MILAN, Italy and PARIS -- Pirelli Broadband Solutions, the broadband access and photonics company within the Pirelli Group, today announced the launch of its Light Wavelength Division Multiplexing (LWDM) platform at the Broadband World Forum Europe, taking place at CNIT La Défense, Paris, between 9-12 October 2006.

The platform builds on the success of the Pirelli City8(tm) Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexing (CWDM) platform by adding low-end Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) capability. This combination supports six CWDM wavelengths, each operating at 2.5Gbit/s, and 16 DWDM wavelengths, each operating at 2.5 or 10Gbit/s, for a total capacity of 175Gbit/s on a single platform. The DWDM channels support optical amplification, allowing links of up to 200km without the use of dispersion-compensation.

"The LWDM concept is designed to enable network operators to start with a solution that meets their needs now and grows as demand for capacity increases," said Pierluigi Franco, senior vice president, Marketing and Product Management, Photonics Products at Pirelli Broadband Solutions. "A carrier can start with a modest and low-cost expansion of capacity by using the CWDM wavelengths, but then add further capacity, and faster interfaces, on the DWDM wavelengths, while retaining the platform size and price positioning of the CWDM technology."

LWDM is designed to support all access and metro applications up to the metro regional and will handle all the different types of clients and line interfaces - telecom and datacom - to meet the growing demand for premium services.

Pirelli SpA (Milan: PECI.MI)