ALAMEDA, Calif. -- UTStarcom, Inc. (Nasdaq: UTSI), a global leader in IP access networking and services, today announced two series of products within its NetRing™ optical product line. UTStarcom’s NetRing 600, 2500, and 10000 multi-service optical transport products are designed to deliver high-density, highly efficient STM-1 to STM-64, PDH (E1, E3), Fast Ethernet, and Gigabit Ethernet services in SDH-based carrier networks. The company’s NetRing TX-60, TX-160, and TX-200 multi-service provisioning platforms provide a cost-effective way to deliver OC-3 to OC-192, DS1, DS3/EC-1, Transmux, Fast Ethernet, and Gigabit Ethernet services in SONET-based networks. With these new optical solutions, UTStarcom has further expanded its footprint beyond the access marketplace to offer end-to-end carrier-class support of circuit- and packet-based applications and services.

“UTStarcom has always been a leader in wireless and wireline access, and we have built some of the largest access networks in the world,” said Bill Huang, chief technical officer at UTStarcom. “As our carrier customers grow subscriber volume for voice and data services, aggregation and transport become important factors in service efficiency and operating cost reduction. It is thus a natural next step for UTStarcom to extend its product energies in this direction.”

UTStarcom has installed a large volume of NetRing optical nodes worldwide, and is gaining traction in the optical market. The company's NetRing solution is currently deployed with several service providers in North America, including IDACOMM, a subsidiary of energy and technology holding company IDACORP, Inc. (NYSE:IDA). IDACOMM provides fiber optic broadband services for organizations in high technology, manufacturing, distribution, health care, education, and state and local government in eight western states.

"UTStarcom's optical products are well designed to optimize carrier networks with more features and flexibility in one platform," said David Bartlett, executive vice president of Operations at IDACOMM. "A single system delivers the services of multiple racks of equipment, which simplifies our operations dramatically. In addition, the NetRing distributed switch fabric architecture can scale efficiently to match our traffic growth needs."

Carrier-Class Edge Aggregation, Grooming, and Transport UTStarcom’s NetRing and NetRing TX products provide aggregation, grooming, cross-connect, and transport for SONET/SDH and Ethernet over SONET/SDH (EoS) services, with the availability and reliability carriers expect of SDH/SONET platforms. All systems support full-redundancy, multiple protection options, and in-service upgrades.

The different NetRing systems stratify into the following target applications:

UTStarcom’s NetMan™ 6000 OMC element management system (EMS) provides carrier class, TMN compliant, full fault, configuration, accounting, performance, and security (FCAPS) management capabilities for the respective product suites.

Standards-Compliant, Multi-Service Platforms Optimize Carrier ROI NetRing products are based on a distributed architecture that combines Add-Drop Multiplexing (ADM), Digital Cross-Connect System (DCS), and Ethernet switching functionality into an integrated, “pay-as-you-grow” multi-service system. With the NetRing TX products, carriers can interchange interface and control modules to help ensure maximum provisioning flexibility and investment protection.

The NetRing optical solutions from UTStarcom are among the first to support virtual concatenation, based on relevant ITU standards. With this functionality, carriers can have the provisioning granularity in any STS/VC increment, dramatically improving Ethernet/IP transport efficiency across SONET/SDH networks. UTStarcom’s NetRing products support advanced EoS protocols, such as Generic Framing Procedure (GFP), which provides standards-based data encapsulation for efficient mapping of a wide variety of data protocols, including Ethernet, ESCON, FICON, Fibre Channel, and digital video into SONET/SDH. Built-in Ethernet management functionality enables carriers to apply traffic shaping and limiting policies on a per-port or per-traffic-flow basis for point-to-point Ethernet, Ethernet aggregation, Layer 2 switching, and Ethernet VLAN applications. Statistical multiplexing capability allows native Ethernet/data switching and oversubscription.

NetRing 600, 2500, and 10000 products comply with ETSI telecom standards for SDH deployment. The NetRing TX systems are fully NEBS Level 3 compliant and have obtained “RUS Acceptance” by the U.S. Government Rural Utilities Service (RUS) branch of the United States Department of Agriculture. RUS Acceptance enables rural U.S. telephone and utility companies to purchase and deploy NetRing TX platforms with funds obtained through low-interest RUS loans.

In a separate release:

UTStarcom, Inc. (Nasdaq: UTSI), a global leader in IP access networking and services, today announced that it has signed a contract with IDACOMM, an Idaho-based integrated communication provider. IDACOMM will deploy UTStarcom’s NetRing TX multi-service provisioning platform to provide solutions for fiber optic broadband services in several cities throughout the western United States. The NetRing TX will provide cost-effective OC-3 to OC-192, DS1/EC-1, DS3/EC-1, Transmux, Fast Ethernet, and Gigabit Ethernet services in SONET-based networks.

An independent telecommunications company, IDACOMM and its subsidiary Velocitus, deliver broadband service to customers in eight western states and New York and Virginia. IDACOMM is a subsidiary of IDACORP (NYSE:IDA), an energy and technology holding company headquartered in Boise, Idaho.

“IDACOMM was looking for an equipment provider that shared our corporate commitment to technical expertise, customer service, and financial stability,” said Christopher Britton, chief executive officer for IDACOMM. “UTStarcom presented us with optical products that offered the top performance and feature set for our dollar. Their reputation as a provider of high-quality, future-ready solutions, with a single support contact for many products, makes them our preferred vendor as we develop business in growing telecommunications markets.”

“This equipment deal will help to diversify UTStarcom’s customer portfolio and offer future opportunities in the North American market,” said John Giarolo, vice president of North American Sales for UTStarcom. “UTStarcom is committed to the current and long-term profitability of IDACOMM, and this contract serves as the first step in an ongoing relationship to provide the best solutions that are tailored to the growth of IDACOMM’s customer base.”

UTStarcom Inc.