Optical networking equipment market to strengthen

The optical networking (ON) market will see double-digit growth from 2004 through 2006, according to a new study by KMI Research, an optical networking market research company. KMI has released its new report, Optical Networking: Worldwide Equipment Markets Update for 2004. Among its significant findings, the report concludes that through 2009 the ON market will grow with a 12 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR). This market, which includes SONET, SDH, DWDM, DXC, and OXC products, was $7.6 billion in 2003 and will reach $15.3 billion in 2009.

KMI's analyses of these ON products include segmentations by vendor and geographic region, and long- vs. short-distance applications. Although metro (short-distance) applications were strong in 2003, the long-distance segment will show a healthy near-term bounce upward for some products, such as DWDM, because systems installed a few years back are filling up. This market growth is driven by bandwidth demand, which is growing at slower rates than in previous years but still fast enough to force new equipment deployments as capacity limits are reached.

Richard Mack, Vice President and General Manager of KMI, said, "With carrier capital spending getting stronger, and with the introduction of increasingly versatile transmission equipment, the optical networking market is returning to annual growth rates in the range of 10 percent to 20 percent. More importantly, we believe that these growth rates are reasonable and 'healthy' or sustainable, given the input we've had about bandwidth requirements and budget expectations."he report is based on a survey of more than 225 individuals with network operations or purchasing responsibilities at telecom carriers, as well as interviews with suppliers and other research.

Other report highlights and key findings include:

- Vendors with a strong foothold in Asia--particularly China--have increased their market share, with Huawei breaking into the top five for 2003, for example.

- This year (2004) will see the resumption of positive growth in long-haul DWDM equipment.

- Ethernet capabilities will show strong growth, with more than half the survey audience indicating that Ethernet will represent more 40 percent of their line-card purchases in 2006.

- Only the OXC product segment saw growth in 2003, while SONET and SDH products maintained their position as the dominant segment in terms of market value.

Internal, External Networking Helps Answer CFO's Questions

You think you have it tough. Imagine going to the CFO and asking for money to build a corporate facility to meet Nuclear Regulatory Commission design criteria. A structure with 8-foot-thick walls. One designed to continue to operate even if a tornado hit head-on.

In other words, a high-reliability data center.

Welcome to the world of Christopher A. Wade, manager, facilities/critical power in the WalMart information systems division. It's a world where the level of redundancy must be balanced against the availability of a mirrored site. A place where 100-year flood plains matter. Where more uptime sounds better to everyone - until they hear the price tag.

And where the reliability of the corporate network may depend to a considerable degree on the quality of the facility executive's network of flesh and blood contacts.

That's not to say numbers don't matter. But consider one question the CFO is sure to ask about a proposed facility: Why isn't the old one good enough any more?

"You have to be able to tell the financial people what the problem is," Wade says. "And it has to be a problem to them. They want to know what the consequences to the business will be if action isn't taken. How much money will we lose?"

That's not a question the facility executive can answer singlehandedly. "Our role in facilities is to provide the facility infrastructure design/build costs," he says. To figure out how much downtime will cost the organization, the facility executive has to tap - or build - an internal network of operating departments.

"I talk to them about scenarios," he says. "If we lose this equipment, what's the impact on the business?"

In those conversations, it's not enough to say that a facility failure will mean the loss of telecommunications capability in a particular area. Instead, the consequences must be put in terms of orders that can't be shipped or credit card transactions that can't be processed. "You have to keep talking until you come to some money," Wade says.

Finding the money is only one example of the networking Wade does before he walks into the CFO's office. He goes to the users of space, for example, to understand their needs. And he assembles a committee of key players from functions like structured cabling, network engineering and telecommunications to identify alternatives, costs, benefits and potential problems.

A LOT TO KNOW

Even as he gathers information from within the company, Wade is calling on another network - facility executives responsible for similar data centers, along with architects and engineers who design data centers - to help determine the life cycle of various data center options.

There's also a wealth of material from the biggest network of all: the Web. "I'm on the Internet all the time," he says. And he turns to yet another sort of network - the one that holds the database for facility maintenance and operating costs - to evaluate and justify recommendations for building materials and systems.

