“Our FLASHWAVE 7500 ROADM is being widely-deployed by the largest MSOs and telecom companies in North America, plus GigaPOP organizations that serve the high-capacity bandwidth needs of universities, federal agencies, corporations and non-profit institutions,” said Jim Hintze, senior vice president of marketing at Fujitsu Network Communications. “This new release was designed with their input, with the goal of bringing the benefits ROADM technology closer to the edges of the network. In the process, we improve the cost-effectiveness of high-definition video distribution, research collaboration, and extend the scalable ROADM backbone that delivers advanced IP and Ethernet services.”

In this release, several enhancements have been made to the existing 19-inch FLASHWAVE 7500 small configuration to allow it to support 40-channel access via Wavelength Selective Switching (WSS) technology. This new configuration is designed for data center locations where 19-inch shelves are desired. Now, these customers have several alternatives to optimize cost and performance, including a 32-channel Fixed Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer (FOADM), 32-channel ROADM, 40-channel FOADM, or 40-channel WSS-based ROADM.

The new FLASHWAVE 7500 2D ROADM configuration provides an economical solution for locations that require full add/drop and pass-through capabilities for up to 40 Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) channels, but only have two degrees of network connectivity. The 2D ROADM system can be deployed in protected or unprotected point-to-point, linear, and ring applications across distances up to 1000 km with no regeneration required. Additionally, the 23-inch 2D ROADM can interoperate in existing networks with the 23-inch standard configuration and the 19-inch small configuration systems with access to all wavelengths.

The FLASHWAVE 7500 Extension configuration allows a remote tributary shelf to be placed away from a 23-inch standard configuration or 19-inch small configuration while supporting access to all 40 wavelengths. With the addition of a new bidirectional single channel amplifier unit, the FLASHWAVE 7500 Extension configuration can be located further from hub nodes (now up to 65 km away), thus allowing greater deployment flexibility for the telecom and MSO carriers who utilize it.

A new 10 Gbps Flexponder unit provides flexible interface and multiplexing/demultiplexing for up to eight client signals in the 23-inch standard configuration, 19-inch small configuration, 2D ROADM configuration, and Extension configuration. The unit supports advanced traffic management features, including non-blocking time-slot assignment (STS-1/STS-3c/STS-12c/STS-48c), ADM on a wavelength, VCAT, and hairpinning. The 10 Gbps Flexponder unit multiplexes up to eight Gigabit Ethernet, OC-3, OC-12, and OC-48 signals into a single 10.7 Gbps optical signal with digital wrapper. ITU-T compliant narrowband optics allow the signal to be mapped to any of 40 channels.

Enhanced amplifiers available in this new release provide greater flexibility for uncertain traffic patterns. Existing ILA nodes, which provide in-line amplification of DWDM signals and extend the distance the signal can travel before regeneration is required, can now be upgraded in-service to full-featured ROADM nodes. These amplifiers feature an imbedded variable attenuator that enables automatic span loss adjustment without requiring any manual adjustments by its users. This approach to DWDM by Fujitsu simplifies maintenance and reduces operational expenses for its customers.

Summary of the FLASHWAVE 7500 ROADM

The FLASHWAVE 7500 ROADM is based on advanced WSS technology that enables optical mesh and hub network architectures—key components for building the high-capacity metro and regional backbone networks that serve the largest cities in North America. The FLASHWAVE 7500 system offers 400 Gbps of total capacity, provides up to 40 wavelengths, features transmission paths exceeding 1000 km, and supports up to 24 intermediate add/drop nodes. The advanced optical power management technology used by the FLASHWAVE 7500 platform enables delivery of wavelength services solely through the addition of tunable laser-equipped Optical Line Cards (OLCs).

This new release of the FLASHWAVE 7500 ROADM will be on display next week in San Diego at the OFC/NFOEC conference and exposition in Fujitsu booth #2125. Print-quality and web-quality photos of the FLASHWAVE 7500 platform are available.

About Fujitsu Network Communications Inc.

Fujitsu Network Communications Inc. is an innovator and strategic partner with over 20 years of experience as a leading provider of wireline and wireless networking solutions that solve critical business issues and enable new services. With the support of Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702), a $43.2B company with over 160,000 professionals in more than 100 countries, Fujitsu enables their customers to build or seamlessly migrate to fully converged networks that improve network performance and profitability. Fujitsu Limited consistently ranks within the top 15 organizations worldwide in terms of the number of patents granted per year and in 2006 alone, 1487 patents were issued to our company and our employees. Nearly 400,000 Fujitsu network elements have been deployed by all major carriers across North America. Fujitsu maintains a well-established and highly-regarded position as a market leader by providing the best-in-breed data networking solutions that drive next-generation access, core, and wireless networks