Astral Point Communications, Inc. announced that its recently unveiled ON 7000 SONET transport node is now running 400 kilometers of DWDM traffic at OC-192 speeds over SMF28 optical fiber. The ability to run OC-192 traffic at such distances enables carriers to realize cost savings by using a single product, rather than several, when building out metropolitan SONET rings or regional inter-office networks.
Fueled by recent improvements in optics and patent-pending innovations on its OC-192 line cards, Astral Point's new ON 7000 SONET-based platform is designed to allow carriers to expand their metro core and regional inter-office networks easily. For example, as ILECs pursue opportunities to deliver in-region long distance services, their ability to use a single product greatly reduces the cost and complexity of adding such services.
Metro core spans typically run 60 kilometers and regional inter-office spans can be 300 kilometers or more, forcing carriers to look at several sets of equipment when building such networks. The use of a single product slashes equipment costs, eliminates the need for multi-vendor interoperability, reduces OSS integration complexity and speeds the deployment and provisioning of new services.
In addition to supporting 400 kilometers distances over SMF28 fiber, the ON 7000 node has also demonstrated transmission distances of up to 1000 kilometers on higher quality fiber such as Corning's MetroCore and LEAF. The company has filed a patent application for the technology incorporated in its ON 7000 OC-192 line card.
About Astral Point:
Privately held Astral Point Communications, Inc., of Chelmsford, MA, develops equipment to manage optical bandwidth for services in SONET-based metropolitan optical networks.