Those benchmarks, whether drawn from internal records or from outside sources, are invaluable. "It's some of the best information you can have," he says.

Armed with documentation gleaned from an array of sources, Wade is ready to make a proposal - or rather, his proposals.

"You have to give them options," he says. "If they don't have any alternatives, an idea is hard to sell." He likes to go into a meeting with three choices - plus the option of doing nothing. That's when the questions begin. What's the business advantage of one level of reliability over another? Why select a new generation of building automation over an old one? At that point, it's crucial to have, not only answers, but sources - "something to back you up," as Wade says.

That's because, when it comes to preparing a presentation for the CFO, the place to start isn't always with numbers. It's often with people. And that point is as valid for a small lighting retrofit as it is for the construction of a five 9s data center.

Population density and wireless networking: reexamining the world of wireless peer-to-peer networking

MANY PEOPLE retain a perception of peer-to-peer networking based on the old Napster model of file sharing. While that model offers the advantage of lots of users, there is no benefit to having lots of users in close proximity (i.e., high population density).

But wireless peer-to-peer networking--networks using devices that serve as both transceivers and routers for other devices--is gaining broad acceptance in many different vertical markets, including public safety, mass transit and intelligent transportation-systems. And, not surprisingly, it is the more densely populated cities in north Asia like Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo that are among the earliest adopters of this technology. Increased bandwidth and decreased deployment costs are the reasons that north Asia is again at the leading edge of a new wireless technology.

How it works

Wireless peer-to-peer networking, sometimes called "fourth generation" (4G) wireless, was originally conceived by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the same organization that developed the wired Internet. It is not surprising, then, that DARPA chose the same distribution architecture for the wireless Internet that had proven so successful in the wired Internet. Peer-to-peer networks eliminate the spoke-and-hub weakness of cellular architectures, because the elimination of a single node does not disable the network--just as the loss of a single router does not disable the wired Internet.

Because users carry much of the network with them, network capacity and coverage are dynamically shifted to accommodate changing user patterns. As people congregate and create pockets of high demand, they also create additional routes for each other, thus enabling additional access to network capacity. Users will automatically hop away from congested routes to less congested routes. This permits the network to dynamically and automatically self-balance capacity, increasing network utilization.

Furthering the economic argument is the 80/20 rule. With traditional wireless networks, about 80 percent of the cost is for site acquisition and installation, and just 20 percent is for the technology. Rising land and labor costs mean installation costs tend to rise over time. With wireless peer-to-peer networking, however, about 80 percent of the cost is the technology and only 20 percent is the installation. Because technology costs tend to decline over time, peer-to-peer networking will become less and less expensive to deploy

Cegetel selects Ciena's next-gen core systems to increase performance for broadband appls

Ciena Corporation (Nasdaq:CIEN) has announced that Cegetel has selected Ciena's next-generation optical transport systems to improve the performance and reliability of the French operator's national long-haul network and to facilitate new revenue opportunities via more efficient broadband service delivery.

Cegetel, France's leading alternative telecommunications carrier, will deploy Ciena's CoreStream Agility for increased capacity and flexibility in its core network to support the adoption of high-capacity services at the network edge. CoreStream mitigates bandwidth obstacles for Cegetel to ease the deployment of high-value services as Cegetel's consumer, enterprise, operator and ISP customers place increasing demands on the network with broadband applications.

"Following a competitive tender process for core infrastructure, we chose to continue our successful relationship with Ciena, whose historical leadership in the fiber optic network market ensures that we generate greater value from our network. The expertise of a partner like Ciena is critical to our success as we continuously evolve to meet customer demand for next-generation services," said Francis Costamania, general manager, Cegetel Network. "In particular, the abundance of broadband and multimedia applications Cegetel offers today means that our core fiber optic network plays a central role in the efficient delivery of services such as DSL, UMTS, voice over IP, Gigabit Ethernet and online storage. Ciena's CoreStream Agility assures us of that."

Building on a working relationship of more than seven years between the two companies, the contract was awarded after an extensive consultation and selection process involving vendors from Europe and Asia in addition to the United States. CoreStream Agility provides Cegetel greater levels of bandwidth and reliability across its core network via WDM (wavelength division multiplexing) and the incorporation of innovative technologies such as tunable lasers, intelligent add and drop systems, and next-generation transponders to offer the most cost-effective, flexible and reliable solution for delivering advanced services.

