MARTINSRIED/MUNICH, Germany and MAHWAH, N.J., Feb. 18, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- ADVA Optical Networking (FSE:ADV), a leading global provider of optical networking solutions, and CNT(R) (Nasdaq:CMNT), one of the world's largest providers of comprehensive storage networking solutions, products, and services, today announced that ADVA's Fiber Service Platform (FSP) 3000 Slimline is delivering 10Gbit/s of end-to-end bandwidth across the 2,600 kilometer-and-growing Polish Optical Internet initiative, called "PIONIER". The Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center (PSNC) -- one of PIONIER's research and development centers for next-generation networks, grids and portals -- deployed ADVA's FSP 3000 Slimline in combination with Extreme Networks' Black Diamond switches. ADVA partner CNT managed sales and logistics for the ADVA solution. The equipment has been integrated into the PIONIER network by ALMA, a local systems integration company.
Prior to deployment of ADVA's 10Gbit/s optical networking solution, Polish researchers were restricted by the bandwidth limitations of 622Mbit/s Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) leased-line connections. PIONIER became fully operational in 2003 with an initial network deployment of 2,600 kilometers. Thanks to the self-built and managed national fiber infrastructure, PIONIER is today the largest scientific network of this power ever deployed by a European country. It is scheduled to reach a total 5,500 kilometers by the end of 2004 when the final five of twenty-one academic metropolitan area networks (MANs) are interconnected.
Polish scientific and academic research is being transformed by PIONIER's tremendous capabilities. The PIONIER network now supports astronomy and physics applications requiring extraordinary levels of bandwidth. Polish scientists are, for the first time, exploring the possibilities of state-of-the-art applications such as GRIDS, distributed storage and computation, optical virtual private networks (VPNs), virtual laboratories, distance learning, collaborative work groups, multimedia streaming, remote visualization, and networked knowledge bases.
"PIONIER is not just a network; it's a complete development program," said Maciej Stroinski, Technical Director at PSNC. "The long-term purpose of PIONIER is, simply, to facilitate the ongoing development of the information society in Poland. ADVA and its technology together with its business partners, CNT and ALMA, have given us the robust, flexible network architecture to enable this vision."
To achieve PSNC's ambitious price points fixed by government funding allocations, ADVA streamlined the FSP 3000 Slimline to meet the project's single-wavelength requirement of today. Fifty-one ADVA FSP 3000 Slimline systems have been deployed to-date. And yet, via Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) technology, the FSP 3000 Slimline supports native-speed performance and satisfies PIONIER's requirement for long-term scalability and flexibility. As PIONIER's application needs evolve, new services can be introduced simply and rapidly with a few mouse clicks at the FSP Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) interface.
"Other vendors which offered the networking power that PIONIER required failed to meet our price point; and other vendors which approached the price point that PIONIER required failed to deliver the power of the FSP 3000 Slimline," said Jurgen Hansjosten, Chief Sales Officer at ADVA Optical Networking. "Our unique understanding, experience, and position in the optical networking space -- plus an uncommon flexibility and willingness to meet a customer's specific needs -- gave us the opportunity to be part of this exciting and challenging project."
The FSP 3000 employs parallel use of DWDM and Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) technology to enable all protocols between 8Mbit/s and 10Gbit/s and up to 256 applications with a total capacity of 320Gbit/s to be transported over one single fiber pair. The system's design supports point-to-point, linear add/drop, ring, and meshed network topologies of up to 10 nodes across distances up to 500 kilometers without regeneration. A Slimline chassis version was launched in early 2003 as a feeder solution to transport limited numbers of high-bandwidth applications.
For a comprehensive case study about the PIONIER project and more information about the FSP 3000 and its key applications, please visit ADVA's website at www.advaoptical.com
Visit CNT and ADVA Optical Networking at CeBIT 2004
in Hannover, Germany! You will find CNT in Hall 1, Booth 7i3
and ADVA in Hall 27, Booth B41 from March 18th - 24th, 2004.
ABOUT POZNAN SUPERCOMPUTING AND NETWORKING CENTER
Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center (PSNC) is responsible for the management of the countrywide Polish National Research and Educational Networks (NREN): POL-34/622 and Polish Optical Internet - PIONIER. The former is built in ATM technology connecting the main academic cities in Poland and the latter is an advanced network built PSNC's own fibers with 10 Gigabit Ethernet technology. As the manager of Polish NRENs, PSNC is responsible for introducing new networking technologies and expanding the network. PSNC owns and operates the POZMAN metropolitan area network, consisting of 200 kilometers of optical fibers and built on ATM and Gigabit Ethernet technology. It is also responsible for hosting high-performance computers, including SGI, IBM and CRAY machines; SUN and COMPAQ application servers; SUN, ACL and HP storage systems; and AUSPEX file servers. The research conducted at PSNC pertains to systems and networks security, distributed computations, GRIDs and portals, and next generation networking (www.man.poznan.pl).
ABOUT ALMA
For more information about ALMA: www.alma.biz.pl.
ABOUT CNT
CNT is one of the world's largest providers of comprehensive storage networking solutions, products, and services, and an IBM Premier Business Partner. For 20 years, businesses around the world have depended on us to deliver business continuity solutions that drive business efficiencies, lowering costs and reducing IT risks across the enterprise. CNT applies its expertise in storage architecture to help companies build end-to-end solutions that include analysis, planning and design, multi-vendor integration, connectivity, implementation and ongoing remote management of the SAN or storage infrastructure. For more information, visit CNT's web site at www.cnt.com.
ABOUT ADVA OPTICAL NETWORKING
ADVA Optical Networking is a leading global provider of optical networking solutions for rapid and cost-effective provisioning of high-speed data, storage, voice, and video services in the metropolitan area. ADVA's carrier-class Fiber Service Platform (FSP) product portfolio is explicitly designed to enhance services, simplify networks, and reduce the total cost of ownership. ADVA's solutions have been deployed at over 80 carriers and several thousand enterprises worldwide. ADVA's products are sold through an international network of blue-chip distribution partners in addition to its own direct sales force. For further information about ADVA, please visit our web site at www.advaoptical.com.
PUBLISHED BY:
Computer Network Technology Corporation, Minneapolis/Minnesota, USA www.cnt.com ADVA AG Optical Networking, Martinsried/Munich and Meiningen, Germany ADVA Optical Networking Inc., Mahwah/New Jersey, USA ADVA Optical Networking Corp., Tokyo, Japan www.advaoptical.com FOR PRESS AND INVESTORS: PSNC Michal Przybylski t +48 61 8582027 f +48 61 8525954 michalp@man.poznan.pl CNT Christine Schmidt t +49(0)89 427 411 24 christine_schmidt@cnt.com ADVA Optical Networking Alexa M. Schmidt t +49(0)89 89 0665 240 (Europe) t +1 201 258 8293 (U.S.) t +81 3 5408 5891 (Asia) investor-relations@advaoptical.com public-relations@advaoptical.com