Marconi Wins Telecom Italia

LONDON -- Telecom Italia has awarded Marconi (MONI) a new,two-year frame contract worth €15 million to install a national optical backbonenetwork in Italy based on Marconi's next-generation, high capacity optical crossconnect (MSH2K). The equipment, part of Marconi's new Series 4 SDH (synchronousdigital hierarchy) portfolio, was launched in mid September 2002.Following completion of the project, Telecom Italia will have available anext-generation network, characterized by high standards of network protectionand traffic re-routing in the case of signal failures, across which the operatorwill be able to provide new, innovative services to its customers.The new equipment has been developed by Marconi at its laboratories in Genoa andis manufactured in Marcianise, both in Italy. The platform has been designed tofit well with the new requirements of telecommunication operators. Theimplementation of this infrastructure will provide Telecom Italia with aflexible and cost-effective evolution towards integrated optical networks, withfast restoration capabilities based on the GMPLS protocol (Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching).Marconi plcTelecom Italia SpA