"This contract with Cegetel reflects our ongoing commitment to the European market and our ability to solve critical network challenges for customers across the region with innovative technologies. It also demonstrates that in addition to Ciena's specialist expertise in other high-growth areas --including broadband access and carrier-class Ethernet--we maintain our strong leadership position and commitment to core networking," said Eric Sele, Ciena's managing director for Southern Europe, Middle East and Africa. "We are dedicated to enabling high-value applications while optimizing network performance and economics to help customers like Cegetel deliver a wider range of services through their networks.

West Point unwired: the Military Academy at West Point continues to lead the way in high-tech curriculum with wireless classroom networking - Cover St

When the class of 2007-1,200 first-year cadets--arrives at the Military Academy at West Point in the fall of 2003, one of the first tasks they will do is pick up their "cadet computers." That has been the drill for nearly two decades, but this year's cadet computer will have a new feature that extends West Point's legacy of being at the forefront in leveraging technology in education: wireless networking capability for classroom connectivity to support interactive, student-centered learning.

Having overcome serious concerns about the security issues surrounding wireless networking, West Point is ready to leverage a powerful educational resource that fully integrates the use of students' notebook computers into the in-class curriculum.

Not at all new to the value of computers in education, West Point has been issuing PCs, termed cadet computers, to incoming first-year cadets since 1986, and its curriculum has included Internet access since 1987. Upgrading is a constant at West Point--each student's workstation area in the barracks has been wired for local area and broadband networking since 1987. In 2002, those connections were upgraded to 100 Mbps, and the cabling that makes up the network includes a future-ready fiber-optic strand, so that taking it to the next level--Gigabit connectivity to each barracks workstation--will be easy

Col. Donald Welch, West Point's associate dean for information and educational technology, and a team of IT managers experimented with wireless networking for five years before they embarked on a project to deploy it Academy-wide. Topping the list of concerns that needed to be overcome before deployment could even be considered was security.

SOFTWARE SOLVES SECURITY CONCERN

Welch's team needed to find a wireless architecture that met the Academy's mission-critical security requirements: they found that in the WirelessWall Software Suite from Cranite Systems. "We spent two years, and looked at about seven different solutions before we chose Cranite," says Welch.

"Cranite was the most secure. It offers a firewall between the wireless and wired network enclaves; it provides mutual authentication that prevents rogue access points; it encrypts the data and IP headers using FIPS-140 certified encryption (AES); and it provides strong cryptographic integrity protection using a FIPS-140 certified algorithm.

"We found that the solution also put less strain on our client CPUs because it employs the AES FIPS-140 encryption algorithm, which is more efficient than the alternative 3DES," adds Welch. "In the end, it was the most economical solution of those that met our minimum security requirements."

Once it had settled on the wireless firewall solution, Welch's team continued to pursue wireless classroom connectivity by evaluating 802.11a wireless networking products from vendors in a series of tests that looked at bandwidth, latency and signal propagation. After the testing phase, West Point determined that SMC Network's 802.11a wireless access points and adapters met the Military Academy's requirements.

West Point considered all of the options for wireless networking: 802.11a, 802.11b and the draft 802.11g, before deciding on an 802.11a solution. The 802.11a option won out because it provides greater bandwidth in two ways: more band-width per access point and closer grouping of access points, so fewer students share a given chunk of bandwidth.

Smaller cells with more access points in a given area and the greater number of channels available on 802.11 a--eight vs. the three for 802.11b--all make for a more efficient network. 802.11g had two key deficits: the standard was not ready, and it carries the inherent disadvantages of 802.11b with respect to the number of non-overlapping channels.

BANDWIDTH A PRIORITY

Welch says that 802.11a matched requirements for a wireless solution in security, range and speed. "Since we're using this as an active part of classroom learning, we need bandwidth," he says. "One thousand cadets starting English classes at 7:30 each morning will all connect at the same time to access the same activities and information from multiple classrooms. 802.11a provides more bandwidth per access point than 802.11b, and its smaller cells means that we can effectively divide access, roughly by classroom. There's less overlap."

