Fujitsu Network Communications Inc.

Fujitsu Raises Bar with Generation-Skipping Advancements to its Market-Leading FLASHWAVE® 7500 ROADM

Advanced Optical Technologies Enable New Services and Drive Down Deployment Cost for Converged VOD and Triple Play Networks

Richardson, TX, April 4, 2005 — Fujitsu Network Communications Inc., a leading supplier of wireline and wireless networking and IT solutions, today announced the availability of several significant, generation-skipping advancements to its FLASHWAVE® 7500 Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer (ROADM). In this new release, Fujitsu introduces the industry's most advanced optical technologies into their market-leading ROADM, including a Wavelength Selective Switch (WSS) optical switch fabric, full 40-channel C-band tunable narrowband optics, Small Form-factor Pluggable (SFP) interfaces, multiport and multirate SONET Flexponder(tm) interface cards, and an intelligent control plane.

"Based on an assessment of features, availability, market share and market power, Fujitsu ranks as the supplier most likely to succeed in a ROADM systems market set to expand over the coming 18 months," said Scott Clavenna, chief analyst at Heavy Reading. "These latest feature additions put them over the top in our supplier rankings."

The new WSS-based optical core of the FLASHWAVE 7500 ROADM delivers the most advanced wavelength routing and topology migration capabilities available today, positioning Fujitsu at least one year ahead of its nearest competitive rivals.

This switch fabric provides the platform with the flexibility to meet rapidly changing service and traffic patterns by allowing any wavelength (and any number of wavelengths) to be added, dropped or optically passed through at any network node. WSS technology allows multiple DWDM rings to be terminated in a single FLASHWAVE 7500 multi-degree hub node and supports traffic grooming across multiple networks.

Optical hubbing of multiple DWDM networks results in substantial cost savings by eliminating unnecessary intermediate transponders; and substantial operational savings at aggregation sites by eliminating manual, per-wavelength fiber interconnections that often result in trouble tickets on other DWDM systems.

WSS technology also exhibits a lower power loss than other optical switch technologies, which enables larger network sizes and support for additional optical nodes per network. Lower optical power loss reduces the need for costly regenerators in longer spans, which can result in a capital savings of up to 50% per network over previous-generation solutions.

Advanced optical line cards deliver key business services such as Video on Demand (VOD), residential high-speed Internet access and Enterprise data services across metro and regional networks that span up to 1000 km.

By using SFP interfaces and full C-band tunable narrowband optics, a minimal number of multi-function transponder types are needed to support a wide array of SONET, SDH, Ethernet, storage and video services from 100 Mbps to 10 Gbps. Muxponders enable multiple OC-48 or Gigabit Ethernet connections to be multiplexed onto a single wavelength at 10 Gbps. Innovative new Fujitsu Flexponder interface cards converge the functionality of a SONET ADM with DWDM, with full support for protection, traffic grooming and Performance Monitoring (PM) features.

"Fujitsu has been working very closely with many of our customers in order to deliver the most feature-rich ROADM available," said Bill Erickson, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Fujitsu Network Communications. "This release is significant for our industry because it enables widespread deployment of metro DWDM and allows telecom, wireless and cable television providers to create a fully-converged metro/regional transport network for their voice, video and data needs. Our solution integrates SONET, DWDM and packet technology onto a single platform that makes direct IP over-wavelength networks possible. Plus, no amplifier or network changes will be required when 40 Gbps interfaces are added in the future."

The operational simplicity of the Fujitsu ROADM solution results in faster revenue generation and more satisfied customers. Remote software provisioning and patented self-tuning amplifiers inherent in the FLASHWAVE 7500 ROADM enable rapid service activation and eliminate time-consuming, manual adjustments at every site for the addition/removal of new lightpaths.

The FLASHWAVE 7500 ROADM leverages standards-based intelligent control plane protocols to perform automatic network topology discovery and end-to-end lightpath circuit tracking and identification, which helps field technicians rapidly see and troubleshoot equipment or lightpath issues. The FLASHWAVE 7500 ROADM also functions as a unified operations gateway for the subtending SONET/MSPP network, allowing dozens of SONET, MSPP and ROADM nodes to be managed from a single point.

End-to-end network management and operations of a converged Fujitsu SONET and DWDM transport network is provided by the NETSMART® 1500 Element Management System (EMS) and NETSMART 500 craft user interface. Both products feature a similar and intuitive Graphical User Interface (GUI) that provides simple point-and-click operation. The NETSMART 1500 EMS is currently managing more than 150,000 network elements across North America.

To assist customers with network design and planning with the FLASHWAVE 7500 ROADM, Fujitsu is launching the new NETSMART 2000 network planning tool, with which customers can design a variety of network topologies and predict system performance under different traffic scenarios. Network planners can also share network designs with each other as well as track changes and fine-tune any design, reducing time-to-market in strategic design processes, and increasing equipment usage and network design productivity.

According to RHK, an independent telecom research and advisory service firm, Fujitsu has a 75% share of the global metro ROADM market and 83% share of the North American ROADM market. RHK sees ROADM technology as implemented in the FLASHWAVE 7500 platform as the means to a strategic, next-generation metro core.

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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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