3Com, Bay, Cambrian, Packet Engines to exhibit industry-first interoperability demonstration of DWDM, Gigabit Ethernet

Networking industry leaders 3Com Corporation, Bay Networks, Cambrian Systems, and Packet Engines are joining forces to demonstrate Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) and Gigabit Ethernet interoperability at NetWorld+Interop in Las Vegas, May 5-7th 1998. This industry-first demonstration brings together the unique capabilities of Cambrian`s DWDM OPTera TM (Optical Protocol Independent Transport era) and the high performance Gigabit Ethernet solutions from 3Com`s SuperStack II Switch 9300, Bay Networks` Accelar 1200 Routing Switch, and Packet Engines PowerRail TM 5200 Enterprise Routing Switch. DWDM allows multiple optical signals to be transported over a single fiber thus boosting capacity on a network. Because Cambrian`s OPTera DWDM is protocol and bit-rate independent, it enables networks to carry many different types of traffic over an optical channel regardless of the protocol or bit rate. Transport interfaces that are specific to protocol and bit rates are no longer required, thus minimizing the network provider`s inventory and operating costs. "As the growth of metropolitan area networks accelerates, network providers and enterprise customers alike will look for a high-performance, simple and cost-effective technology for the network," says David Passmore, President of NetReference. "Extending Gigabit Ethernet over a metropolitan area network holds the promise to provide companies with a popular, familiar, and transparent technology to transport data and other services over longer distances." The extension of Gigabit Ethernet using survivable DWDM in the metropolitan area network is significant as it enables ISPs, CLECs and ILECs to offer their customers native end-to-end IP. For managers of private enterprise networks, Gigabit Ethernet over DWDM promises to provide very high-speed native Ethernet services delivery to multiple sites. Because there is no conversion or encapsulation of the Ethernet frame into other formats, this type of solution will be simpler, more reliable and higher performance.