In choosing a specific 802.11a solution, West Point evaluated products from several vendors. In addition to testing bandwidth, latency and signal propagation in varied locations around campus, including some especially odd-shaped rooms, West Point's evaluation also tested the products for ease of setup and maintenance. The final considerations were price and supportability.

The price range was huge--the most expensive solution carried a price tag five times that of the least expensive. SMC's products were ultimately installed because their performance equaled or bettered all of the others, according to Welch, and due to supportability, as well as initial cost, were the economical choice

Cable-free: home networking goes wireless

It took awhile to get used to the idea, but home builders have started to embrace structured wiring as more than just a passing fad. Roughly half of new homes built today boast structured wiring, bundles of high-bandwidth video and data cable that homerun to a centralized location in the home and make possible home computer networks and whole-house video systems.

But no matter how much a homeowner tries to anticipate technology needs, there are nooks in the home where wire just won't go. And more and more, consumers want to tap into the Internet from wherever they are. They don't want to be tethered to a cable in a corner of the room when they can surf the Net from the patio or the living room couch. Despite the best-laid plans, a nursery later becomes a home office or someone wants to answer e-mails in bed where no data jack is available. That's where wireless networking comes in.

The primary draw for a home network today is to share a broadband Interact connection. People use the Internet for everything from finding directions to downloading music. They don't want to have to go into the office to look up a movie schedule. Most laptops these days come network-ready thanks to the Centrino chip found in PCs, and for older models a networking card is an easy add-on. Consumers want the same flexibility to jump on the Web wirelessly from home that they have at the local Starbucks.

"We do lots of wireless networking," says Ray Lepper, president of Home Media Stores in Richmond, Va. "We show it to people as an accessory to their wired network, not as the network."

Wired is always the medium of choice for networking because of the security and reliability a hard-wired connection delivers. Wireless transmission can't promise either. The most prevalent wireless networking technologies, 802.11 b and g, operate over the 2.4-GHz band of the radio spectrum where their signals compete with 2.4-GHz cordless phones, microwave ovens, and other common household devices. Building materials can also impede the performance of a wireless network. Steel, concrete, and wire mesh all can stop the transmission of radio signals from one side of the house to the other.

Because of the uncertainty of a wireless connection, custom electronics professionals reserve wireless as an extension of Internet access, not for serious computing or streaming of audio and video. "Speed and security issues are the compromises you experience with wireless versus wired systems," says Michael Tangora, president of Tangora Technologies in Delmar, N.Y. "I see wireless as merely a convenience issue over hard-wired networks. The capacity of wired over wireless is absolutely twofold, so in both speed and reliability they really don't compare."

Entertainment services such as video networking of TiVo recorded TV programs or distribution of music from a PC hard drive to other rooms in the house is typically done via wired networks which offer the higher speeds necessary for larger file transfer.

Still, many installers encourage clients to combine wired and wireless networking. "If they already have networks for a digital music server, TiVo server, and computer, we say to clients, 'Why don't we put in a wireless access point and wireless router, and then when you bring your laptop home from work you can just sit in the family room or out on the deck and answer those e-mails while you're sipping a beer,'" Lepper says. "People think that's cool."

Cost is one of the misconceptions homeowners have regarding wireless versus wired networks. "People think that going wireless is a way to save money," Lepper explains. "Not exactly. They think they're going to save labor." To a degree, that's true when it comes to places where it's difficult to run wire. If wiring is in and someone decides after the fact to add the kitchen to a network, a wireless add-on is the only option. "But I don't see wireless as a replacement for wired. I see it as part of the network," he adds.

Wireless networks carry a degree of vulnerability if people don't use encryption to protect their networks from outside intrusion. Most wireless routers, which serve as home base for a wireless network, come with protective encryption turned off because encryption makes it more difficult to add other products to the network. It's a dilemma, Lepper notes, and it leaves consumers confused.

"People are both under-secured and over-paranoid about wireless networks," he says. "People should make their networks secure because even the local teenage hacker could have fun and lock you out of your own router. But if you get paranoid and put in a lot of encryption, that creates a level of inflexibility, which means the integrator has to come back to add new things when you want to expand. Minimum security is mandatory but don't get paranoid.

