PARIS -- Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA), the world leader in optical networking, announced today the commercial availability of its 1355 Bandwidth-on-Demand (BonD) Manager, the answer to operators' requirements for dynamic bandwidth allocation over DWDM and SDH/SONET transmission networks, without requiring massive expenditures on network upgrades. The system allows a carrier's end customers - including telecom operators, Internet service providers (ISPs) and enterprises - to purchase and deliver bandwidth on demand as multiple users and applications access network resources simultaneously.By deploying the Alcatel 1355 BonD, telecom operators, ISPs and enterprises use carrier network's resources to directly set up end-to-end optical connections and allocate bandwidth in real-time, using a cost-effective “pay-as-you use” concept. It enables carriers to achieve up to a 40% savings in capital expenditures by adding functionality and making maximum use of existing transport networks instead of current solutions which require expensive network overlays using proprietary signaling protocols to achieve the same functionality. They can order anytime, anywhere a significant temporary increase in the amount of available bandwidth and then return to a basic level once the transmission is completed and the bandwidth is no longer needed. This traffic shaping improves network capacity utilization allowing telecom operators, ISPs, and enterprises to maintain their own infrastructure, but with minimum capital investments.Integrated into Alcatel's network management solution, the 1355 BonD Manager provides a practical approach to dynamic bandwidth management and paves the way for new kinds of services – such as Ethernet-on-demand and optical virtual private network (OVPN), as well as supporting storage area network (SAN) interconnect and bandwidth trading applications.“Operators and service providers are very pragmatic today. They want to extend the performance and improve the efficiency of their existing networks, minimize operating costs, and add new capabilities to meet customer demands without making major capital investments. 1355 BonD does exactly that,“ stated Jean-Marie Vansteenkiste, president of Alcatel's optical networks activities.Alcatel SA