Baby Bell commits to $500 million data network

Signal, Jul 1998

Local telephone customers soon will be able to enjoy high-speed Internet access, data storage and video conferencing over a fiber network. Bell Atlantic, New York, has signed a five-year agreement with Lucent Technologies, Murray Hill, New Jersey, for optical networking technology that includes dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM), network management software and synchronous optical network (SONET) technology.

Lucent is providing its WaveStar optical networking system that permits transmitting up to 80 laser wavelengths over a single fiber. The company also is supplying SONET transmission equipment that enables multiple rates up to 10 gigabits per second. The SONET systems are designed to collect and manage voice and data signals from network central offices for conversion to higher signal and transmission speeds.

The agreement also provides software for Bell Atlantic Network Services Incorporated to manage equipment from multiple vendors. Bell Atlantic has the option of using Lucent's BandWidth Manager network management system, which can route different types of optical signals.