Wireless mesh networking gaining strength, report says

BECAUSE OF INCREASED RELIABILITY and scalability of mesh networking, demand for wireless sensor networking in the industrial sector will increase, according to wireless market research firm ON World Inc.

With thousands of nodes per network to be commonplace within five years, forecasts show that 168 million nodes could be up and running in 2010 for a $5.9 billion end user market, according to ON World.

"High return on investment, low replacement costs, and the ever-increasing pressure to cut costs, make wireless sensor networking especially suited for industrial networking,"said Charlie Chi, a senior analyst with ON World.

By reducing wiring costs by 50-70%, wireless sensor networks enable real-time data sharing throughout a facility, leading to increased industrial efficiency and productivity. Displacing wired systems (e.g., DeviceNet, Modbus, fieldbus), wireless sensor networking provides advantages such as large-scale networking, real-time monitoring, and new applications not previously possible.

By increasing reliability, robustness, and flexibility while significantly reducing overall costs, mesh wireless sensor networking can lead to new ways to network in industrial process automation, officials said. Mesh networking will also facilitate the adoption of real-time process equipment monitoring and distributed networking.

The major benefits of wireless sensor networking are reduced wiring costs and elimination of connectors.

Uptake of wireless networking slowed by shortcomings in key technology

While wireless networking has taken off rapidly in the consumer space, enterprises have remained cautious because of three shortcomings of the key technology, IEEE 802.11x or Wi-Fi, which are all being addressed over the coming months. The three areas have been uncertain security, lack of quality of service standards (necessary for the increasingly interesting voice over Lan application), and limited real world data rates. Now, an upcoming extension to the standard, 802.11n, will support rates over 100Mbps, while a robust security technology, 802.11i, has finally been ratified, and first QoS moves are being taken.

FAST WI-FI

A battle has commenced at the IEEE to define the technology for the upcoming 802.11n standard for 100Mbps-plus Wi-Fi. Two main groups are submitting proposals, and are already engaged in a publicity war that includes technical claims and counter-claims, and promises over free licensing, that bring to mind the past year's UWB tussles. The danger is that, if the 802.11n process deadlocks too, the leading vendors will go ahead with their various approaches anyway, fragmenting the standard and worsening the non-interoperability dangers already raised by suppliers' 'standards-plus' extensions to vanilla 802.11x.

The first group is WWise (World Wide Spectrum Efficiency), which includes Texas Instruments, Broadcom, Conexant, STMicro, Airgo, and Bermai. Their proposal rests on using four MIMO smart antennas with conventional Wi-Fi channel widths of 20MHz, to achieve speeds of 135Mbps in standard mode, and up to 540Mbps peak.

The main rival proposal is from a group called TGnSynch, led by Intel, which flavors a combination of two MIMO smart antennas and wide (40MHz) channels to create a maximum throughput of 250Mbps (175Mbps of it usable at one time), and which it claims could scale to 600Mbps over time.

While WWise is dominated by WLan chipmakers, TGnSynch includes consumer electronics and mobile handset giants and so may be expected to carry greater weight in the wider market and in terms of OEM uptake. The group includes Agere Systems, Atheros, Cisco, Intel, Marvell Semiconductor, Nokia, Nortel Networks, Philips, Samsung, Sanyo Electric, Sony and Toshiba.

But WWise claims its rival's approach reduces the number of non-overlapping channels, negating some of the advantages of the current 802.11a standard, and will not be usable under Japanese spectrum rules. TGnSynch retorts that its proposed adaptive radio techniques will get round variations in regulations and will future proof the standard against changes and expansion in unlicensed spectrum availability in the future.

WWise has also announced, in a major publicity coup, that, if its proposal is accepted, member companies would license any patents necessary to implement the proposal to any company royalty-free.

The first draft of the 802.11n specification is scheduled to be completed in mid-2005, with its final ratification expected in late 2006 to early 2007.

Some analysts are hopeful that, since the two groups' technologies are nor vastly different, accommodation will be reached easily. However, as past experience shows, the fight will be over control and influence rather than technology per se. We fear 802.11n could turn into another UWB (ultraWideBand) experience (this standard is split).

