MAHWAH, N.J., MUNICH, Germany, and PARIS June 1, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Belgacom is the largest fixed carrier in Belgium and the leading provider of data connectivity and storage services to Belgian enterprises.
After opening a bid process for a Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexing (CWDM) system to enable its new BLES offering (Belgacom LAN Extension Solutions), Belgacom awarded Siemens a contract for additional FSP 2000 CWDM systems and renewed the existing (since 2001) Dense WDM (DWDM) contract. Both systems are provided by ADVA Optical Networking and will be implemented and serviced by Siemens.
The FSP 2000 provides native-speed performance for the broad range of leading Local and Storage Area Network (LAN and SAN) protocols used by Belgacom's BLES customers today, including Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, Fibre Channel, FICON and Enterprise Systems Connection (ESCON).
"Siemens has established a strong record with Belgacom since 2001, and at the time presented us with a very compelling CWDM customer-access story. The ADVA FSP 2000 is enabling us to cost-effectively address burgeoning enterprise demand for Ethernet and storage services," said Yann Evain, data product management, Belgacom.
"One of our corporate goals is to enhance the competitive position of Belgian companies within the global environment and spur economic growth. Our BLES services provide our enterprise customers with networking capabilities up to those of their competitors around the globe."
"With the FSP 2000, which affords Belgacom the scalability and flexibility to address these higher-bandwidth needs as they develop, Siemens proposed a solution that seamlessly matches Belgacom's needs," said Fabrice Jean, Sales Director, Western Europe and Nordics for ADVA. "Belgacom benefits from both the strong presence of Siemens in Belgium, with bench-marking expertise in installation, maintenance and project-management and from the valuable flexibility of ADVA. With Siemens implementing the ADVA product, Belgacom has a strong solutions provider that is willing and able to respond quickly to its specific needs, for both systems performance and best-in-class logistics."
"Increasingly more video-streaming, rich-media, image-capture, distance-learning, grid-computing and object-oriented storage applications are being adopted in business. These storage applications are especially escalating enterprise bandwidth demand. DWDM/CWDM-technology is an absolute necessity for present-day data storage and transport, such as Storage Area Networks (SAN)," Said Stefaan Verhoeven, Sales Manager at Siemens in Belgium. "The solution proposed by Siemens and ADVA enables applications such as the instant transport of storage protocols between distant servers and mainframes - a requirement now for banks to comply with the Basel II data storage redundancy regulation. The ADVA DWDM/CWDM technology allows for them to have instant, synchronous updating of all data in two, geographically distant storage facilities."
ABOUT DWDM
Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) expands the capacity of networks by allowing for up to 64 optical channels to be transported as individual wavelengths over a single fibre.
ABOUT CWDM
Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexing (CWDM) is a cost-effective alternative for DWDM, allowing for the transmission of up to eight application channels over a single fibre.
ABOUT SIEMENS
Siemens Com is a leading provider of integrated voice and data networks with a comprehensive portfolio of IP-based products and solutions for enterprises, carriers and service providers. The group has many years of experience in consulting, planning, installing and operating converged networks. It is an integral part of Siemens AG (www.siemens.com), one of the world's largest electrical engineering and electronics companies.
ABOUT BELGACOM
Belgacom (www.belgacom.be) is the leading telecommunications company in Belgium and a market leader in a number of areas, including retail and wholesale fixed-line telephony services, mobile communications services and broadband data and Internet services. For the year ended December 31, 2004, the Group had total revenue of EUR 5,540 million and operating income before depreciation and amortization (excluding non-recurring items) of EUR 2,394 million.
ABOUT ADVA OPTICAL NETWORKING
ADVA Optical Networking (FSE: ADV) is a leading global provider of optical and Ethernet 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 100 carriers and several thousand enterprises worldwide.
ABOUT FSP 2000
ADVA's FSP 2000 employs parallel use of CWDM, DWDM and Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) technologies to enable up to 512 applications to be transported over one single fibre pair. Its robust character and ability to transport all protocols between 8Mbit/s and 10Gbit/s make the FSP 2000 an ideal solution for carriers and enterprises alike. More information about the FSP 2000 platform and key applications can be found on ADVA's web site at www.advaoptical.com.
Published by:
ADVA AG Optical Networking, Martinsried/Munich and Meiningen, Germany ADVA Optical Networking Inc., Mahwah/New Jersey, USA ADVA Optical Networking, Paris, France ADVA Optical Networking Corp., Tokyo, Japan www.advaoptical.com