HANNOVER, Germany -- Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) and DANTE, Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe Ltd, an international data network operator, have successfully completed the roll out of a new converged optical-data network linking national research and education networks across Europe. The deployment was carried out in the framework of the GÉANT2 project launched in 2004 to connect approximately 3,500 scientific sites in 34 European countries to facilitate collaborative research.

GÉANT2 is the largest European communications network ever built for research and education offering high-speed services, as well as new Ethernet-based and grid computing applications to the scientific community. DANTE deployed Alcatel-Lucent’s advanced intelligent optical networking solution to allow long-distance communications among research centers with maximum reliability and protection. These capabilities are key when carrying sensitive research data for projects such as e-health, e-learning, climate modeling, and worldwide earthquake forecasting. The solution is an optimized combination of dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) and optical cross-connects with integrated management.

GÉANT2 is the successor of GÉANT, the first leading multi-gigabit pan-European research and education network. Engineered for core speeds of up to 400 Gb/s, GÉANT2’s transmission rates enable researchers to gather large volumes of data – such as online access to valuable biological databases – in seconds or to analyze data from multiple interconnected radio telescopes to provide high resolution images of the universe in real time.

“Advanced technology and extreme network flexibility are key to support new applications dedicated to furthering scientific research,” said Dr. Hans Döbbeling, General Manager at DANTE. “Alcatel-Lucent assisted us with valuable technical and consulting support in the evolution of our network. The Alcatel-Lucent optical platform allows GÉANT2 to offer circuits and even entire optical private networks in addition to the conventional packet switching service.”

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU)

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