Fujitsu Network Communications Inc.

New Fujitsu Transport Switching Capabilities Simplify Networks and Reduce Expenses for Wireless Carriers

Field-proven FLASHWAVE® 4500 Platform Offers Scalable Switching for MSCs without the Cost and Complexity of Existing DCS Solutions

New Orleans, LA, March 14, 2005 — Fujitsu Network Communications Inc., a leading supplier of IT and wireline/wireless networking solutions, today announced a new, scalable transport switching solution for wireless carriers. The strategy is based on the highly-flexible and field-proven Fujitsu FLASHWAVE® 4500 Multi-Service Switching Platform (MSSP), which offers the benefits of a Digital Cross-connect System (DCS) without the cost and scalability issues that hinder existing solutions. The platform can be justified for a wide variety of switching requirements in Mobile Switching Centers (MSCs) of all sizes, matching capital investment with today’s traffic demands and minimizing risks.

Current DCS solutions are designed for massive switching requirements, but few MSCs require this capacity. As a result, wireless carriers accepted the high power, space, and cost requirements of stripped-down DCS variants because no other solutions were available. Today, these carriers are discovering that growing their DCSs to handle increasing traffic demands is not as easy or cost-effective as initially promised. Frequent software upgrades and ongoing maintenance issues are costly and time-consuming, and adding extra capacity can be a complex process. High capital and expense costs have also made a DCS prohibitive for most remote Base Station Controller (BSC) sites and many smaller MSCs. The resulting DS1/DS3 multiplexing equipment and manual cross-connections by patch cords have created a cabling nightmare and added thousands of potential failure points to the network.

Fujitsu has solved these limitations with the FLASHWAVE 4500 MSSP. Wireless carriers can start with a single-shelf FLASHWAVE 4500 configuration with a 45G or 70G STS switch fabric and 20 interface slots to meet the traffic demands in smaller MSCs. Later, when traffic demand grows, a larger switch fabric can be added to allow a single shelf to offer 100G service capacity. When additional interface capacity is required, a second and third shelf can be added to expand the system to 40 interfaces and 200G capacity or 60 interfaces and 300G capacity. Three shelves can fit in a single rack and all upgrades are non-service-affecting, making this the easiest capacity upgrade available.

“A typical DCS deployment requires carriers to install a completely new network element and incur a significant capital investment, critical long-range planning expense, and the overhead of supporting yet another network element,” said Dana Cooperson, group and program director of optical networking at RHK, a leading independent telecom research firm. “As the market leader in the North American SONET market with a 28% share (per our research), Fujitsu has provided carriers with an alternative to the DCS that allows grooming capacity to be added as needed, lowering short term capital expense and risk.”

“The spectacular growth of wireless services has exposed a weakness in the current wireless infrastructure that is well addressed by the transport switching capabilities of the FLASHWAVE 4500 MSSP,” said Bill Erickson, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Fujitsu Network Communications. “The FLASHWAVE 4500 platform makes scalable transport switching a simple and cost-effective option for today’s dynamic wireless networks and makes the all-optical MSC a near-term possibility.”

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About Fujitsu Network Communications Inc.

Fujitsu Network Communications Inc., leveraging Tokyo-based Fujitsu’s unequalled and unique IT and Telecom portfolio, creates and delivers robust wireline and wireless solutions that boost next-generation communications networks in North America. Supported by over 150,000 professionals in more than 100 countries with revenues of $45 billion, Fujitsu helps its customers fuse information and networking technology with commercial value.
For more information, please see: http://us.fujitsu.com/telecom

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