BUSINESS WIRE

April 07, 2004; McLean, Virginia

Isocore Internetworking Lab, the leading technology validation lab in next generation IP and optical networking, today announced the successful completion of its latest phase of IP-Optical Integration testing using next-generation control plane protocols. The comprehensive testing took place during the weeks of March 8 and 15 at the Isocore facility in McLean, Virginia, and will be replicated in a live public demonstration at SUPERCOMM.

The testing encompassed the Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching (GMPLS) suite of control plane protocols, including dynamic signaling and routing demonstrating the GMPLS Peer-to-Peer model. In addition, the OIF's User-to Network Interface (UNI) was also demonstrated. During the event, all participating companies successfully requested and established dynamic Label Switched Paths (LSPs) using dynamic routing databases, including next-hop route calculation at the optical layer. IP applications such as Layer 3 VPNs (including Carrier's Carrier and Inter-provider scenarios), IP v6 over MPLS, and MPLS OAM were deployed over a dynamic, self-managing optical core.

The intelligent optical core used GMPLS control plane protocols and also supported UNI access. Dynamic constraint-based shortest path first (CSPF) routing was demonstrated for the first time for GMPLS networks. Participating companies were able to support routing using OSPF-TE extensions for GMPLS and setup lowest cost GMPLS dynamic label switched paths (LSP). The optical network consisted of equipment from leading vendors Avici Systems (NASDAQ:AVCI), Ciena (NASDAQ:CIEN), Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO), Juniper Networks (NASDAQ:JNPR), Fujitsu Laboratories LTD, Furukawa Electric (FUWAY.PK), Mitsubishi Electric (MIELY.PK), Navtel Communications, NEC (NIPNF.PK), NTT, Japan (NYSE: NTT), Sycamore Networks (NASDAQ: SCMR), and Tellabs (NASDAQ: TLAB).

IP-Optical integration is becoming increasingly important to service providers as they consider new services and increased network automation that can be supported via the extension of IP-based control and management of optical networks. The seamless integration of the IP and optical network domains facilitates the self management of the converged network consisting of both IP and optical devices and significantly reduces the operational cost of next generation carrier networks.

"We are very pleased with the progress being demonstrated at the Isocore Internetworking Lab. This latest round of testing truly builds on the testing conducted at previous events, and validates key elements of IP/Optical integration, especially in the area of GMPLS routing. The success of this round convinces us that we have moved into a significant step toward the GMPLS-based multi-region network control," stated Dr. Kohei Shiomoto, Supervisor, NTT Network Service Systems Laboratories.

Multi-vendor interoperability testing that cuts across technologies (including IP, Ethernet and SONET/SDH) is critical for the success of the evolution of carrier networks to converged networks, capable of efficiently supporting both data and voice applications.

Live demonstration of the results of this testing and other on-going efforts at Isocore Internetworking Lab will be showcased at SUPERCOMM 2004, June 20-24, Chicago. The showcase will demonstrate the seamless stability of Internet services and the underlying technologies that support the forthcoming services. The technologies to be showcased include VoIP/Video-over-IP, Security, IP-MPLS VPN, IPv6 migration, Multi-services/OAM, and the self-managed converged IP-Optical core using GMPLS.

Media Contact:
Vincent Dean (703) 556-4939 // vdean@isocore.com