CIENA multi-service solutions achieve Rural Utilities Service Acceptance

Fiber Optics Weekly Update, May 21, 2004

CIENA announced that the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has granted RUS Acceptance to CIENA's ONLINE Edge(TM) multi-service platform and its DN 7000 series of multi-service edge switching solutions, which includes the DN 7000, DN 7050, DN 7100, and DN 7200 products.

RUS Acceptance for ONLINE Edge and the DN 7000 series augments previously announced RUS Acceptance for CIENA's ONLINE Metro(TM) and MetroDirector K2(TM) multi-service platforms, as well as its CN 1000 broadband loop carrier (BLC). Together, these platforms form a cost-effective, end-to-end solution for the delivery of advanced voice, video, and data services on a converged broadband network.

With the approval of these products, CIENA offers a full suite of optical, data, and access solutions, which are available to independent operating companies (IOCs) for purchase using RUS program funding. RUS Acceptance indicates that these products meet strict requirements for field performance, compliance to standards, and U.S. manufacturing.

CIENA's DN 7000 series multi-service edge switching platform enables service providers to deliver customized services based on customer demand and service area density, at lower price points than any product on the market today. On a single platform, the 7000 series delivers native Frame Relay, ATM, Ethernet, Circuit Emulation Services (CES), and Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) functionality. The DN 7000 series allows service providers to protect and expand their current Layer 2 investments, and to migrate their existing and new services to IP/MPLS-based converged backbones.

CIENA's ONLINE Edge multi-service platform delivers service transparency through intelligent coarse wavelength division multiplexing (CWDM) technology, combined with industry-leading service aggregation. The compact and modular ONLINE Edge is designed for enterprises and service providers who require a mix of traditional TDM and a broad range of carrier-class, high-bandwidth, native data and storage services over a single optical infrastructure.