Another worry about the standards process is the increasing influence of vendors rather than global bodies. The issue was highlighted last month when two important wireless focused meetings were held. One was the IEEE gathering in Berlin, to consider 802.11n and other crucial matters. The other was the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in San Francisco where two technologies that pre-empt IEEE standards were paraded. There is increasing suspicion that the latter, a single vendor event that was once the preserve of the teccies, had more influence on the wireless future than the former.

The what and why of virtual tape: hard disk augments that storage standby - Storage Networking

Before I get into why there is virtual tape I need to explain why tape even exists. Tape started off being a primary storage device. In the early days we did not have disk drives, so the only way data could be stored beyond the memory of the computer was tape. As computers evolved and the need for faster access became a must for the business world, IBM invented the disk drive. These disk drives were really fast but had a couple of problems. First, they cost a lot of money and, second, they had this issue called "head crashes." This happens when the read/write head literally crashes into the magnetic oxide platter. In almost all cases the data was lost and the repair required the replacement of the disk drive. Now you know where the term "system crash" came from. In those days, the disk drive was the most common cause for system error or crash. These crashes stopped the system from working and forced users to regenerate al their data--not a very efficient use of time or money. IBM's solution, at least for the data loss, was taking the now-displaced tape drives use them to backup the hard disks. This allowed data to be easily restored after a crash. In some machines, you could still run off the tape drives until the hard disk was replaced. It was slow, but it got your system working again.

Now let's fast forward 50 years and see that tape has been the primary way that all large computers or networks backup their data. The main reason tape has never been threatened by other technologies is that it is still the cheapest way to backup and archive data. Also, there are boatloads of software packages that can not only backup and archive your data but can now intelligently move data off your disk drives to tape so that your system can run at optimum efficiency.

Now back to virtual tape. Let me start off with the definition from Whatis.com: Virtual tape is the use of a special storage device that manages less-frequently needed data so that it appears to be stored entirely on tape cartridges when some parts of it may actually be located in faster, hard disk storage. The programming for a virtual tape system is sometimes called a virtual tape server (VTS). Virtual tape can be used with a hierarchical storage management (HSM) system in which data is moved as it falls through various usage thresholds to slower but less-costly forms of storage media. Virtual tape may also be used as part of a storage area network (SAN) where less-frequently used or archived data can be managed by a single virtual tape server for a number of networked computers.

This is a great definition and really addresses new applications like HSM (which might be old to some people) and provisioning but does not really address why most people are moving to tape virtualization.

So Why Virtualize Tape?

Because there has been this one aspect of tape and backup that has haunted the IT professional for years. It is called the "backup window." It is the amount of time it takes to backup your system. In the old days, you would do your backups in the evening when everyone was off the system and data could be backed up at your leisure. Now we live in a world were we have so much data that the tape system does not have the time or backup window to complete the backup or, worse, our environment is 24/7 and there is not backup window.

Virtualization to the Rescue!

Most virtual tape systems or servers can minimize or even eliminate the backup window. They do this by using the same technology that gave them their start--hard disks. Putting hard disks in front of the tape drive or library and then fooling the backup or archiving software that it is a tape drive and not a hard disk allows the software to rapidly put data on the tape. Think of the disk drives as a large cache that eliminates the time to do tape media changes and can handle nonstreaming data. Non-streaming data is data that does not keep up with the tape drive, thus making the tape drive reposition the media. These repositions can take seconds and can slow the data transfer to tape thus slowing the backup or archiving process.

Compact, 1U Networking Platform is designed for OEMs

Suited for low- to mid-range networking devices, routers, firewalls, VPN gateways, and other Internet appliances, PL-01020 features 400 MHz or 1 GHz VIA Eden CPU. Set-top box supports up to 512 MB RAM and provides four 10/100 LAN ports, 2 serial ports, and 2 USB ports. DiskOnChip is available for expandability, and IDE support is available for up to 2 IDE devices. Development platform comes complete with motherboard, CPU, and power supply.

Development Platform: VIA Eden CPU (400 MHz / 1 GHz), 512 MB RAM, 4 LAN, 2 Serial Ports, & 2 USB Ports

NORTH ANDOVER, MA; OCTOBER 18, 2004: WIN Enterprises, Inc., a leading designer and manufacturer of customized embedded controllers and electronic products for OEMs, has unveiled a compact, low power networking platform to help OEMs and system integrators achieve faster time-to-market - PL-01020.

