Sycamore upgrades the SN 16000 Intelligent Optical Switch with GMPLS and OIF UNI 1.0

24 April 2003 Chelmsford, MA Lightwave - Sycamore Networks announced the availability of the Internet Engineering Task Force's (IETF) emerging Generalized Multi- Protocol Label Switching (GMPLS) protocols and the Optical Internetworking Forum's (OIF) User-to-Network Interface (UNI) 1.0 for the SN 16000 intelligent optical switch. Sycamore is the first company to announce the availability of both GMPLS and UNI 1.0 on its intelligent optical switches, according to the company.

On a port-by-port basis, the SN 16000 intelligent optical switch now has the ability to support concurrently GMPLS, UNI 1.0, and traditional provisioning processes and protection mechanisms- including BLSR/MS-SPR, UPSR/SNCP, and dynamic mesh protection schemes. This unprecedented flexibility enables service providers to utilize any combination of these standards, protocols, and protection schemes to simplify operational procedures and seamlessly introduce dynamic new services based on GMPLS and UNI without disrupting existing services or management operations.

As part of its ongoing commitment to the development of a standardized optical control plane, Sycamore has recently demonstrated multi-vendor interoperability with several leading equipment vendors. In March, Sycamore demonstrated multi-vendor interoperability with a range of third-party client devices, optical networking products, and networking protocol software from eleven different vendors using OIF's integrated UNI and NNI solution at the Optical Fiber Communications 2003 conference. At the Next Generation Networks 2002 conference, Sycamore's optical switches formed the optical core for the world's first public GMPLS demonstration.