Nortel Wins Global Crossing Contract

[June 15] Nortel Networks
announced Thursday that it has secured a contract with Global Crossing
to supply technology for Europe’s first metropolitan, ring-based network
using dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) fiber.

Nortel Networks says it has entered into a consortium agreement with
European project management group MKI to construct the network,
commencing with London, Paris and Frankfurt.

Wim Huisman, chief executive officer, Global Crossing Europe,
said the demand for high-speed bandwidth in metropolitan areas
required a solution such as Nortel Networks’ OPTera Metro,
which can split light into 160 channels, each with a different
wavelength or color. The result is a network that can be
scaled to more than one terabit per second capacity.

“We will work in a strategic partnership with Nortel Networks
to ensure the network will be operational in record time,”
added Huisman.

Once the network is in place, Global Crossing will be able to
connect directly to its customers, cutting out the costs
incurred when connecting via other operators. One advantage
of this direct linkage is a reduction in the time to market
for introducing new services — a significant benefit,
according to Global Crossing’s management.

Pascal Debon, president Service Providers Solutions, Europe,
for Nortel Networks, said the focus was on scalability,
flexibility and transparent architecture.

“Our cost-effective, data-centric optical solutions will enable
Global Crossing to deliver new high-bandwidth metro services
across Europe,” said Debon.

Nortel Networks optical systems already carry over half of
Europe’s Internet traffic. According to figures released
by research firm Dell’Oro, Nortel Networks leads the
high-performance optical market with a 71.1 per cent share
of the DWDM metro sector.