Fujitsu Network Communications Inc.

Fujitsu Equips Carriers with Data Center Connectivity Solutions for Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery

Fibre Channel over SONET Interfaces Introduced on Next-Gen FLASHWAVE 4000 MSPPs for Affordable Storage Transport

Richardson, TX, October 27, 2003 — Fujitsu Network Communications, a leading supplier of IT and Telecommunication solutions, is entering the business continuity and disaster recovery market with its FLASHWAVE® 7420 Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) and FLASHWAVE 4000 Multi-Service Provisioning Platforms (MSPPs) to deliver affordable and accessible, next generation storage transport solutions.  Additionally, Fujitsu is introducing a combination Fibre Channel and Gigabit Ethernet card, with wire-speed and subrate capabilities, that fits into the widely deployed FLASHWAVE 4000 MSPPs to transport storage over existing networks.

“The cost of enterprise network downtime can be staggering with serious repercussions on profitability and business survival,” says Doug Saylor, senior vice president of marketing for Fujitsu Network Communications.  “Historically, only the largest enterprises sought DWDM-based data center connectivity networks, typically building and managing their own networks or purchasing expensive, high-end private network services from a carrier.  The only other option for smaller companies has been with channel extension products to fit storage protocols onto private-line networks.”

Fujitsu’s strategy includes the combination of IP over SONET, Fibre Channel over SONET and DWDM enabling carriers to offer their enterprise customers a breadth of transport technology solutions that meet a broad range of price points, interfaces, Service Level Agreements (SLAs), distances and recovery time specifications.

The introduction of a GFP and VCAT compliant, Fibre Channel and Gigabit Ethernet card provides carriers with a better option to serve the storage and business continuity needs of small to medium sized companies.  Gigabit Ethernet support, currently available on the FLASHWAVE 4000 MSPPs, is being used by ILECs to build next generation networks.  The new cards will allow carriers to select, via software, 1Gbps or 2Gbps fibre channel, FICON, or Gigabit Ethernet on the FLASHWAVE 4100 and FLASHWAVE 4500 MSPP platforms. Future releases will include compression and other advanced capabilities. This card adds to the broad range of storage functionality already available from the FLASHWAVE 4000 MSPP product family, which also features advanced data functionality and traffic grooming.

Fully integrated Ethernet-over-SONET (EoS) transport facilitates the transport of Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP), Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI), and Internet Fibre Channel Protocol (iFCP) storage traffic over a wide range of throughputs, starting as low as 50Mbps and up to 1Gbps.  This traffic is carried with 50ms survivability over dedicated ring networks, shared SONET networks or a combination of both, which presents a unique blend of low-cost transport, tight private line latency performance and high availability. 

The FLASHWAVE 7420 DWDM transport platform is a flexible, metro system optimized for multiplexing, transporting and switching data and storage applications.  The platform offers breakthrough cost points and operational simplicity, while providing ring survivable configurations and a broad range of interfaces; Individual channel speeds range from 8 Mbps to 10 Gbps, and supports many storage applications such as server clustering, mainframe and open systems storage transport and 10 Gigabit Ethernet LAN transport.  The FLASHWAVE 7420 platform supports point-to-point, linear add/drop, ring and meshed network topologies with up to ten nodes across distances of 500 kilometers without regeneration.

The FLASHWAVE 7420 WDM platform, sold by Fujitsu to North American service providers as part of a strategic Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) agreement with ADVA Optical Networking, significantly extends the distance capabilities to remote storage sites and reduces the cost for replication of mission-critical data by maximizing available bandwidth with DWDM technology.

Both the FLASHWAVE 7000 and 4000 product families can be managed and monitored by the NETSMART® 1500 “best in class” Element Management System (EMS). The NETSMART 1500 EMS provides carriers with a single interface to manage their entire IP over SONET, Fibre Channel over SONET and DWDM networks.  

Fujitsu will present its optical transport storage solutions at Storage Networking World Fall 2003, in Orlando, Florida.

FLASHWAVE® and NETSMART® are trademarks of Fujitsu Network Communications Inc. (USA) All rights reserved.

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About Fujitsu Network Communications Inc.

Fujitsu Network Communications Inc., a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Fujitsu Limited (TSE: 6702), is a leading provider of customer-focused IT and carrier-class telecommunications solutions for the Service Provider and Cable TV market in North America. Supported by smart innovation and deep-rooted research from Fujitsu Labs, Fujitsu is uniquely positioned to deliver fully integrated IT/Telecom solutions for its customers. The company's comprehensive consulting and customer services offer support at any network design, development, deployment and maintenance stage.
For more information, please see: http://us.fujitsu.com/telecom/

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