Martinsried/Munich, Germany; Mahwah/New Jersey, USA. September 20, 2004. ADVA Optical Networking and partner CNT today announced that NetCologne, a regional carrier based in Cologne, Germany, has deployed ADVA's Fiber Service Platform (FSP) 1500 system to upgrade its connection to DE-CIX, the central German Internet node in Frankfurt and the third-largest Internet node in Europe. Awarded the title of "Regional Fixed Network Provider of the Year" four times since 1999, NetCologne is now able to meet demand from 128,000 Internet customers - including 60,000 digital subscriber line (DSL) customers - for more bandwidth and greater transmission rates. NetCologne's enterprise customers can extend their Ethernet-based local area networks (LANs) across the metro and wide areas, seamlessly connecting multiple sites at native LAN speeds.
NetCologne had faced a dilemma: its existing Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) link from Cologne to Frankfurt was operating at near capacity and customer data volume continued to increase. The carrier's SDH link was unable to scale for delivery of Gigabit Ethernet speeds, necessitating a network upgrade. Earlier success with ADVA's FSP 2000 systems - which utilize Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) technology to multiplex and transport data, storage, voice, and video applications - made NetCologne again turn to ADVA's partner CNT to help solve its upgrade requirements. During the installation, NetCologne required only five minutes to connect the FSP 1500 to its main nodes and return its network to regular operations.
"We decided in favor of the FSP 1500 because it was the easiest way to expand our existing SDH infrastructure from Cologne to Frankfurt and forward Gigabit Ethernet signals via the SDH network. The commercial advantage lies, of course, in the investment protection for the existing equipment. We are transforming our Time Division Multiplexing (TDM), circuit-oriented network and facilitating an incremental, affordable evolution to packet-oriented networking," said Stefan Förster, Director Access and Transmission at NetCologne. "Ethernet is the shark in the fishbowl. It's quickly becoming more popular for metropolitan- and wide-area-network connectivity and gradually forcing the conventional transmission technologies off the market."
Brian P. McCann, Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer at ADVA, commented, "For this strategically important growth area of its business, NetCologne required a solution that could provide seamless scalability for new Ethernet services without disruption to existing network traffic.. The link from Cologne to Frankfurt carries the Internet traffic of several thousand customers and functions as an important pillar in NetCologne's redundant system. It is particularly rewarding to see the FSP 1500 proving its benefits in such a challenging environment, as NetCologne was the first European local exchange carrier to deploy this new product."
Ernst Joachimsthaler, Managing Director for CNT in Germany, said, "ADVA is a strategic CNT partner and we resell the ADVA FSP product family as part of our storage networking solutions portfolio. This installation provides a strong foundation for future customer deployments that we intend to achieve together with ADVA."
The ADVA FSP 1500 is a carrier-class, next-generation SDH/Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) access system for the seamless aggregation of up to eight high-speed data, storage and video applications on a combined STM-16/OC-48 interface. Leveraging three new ITU-standard technologies - Generic Framing Protocol (GFP), Virtual Concatenation (VCAT) and Link Capacity Adjustment Scheme (LCAS) - the FSP 1500 enables metropolitan service providers to leverage their existing SDH/SONET networks in introducing new high-bit-rate data services and continuing to support traditional voice services. The FSP 1500 is suitable for deployment in point-to-point, add/drop and ring topologies. The solution's small single-unit footprint and hot-swappable, small form-factor pluggable (SFP) optical interfaces enable service providers to more simply and flexibly evolve to customer application requirements.
More information about the FSP 1500 and key applications can be found on ADVA's web site, www.advaoptical.com.
ABOUT NETCOLOGNE
As a regional fixed network operator, NetCologne provides the media city of Cologne and the surrounding region with future-proof communications technology. NetCologne GmbH was first formed in October 1994. With the introduction of the liberalized telecommunications market, the company has been able to offer full-coverage telephony and Internet services in Cologne since 1998. Thanks to an attractive pricing policy, NetCologne has won over more than 139,000 telephone and in excess of 128,000 Internet customers (approx. 60,000 of whom are DSL customers) to date. The offer ranges from telephony services to Internet and data services and right on up to complex corporate networks and special solutions for the media industry. In addition, some 137,000 broadband subscribers profit today, and will continue to do so in the future, from a wide array of advanced TV and radio programs and the innovative telephone and Internet services of MultiKabel. Thus, NetCologne has developed from one of the most powerful telecommunications companies into a highly innovative multimedia provider within a very short period of time. The company employs some 530 people and earned approx. EUR 145 million in sales in the past year.
ABOUT CNT
CNT is the expert in today's most cost-effective and reliable storage networking solutions. For over 20 years, businesses around the world have depended on us to improve business efficiency, increase data availability and manage their business-critical information. CNT applies its technology, products and expertise in open storage networking architecture and business continuity to help companies build end-to-end solutions consisting of analysis, planning and design, multi-vendor integration, 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 (FSE: ADV) 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 90 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.