CHELMSFORD, Mass. -- Sycamore Networks (NASDAQ: SCMR), a leader in intelligent optical networking, today announced the SN 10000 Intelligent Optical Transport System, a high-capacity transport platform optimised for provisioning services across long-haul and ultra long-haul networks. This innovative transport system is designed to span distances of up to 4,000 km and support wave counts up to 1.6 terabits - all without costly optical-to-electrical-to-optical (OEO) regenerations.

Unlike the competition, the SN 10000 uses available capacity and reduces infrastructure costs, allowing customers to provision high-speed optical wave services such as tiered protection, optical Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), and customer network management all from a single platform.

Dr John Ryan, chief analyst at RHK, Inc said, "Optical transport solutions need to provide high-capacity and versatility for a wide range of transport applications. With the introduction of the SN 10000, Sycamore has stepped up to the challenge of meeting cost/performance objectives for a broad range of network roles."

Service Provider Considerations

In today's networks, there is no true "one size fits all" ultra long-haul application. Customers evaluate transport systems based on cost, distance and channels supported, provisioning capabilities and ease of management.

The SN 10000 is designed to address these criteria by offering customers a wide range of service interfaces -- OC-3/STM-1 through OC-192c/STM-64c, and Gigabit Ethernet - and can be upgraded to OC-768/STM-256. It also offers the industry's highest-capacity support for distance/wavelength distribution all while run by Sycamore's SILVX* Optical Network Management System* (ONMS), which commonly manages Sycamore's entire portfolio of access, transport and switching products.

Innovative Hard-Optics and Soft-Optics

Like all other Sycamore products, the SN 10000 harnesses a combination of the latest innovative hard-optics and soft-optics capabilities to deliver managed optical services and provide customers with a competitive advantage. Hard-optics innovations, which include optional Raman amplification, dispersion compensation and high-capacity Forward Error Correction (FEC), enable the SN 10000 to achieve extended transmission distances and reach high capacities while reducing infrastructure costs.

The SN 10000 has a software-centric architecture, which allows easy integration of innovative hard-optics technologies. With its combination of intelligent networking and systems software, the SN 10000 is designed to enable customers to provision and manage a portfolio of high-speed wave services. When combined with SILVX ONMS, the SN 10000 offers service providers the fundamental tools to rapidly construct, sell, monitor, and bill for new wave-based services.

Sten Nordell, CTO of Utfors said, "We are building the next-generation IP broadband network to serve the Nordic countries and needed a versatile platform to address the unique requirements in our network routes. We looked at every competitive platform and chose Sycamore's SN 10000 based on its ability to cost-effectively span long-haul and ultra long-haul routes in one platform, enabling Utfors to offer new and differentiated wave-based services over our geographically diverse network."

Comprehensive Transport Product Portfolio

Over the last few years, the service provider industry has seen a natural evolution in the transport market toward higher functionality and intelligence with the move from rings to meshed networks. The SN 10000 joins Sycamore's arsenal of award-winning transport products - SN 6000 and SN 8000 -- to offer the industry's most comprehensive and scalable portfolio from the core to the edge of the public network.

Pricing and Availability Pricing for the SN 10000 depends upon the configuration. The SN 10000 will be generally available in the first half of 2001.

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