June 15, 2004
First deployment of Xtera Communications’ Wide Reach DWDM transport system provides operational efficiencies and increases network throughout
London, UK – 15 June 2004: FLAG Telecom, a leading provider of international wholesale network transport and communications services, today announced the successful introduction of Xtera Communications’ Nu-Wave DWDM into the FLAG Atlantic-1 (FA-1) network. FA-1 is a multi-terabits/s city to city service linking New York, London and Paris and can carry either 200 simultaneous channels of digital video, 30 million clear voice channels or more than two trillion bits of IP or data traffic across the Atlantic every second.
When introduced in 2001, FA-1 was the first multi-terabit system across the Atlantic and incorporated the latest technology. Its enormous capacity was designed to drive down unit costs and remove financial barriers to new, bandwidth hungry applications. With the dramatic take-up of these services, FLAG needed to put in place additional capacity to meet the anticipated future needs of its customers. At the same time, since unit prices of capacity across the Atlantic have fallen dramatically over the past few years, any additional capacity needed to be put in place as cost-effectively as possible. FLAG’s engineering team has therefore been looking at ways to optimise operational efficiency along every route in the company’s global network, including the FA-1 system.
Peter Boland, VP Engineering, FLAG Telecom said: "We first started looking at the Nu-Wave technology in late 2002. We ordered the equipment in February 2004 and the system has now passed final acceptance testing and is operational in the London and Paris POPs and European landing stations. The installation went flawlessly and we are already seeing the benefits of a more efficient use of our network. Long term, we are anticipating significant operational improvements and even better reliability for our customers."
Jon Hopper, CEO, Xtera Communications, commented: "This is the first commercial deployment of our long-haul DWDM system anywhere in the world. We had achieved excellent results in major carrier lab conditions and we were confident of its performance in a live network, but Nu-Wave has exceeded our own high expectations. As the sole owner of its global network, FLAG is extremely agile and was able to respond very quickly to introduce Nu-Wave into their network. We are very positive about our relationship with FLAG and look forward to working with them further in the future."
The FA-1 backhaul network consists of a 1,700 km loop connecting the landing stations at Skewjack, Cornwall and Plerin, France to the major city POPs in London and Paris. The Nu-Wave system more than triples the number of waves that can be carried across a single fibre pair. It also eliminates the need for many in-line amplification sites and allows the removal of all electrical re-generation. FLAG has been able to reduce the potential points of failure and improve the availability by a factor of three.
FLAG’s cable network already spans the globe and offers customers east and west routing, meaning traffic can be switched at any time to avoid a cable cut or natural disaster. FLAG’s latest cable system, FALCON, a new high capacity system, will include the Gulf’s first resilient loop providing multiple landings throughout the region, with submarine links stretching to Egypt in the west and to Hong Kong in the east.
About FLAG Telecom
FLAG Telecom, a member company of the Reliance Group, has an established customer base of more than 180 leading operators, including all of the top ten international carriers. FLAG owns and manages an extensive optical fibre network spanning four continents and connecting key business markets in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the USA. FLAG also owns and operates a low latency global MPLS based IP network, which connects most of the world's principal international Internet exchanges. FLAG offers a focused range of global products, including global bandwidth, IP, Internet, Ethernet and Co-location services. In the first international acquisition by the Group, FLAG Telecom became a Reliance Group company on 12 January 2004. Recent news releases and further information are on FLAG Telecom's website at: www.flagtelecom.com.
About Reliance Infocomm
Reliance Infocomm Ltd., India’s largest mobile service provider, is a part of the Reliance Group founded by Shri Dhirubhai H. Ambani (1932-2002). Reliance Infocomm has established a pan-India, high-capacity, integrated (wireless and wireline) and convergent (voice, data and video) digital network, to offer services spanning the entire Infocomm value chain – infrastructure, services for enterprises and individuals, applications and consulting. The Reliance Group is India's largest business house with total revenues in the financial year ended March 2004 of just over US$17 billion. www.relianceinfo.com.
Forward-looking statements
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About Xtera Communications
Xtera Communications specializes in network infrastructure that delivers the highest capacity, reach and density. Our long-haul, Submarine, Metro and WAN technologies together with our deployment expertise drive customer success and long term value.
Xtera offers an extensive portfolio of Optical Transport solutions for long-haul, regional, metropolitan and sub-sea networks, and WAN Traffic Management solutions for both enterprise and telecom companies.
With deployments in four continents, Xtera’s Optical Transport portfolio helps service providers worldwide reach new markets via new deployments, and extends the life of their existing network assets with cost-effective upgrades. Xtera's innovative Traffic Management solutions offer customers the best price/performance in network optimization.
Xtera delivers compelling advantage to its customers by maximizing network capacity, reach and value.
For more information, please visit www.xtera.com