Telefónica Deploys Marconi DWDM

LONDON and MADRID -- Marconi Corporation plc (London: MONI and NASDAQ: MRCIY) announced today that Telefónica de España, Spain's largest network operator, has deployed Marconi's Multihaul 3000 optical platform in two links between Madrid and Barcelona to increase the capacity of its long-distance Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) network as result of the growing demand of traffic.

The new Multihaul 3000 is the first DWDM system supplied to Telefónica. It is also the first DWDM system supplied and installed through Ericsson as part of the renewed agreement between the local companies of both Ericsson and Marconi in Spain.

The Multihaul 3000 feature set will enable Telefónica to increase the speed, security and flexibility of its service provisioning, allowing it to meet current traffic demands as well as satisfy future requirements with limited incremental investment. The Multihaul 3000 optical switch will allow Telefónica to smoothly upgrade its long-distance network from a linear to mesh topology with optical by-pass, reducing network expenditure through the elimination of unnecessary regeneration and optimising network automation and control.

Telefónica will benefit from Multihaul 3000's flexibility, being prepared to react quickly to customer requirements and to support new, differentiated services in the future. Moreover, the platform will allow Telefónica to improve network productivity and offer a best-in-class performance network to ensure that they remain competitive.

"The introduction of the Multihaul 3000 platform will enable Telefónica to launch new services that require greater bandwidth, providing any service at rates up to 40G bit/sec," said Giorgio Bertolina, managing director of Southern Europe for Marconi. "The implementation is another success for Marconi's portfolio of intelligent DWDM products and strengthens our partnership with Telefónica."

Bertolina added, "This project is a clear demonstration of how two companies working as real partners can achieve - in short time frames - the highest level of success in a very competitive environment."

Marconi Corp. plc

Telefónica SA