NEXTLINK Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXLK), one of the world's fastest growing providers of broadband communications services, today announced it has signed a contract with Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) to deploy Lucent's WaveStar(TM) optical networking products to remotely manage and distribute bandwidth along NEXTLINK's 16,000-mile, inter-city, fiber-optic network.

The initial phase of the contract, which is worth an estimated $25 million, includes the deployment of Lucent's WaveStar TDM 10G, a system that transmits information at speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second (Gb/s), and the WaveStar BandWidth Manager, which will enable NEXTLINK to switch customer connections remotely, as necessary, from its Network Operations Center (NOC) in Plano, Texas. Under the Agreement, Lucent also has agreed to provide technical support for the NEXTLINK inter-city network enabling NEXTLINK to respond quickly to network and customer needs.

Lucent's systems will allow NEXTLINK to manage and reroute traffic around any potential congestion points in the network ensuring that its customers receive reliable service. Lucent's technology will allow NEXTLINK to go beyond providing connectivity to becoming a networking partner to its customers.

"Deployment of Lucent's advanced technologies will provide NEXTLINK with the ability to quickly and remotely provision voice and data services that will be difficult for our competition to replicate," NEXTLINK Vice President, Technology, Derrald Pick. "NEXTLINK intends to capitalize on the full capacity of our networks; Lucent's technology is well-suited to help us achieve that goal."

Deployments of Lucent's WaveStar systems will begin in larger Central Offices (CO's) such as New York and San Francisco, as well as major junction points along NEXTLINK's inter-city, fiber optic network as the segments of that network are delivered to NEXTLINK. These systems will incorporate remote bandwidth management and provisioning features which will enable NEXTLINK to respond to customer requests for additional coast-to-coast bandwidth or to reroute traffic within hours, instead of days, without the need for personnel visits at intermediate points in the network.

Remote management is an integral part of NEXTLINK's network design. While the 10 Gbps backbone will provide plenty of raw bandwidth, it is the remotely managed architecture that will help NEXTLINK manage the capacity to meet requirements for bandwidth on-demand. The initial phase of NEXTLINK's deployment of Lucent's systems is scheduled to occur over the next 18 months. NEXTLINK's IP-centric network is expected be completed in 2001, and will connect more than 60 major U.S. and Canadian cities.

Lucent's WaveStar TDM 10G employs a single laser that turns on and off 10 billion times per second. The pulses generated by this ultra-fast laser carry voice, data and video traffic across a single wavelength of light at 10 Gb/s (OC-192) rates. Offering a mix of features and functionality that NEXTLINK can match to its current network configuration, Lucent's TDM 10G and BandWidth Manager provide the open architecture that will enable NEXTLINK to support its customers in a multi-vendor environment.

"We are pleased to help NEXTLINK deploy its North American backbone network," said Jeong Kim, President Lucent's Optical Networking Group. "The ease for provisioning Lucent's optical networking systems will allow NEXTLINK to extend the reach of its network to that last-mile and an ever-growing number of customers."

Last month, NEXTLINK announced that it had began deploying optical transport systems for long-haul networking to "light" its inter-city, fiber optic network. The first segment delivered to NEXTLINK, known internally as the "Texas Triangle," is located between three Texas cities: Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. NEXTLINK expects that with the deployment of the DWDM equipment and Lucent's equipment it will become the first service provider to light more than 40 wavelengths at OC-192 on a single fiber.

Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Murray Hill, N.J., USA, designs and delivers the systems, software, silicon and services for next-generation communications networks for service providers and enterprises. Backed by the research and development of Bell Labs, Lucent focuses on high-growth areas such as broadband and mobile Internet infrastructure; communications software; communications semiconductors and optoelectronics; Web-based enterprise solutions that link private and public networks; and professional network design and consulting services. For more information on Lucent Technologies, visit its Web site at http://www.lucent.com.

NEXTLINK Communications is one of the world's leading providers of broadband communications services offering local and long distance voice communication services, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) access, Web hosting and e-commerce service, Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), dedicated access, global transit and application infrastructure services for delivering applications over the Internet or a VPN.