Marconi announces first sale of its 10-Gbit/sec ATM interface to U.S. Department of Defense

January 21, 2003 --London-based telecommunications equipment company Marconi today announced that the U.S. Department of Defense is the first customer for its 10-Gbit/sec (OC-192c/STM-64) ATM port card, a high-speed interface for Marconi's flagship multiservice switch-router, the BXR-48000.

The 10-Gbit/sec ATM interface enables network operators to move information, secured by encryption technologies, at the high speeds. The interface also provides commercial operators with new options for managing growth in legacy Frame Relay and ATM services, and for emerging high-bandwidth applications such as high-definition video, distributed computing, and storage networking. This sale marks the general availability of the new interface.

"Marconi's sale of its 10-Gbit/sec ATM interface is encouraging news for a telecommunications industry that needs examples of concrete advancement to help reinvigorate the market," said Roz Roseboro, program director for RHK's Switching and Routing program. "The U.S. government frequently verifies the applicability of new technologies for mission-critical communications networks. The decision of the Department of Defense to use Marconi's 10-Gbit/sec ATM interfaces should help instill confidence in network operators who are looking for cost-effective ways to expand the proven revenue-generating capabilities of their ATM networks."

Marconi is the first vendor to announce a sale of 10-Gbit/sec ATM interfaces, according to the company. The U.S. Naval Research Lab validated the interface in 2002. The sale to the Department of Defense occurred in December. The Department of Defense was also the first customer for the 480-Gbit/sec BXR-48000 switch-router.

In combination with the BXR-48000's payload- and protocol-agnostic features, the OC-192c ATM port card enables network operators to offer new services that efficiently manage huge volumes of data traffic, such as virtual private networks that require quality of service, video-on-demand, online gaming, realtime financial transactions and record-keeping, and networked security applications. As multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) standards and implementations mature for deployment, operators can reconfigure the BXR to support MPLS and Internet protocol transport and services.