25 September 2003 College Station, TX Lightwave -- Texas A&M University recently called on Verizon to find a way to meet the school's ever-increasing demand for data and voice services. Verizon responded with the deployment of a new DWDM network, which includes the first live deployment of a fully reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer (ROADM) system, supplied by Photuris Networks.
The new network connects multiple Texas A&M University nodes and other sites in the metro area of College Station, TX. It also links the city and campus to Internet2 and other high-speed networks.
Texas A&M badly needed the additional capacity. Over the past five years, the nation's largest land-space-and-sea-grant public research institution and fourth-largest university has faced growing demand on its communications network. The electronic needs of 45,000 students, along with the growing affinity for videoconferencing and Web-based curriculums, contributed to network congestion. At the same time, the growth of the university's renowned research programs has meant increased sharing of massive data files in collaborative work with the Geochemical and Environmental Research Group and the U.S. Forestry Service.
"This DWDM solution enables us to upgrade the network quickly and cost-effectively with a minimum of re-engineering," explains Dr. Walt Magnussen, the school's telecommunications director. "Verizon managed the implementation with a very rapid and trouble-free cutover and full interoperability with our existing network elements."
With its new optical gear, Texas A&M now has far greater network capacity without the need for new infrastructure and the associated capital expense. The Verizon design includes ROADM technology from Photuris Networks. Photuris' V32000 Optical Distribution System integrates traffic ebb and flow over various technology platforms, enabling the university to meet the dynamic demands of its research programs without overloading its network.
The Photuris system met Verizon's need for a commercially available reconfigurable optical transport system with the ability to manage both WDM and TDM services. The VS32000 manages diverse data and SONET traffic via user-selectable service line cards and features live node-addition without affecting existing traffic.
"Today, our customers' networks need to reach across multiple platforms so a business and its partners can communicate easily," reports Joseph Lucatorto, vice president of marketing, Verizon Enterprise Solutions Goup. "Technologies like DWDM and networking product vendors like Photuris help us design and implement solutions that address those needs with minimal additional costs for our customers."