RICHARDSON, Texas -- White Rock Networks, a leading provider of next-generation optical transport systems for the local metro transport market, today announced its regional element management system--VLXpert™ PC—which allows carriers to cost-effectively implement full element management capabilities for small SONET networks. VLXpert PC provides full, centralized control including fault, configuration and performance management support over White Rock’s building-block optical transport products including the VLX2010™ OC-48 and VLX2020™ OC-192 SONET add/drop multiplexers. It allows full visibility of a small-scale network or multiple interconnected or isolated sub-networks. In conjunction with White Rock’s Unix-based VLXpert element management system, VLXpert PC allows carriers to cost-effectively provide both a complete network-wide view of a large-scale network, coupled with dedicated regional control centers. It operates on a low-cost Windows® NT® or Windows 2000® platform. “Now managing metropolitan networks is easier than ever. Our VLXpert Unix-based element management system has been well received by carriers, however the addition of VLXpert PC to our product line allows a carrier to manage smaller multi-ring networks at a lower cost and still take full advantage of the unique, built-in management capabilities of our optical transport products such as our VLX2010 and VLX2020” said Lonnie Martin, founder/CEO of White Rock Networks. “Unlike many other PC-based management platforms, VLXpert PC offers the full range of element management features allowing carriers’ engineers full access to features only normally found on more-expensive Unix-based systems.” White Rock will introduce the VLXpert PC at the Optical Fiber Communication (OFC) Conference 2002 , March 19-21, at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. The company is in Booth # 6012 (Hall A). White Rock NetworksFor more information on OFC 2002, please visit: www.nottheofc.com