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  • Telecom Carrier Crosswave to Install Ciena's WDM Gear
  • March 2, 1999 (TOKYO) -- Crosswave Communications Inc. (CWC) said that it is deploying wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) telecom equipment from Ciena Corp. of the United States to prepare for the start of its services in April.
    CWC is a new telecom carrier that is jointly owned by Internet Initiative Japan Inc. (IIJ), Toyota Motor Corp. and Sony Corp.

    The Tokyo-based company is buying about US$20 million worth of Ciena products. The equipment is being installed in Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Hokuriku (northwestern Honshu) and other service areas to be covered by CWC's optical-fiber network. CWC was established in October 1998.

    Previously, CWC had given no indication which vendors it had selected for WDM and other network equipment.

    Specifically, CWC is installing Ciena's MultiWave Sentry 4000 WDM equipment.

    To construct its service network, the company intends to acquire an indefeasible right of use (IRU) for optical-fiber cables from KDD Corp., and will then connect the optical-fiber cables to WDM equipment and synchronous optical network (SONET) transmission devices.

    This infrastructure will enable the company to offer inexpensive and high-speed network services to corporate clients and Internet service providers.

    "Ciena's MultiWave Sentry 4000 system meets our deployment schedule and has a proven track record," a CWC official said.

    Also, Ciena products were selected by the three Japanese telecom carriers already using WDM technology -- KDD (formerly Teleway Corp.), Japan Telecom Co., Ltd. and DDI Corp.

    WDM equipment is an essential component for the new high-capacity and high-speed infrastructures sought by telecom carriers in Japan and other advanced countries. Leading manufacturers such as Lucent Technologies Inc. of the United States, Northern Telecom Ltd. (Nortel Networks) of Canada, and NEC Corp., Fujitsu Ltd. and Hitachi Ltd. of Japan are developing products aimed at telecom carriers.

    Ciena emerged as a prominent U.S. maker of WDM equipment in 1997, when many U.S. telecom carriers selected its products.

    However, other major manufacturers are boosting their sales of similar products. In Japan, where a manufacturer's recent performance counts for a great deal, Ciena products still dominate the market.

    (Nikkei Communications)



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    Updated: Mon Mar 1 13:16:34 1999 PDT