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OIF ANNOUNCES VENDOR PARTICIPANTS IN WORLDWIDE INTEROPERABILITY DEMO

Participants Represent Top Tier Optical Network Vendors

Fremont, CA, May 11, 2005 – The Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) announced today the 13 vendor member companies participating in its second OIF Worldwide Interoperability Demonstration. This year’s most comprehensive optical interoperability event began last month at seven carrier host locations. Preliminary testing of a wide spectrum of devices includes routers, multi-service provisioning platforms, SONET/SDH cross-connects, optical switches, optical add-drop multiplexers (OADMs) and reconfigurable OADMs (ROADMs). Participating companies include Alcatel, Avici Systems, Ciena Corporation, Cisco Systems, Inc., Fujitsu, Huawei Technologies, Lambda OpticalSystems, Lucent Technologies, Mahi Networks, Marconi, Nortel, Sycamore Networks and Tellabs.

“It is a monumental accomplishment to get 20 of the world’s leading optical technology carriers and suppliers to collaborate on a global scale,” said Jim Jones of Alcatel, and OIF Technical Committee chair. “Interoperability demonstrations like these are essential stepping stones that bring leading edge technology out of the labs and into operational networks. They demonstrate the maturity of the technology and give carriers confidence in multi-vendor support.”

The vendors are on-site at carrier lab locations in Asia, Europe and North America establishing connections and building regional networks. When regional connectivity is complete and evaluated the event will culminate in a live, global real-time network test. The OIF Worldwide Interoperability Demonstration will be unveiled to the public at SUPERCOMM 2005 in Chicago, June 7-9, booth #50094.

The testing is focused on the integration of a distributed optical control plane with Ethernet over SONET/SDH adaptation using GFP-F, VCAT and LCAS. The test of a distributed control plane marks the first test of its kind that explores the technical issues of multi-layer signaling and routing in such a network. The OIF’s control plane solution allows carriers to provide more service efficiently, by automating provisioning and optimizing utilization of existing carrier network infrastructure.

“This test is significant because it validates the work taking place in the OIF,” said Jonathan Sadler of Tellabs, and OIF Architecture and Signaling Working Group chair. “Ethernet is important, the service providers have the SONET/SDH core; they want to offer Ethernet using the fiber/network already in place. This capability will enable them to offer more services and keep costs down.”

The seven carrier members hosting the OIF Worldwide Interoperability Demonstration include AT&T, China Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom, NTT Laboratories, Telecom Italia and Verizon. The carrier hosts are providing test facilities, engineering staff and real-world network connectivity continuously from mid-April through mid-June.

The demonstration is supported by test equipment provided by Navtel Communications.

About the OIF

Launched in April of 1998, the OIF is a non-profit organization with a unique and diverse member base, including many of the world’s leading carriers, component manufacturers and system vendors. As the only industry group uniting representatives from data and optical networks, the OIF helps advance the standards and methods of optical networks. The purpose of the OIF is to accelerate the deployment of interoperable, cost-effective and robust optical networks and their associated technologies.

Optical internetworks are data networks composed of routers and data switches interconnected by optical networking elements.
The OIF actively supports and extends the work of national and international standards bodies with the goal of promoting worldwide compatibility of optical internetworking products. Liaisons have been established with The ATM Forum, IEEE 802.3, IETF, ITU-T Study Group 13, ITU-T Study Group 15, MEF, NPF, OPTXS, Rapid I/O, TMF MTNM group, TMOC, UXPi and the XFP MSA Group. More information on the OIF can be found at www.oiforum.com.

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