ONI Systems Corp. (NASDAQ: ONIS), a provider of optical telecommunications systems for metropolitan and regional markets, announced a multi-million dollar agreement with Equant (NYSE: ENT) (Euronext Paris: EQU), a provider of seamless international data network services to multinational businesses in more than 220 countries and territories.
Equant plans to use ONI equipment to light fiber that it has purchased for local point of presence interconnects to its long-distance wavelengths. ONI has already begun helping Equant execute on its plans by deploying the ONLINE transport platform in the Equant network located in London and Paris. The deployments began in the first quarter of 2001.
Utilizing the OPTX management capabilities, the city networks will be under the global control of Equant's network operations centers (NOCs) in France, Singapore and the United States. Leveraging ONI's optical architecture and end-to-end network management will augment Equant's continuous "follow the sun" network management.
ONI platforms make extensive use of software automation to enable network operators to provision, control, manage and deliver optical services on demand in real time. The platforms also offer a new generation of data interfaces for digital video, ESCON, Fibre Channel, Gigabit Ethernet and more, in addition to integrating SONET and SDH add-drop multiplexer capabilities with DWDM. ONI's solutions enable real-time provisioning of SONET as well as SDH ports over DWDM on the same system. This is a critical requirement for carriers with worldwide networks connecting customers across metros, nations, and continents.
About Equant:
Equant (NYSE: ENT) (Euronext Paris: EQU) provides global IP and data services for multinational businesses.
About ONI Systems:
ONI Systems (NASDAQ: ONIS) develops, markets and sells optical networking equipment specifically designed to address bandwidth and service limitations of regional and metropolitan networks. For more information, visit www.oni.com.