DENVER -- CIENA Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN) today announced at the National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference that it has added Rate-Adaptive Gigabit Ethernet technology to the LightWorks Toolkit™ for Optical Services, CIENA's suite of software-, silicon- and optics-based technologies designed to enable new optical service offerings.
CIENA's Rate-Adaptive Gigabit Ethernet technology uses software and ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits) to enable service providers to sell "any-size" Gigabit Ethernet services in increments of 50Mbps (STS-1), up to 1.25Gbps. The service rate is adaptive to end-users' needs, allowing service providers to tailor pricing to a finer granularity of data rates. Additionally, the technology enables providers to transport fractional Gigabit Ethernet traffic from up to 10 different customers over a single OC-48/STM-16 (2.5Gbps) wavelength. As a result, service providers can create a wide range of customized optical service options for end-users and deliver those services over more efficient access and core networks that leverage the economies of Gigabit Ethernet transmission.
"CIENA has recognized that Gigabit Ethernet quickly is becoming part of the telecom traffic mix, where SONET- and SDH-framed data used to dominate," said Alex Benik, analyst at The Yankee Group. "Traditionally, Gigabit Ethernet pipes are bursty in nature and do not maximize available bandwidth. Rate-Adaptive Gigabit Ethernet technology allows service providers to pack a wavelength tightly with multiple customers, while presenting end-users with more granular service choices."
http://www.ciena.com/news/archive/2000/08/08.28.2000.html