Ideal for low to mid-range networking devices, routers, firewalls, VPN gateways, and other Internet appliances, PL-01020 features either a 400 MHz or a 1 GHz VIA Eden CPU. The set-top box supports up to 512 MB RAM, as well as four 10/100 LAN ports, two serial ports, and two USB ports. DiskOnChip is available for expandability, and IDE support is available for up to two IDE devices.

With PL-01020, system integrators and OEMs have a cost-effective solution for x86-based networking applications. Software developers interested in developing a set-top box for their Network / Internet application can also speed their time-to-market with PL-01020. WIN Enterprises offers full design, manufacturing, fulfillment, and support services to ensure the success of all product launches and product lifecycles.

PL-01020 comes complete with motherboard, CPU, and power supply. Options for the embedded networking platform include an Intel 82559ER or a Realtek 100Base-T Fast Ethernet interface. Dimensions: 9.45 x 6.02 x 1.73 inches (240 x 153 x 44 mm).

ATM Network Module suits telecommunications systems

Featuring line traffic management that supports CBR and VBR, Telum 1001-DE DS3/E3 ATM network adapter supports full-duplex ATM DS3/E3 port for protocol data unit sizes as small as 2 cells. IPMI microcontroller subsystem initializes board-level parameters and monitors board voltage and temperature while maintaining system status. Channel and Digital Service Unit provides line alarm conditions and performance data monitoring statistics.

Telum 1001-DE ATM Network Module Features Line Traffic Management

o Full Duplex DS3/E3 ATM I/O

o AMC.1 specification compliant

o Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI)

o Hot Swap Capable

o Local CSU/DSU Management

Albuquerque, NM (March 22, 2005) - Today, SBS Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: SBSE), a leading designer and manufacturer of modular communication solutions, continues its role as an embedded network industry market leader by introducing the newest member of its Telum 1000 line - the Telum1001-DE DS3/E3 ATM network adapter. The single-wide, full height Telum 1001-DE adapter is designed for applications requiring full-duplex DS3/E3 ATM Wide Area Network (WAN) connectivity such as DSLAMs, wireless networking, router/gateways, streaming video, and protocol internetworking.

"The TELUM 1001-DE marks the second entry for SBS Technologies in the company's AdvancedMC module line-up. Customers are demanding the high bandwidth capabilities of PCI Express, manageability with IPMI and hot swap capabilities that existing solutions such as PMC/PTMC cannot deliver. We recognized the need for modular, high-performance mezzanine cards very early, introducing the industry's first WAN AdvancedMC in June of 2004," said Rubin Dhillon, General Manager of the SBS Technologies Communications design center in Massachusetts. "Our new DS3/E3 ATM AMC WAN module is the latest in a line of field-hardened ATM networking products and is part of our comprehensive line of telecomm, datacomm, Ethernet, storage and enterprise I/O modules."

The TELUM 1001-DE is a PICMG AMC.0 & AMC.1 module that complies with ATM Forum UNI 3.1 and TM 4.0 specifications and is based on an advanced ATM Segmentation and Reassembly (SAR) Controller designed to optimize bus transfers. The TELUM 1001-DE supports one full-duplex ATM DS3/E3 port for protocol data unit sizes as small as two cells. The traffic management co-processor within the SAR supports Constant Bit Rate (CBR) and Variable Bit Rate (VBR) among other bit rates. Users can assign parameters to the xBR traffic block to maximize line utilization by automatically scheduling each virtual channel connection (VCC).

In accordance with AMC.0 specifications, an IPMI microcontroller subsystem initializes board-level parameters, monitors board voltage and temperature, maintains system status and hot-swap operations. The Channel and Digital Service Unit (CSU/DSU) network management subsystem provides line alarm conditions and performance data monitoring statistics to help managers keep tabs on line performance. The CSU/DSU functions run in an on-board microcontroller allowing Facilities Data Link functions to be performed in hardware rather than on the hosts system like other competing products.

CompactPCI Systems suit space-restricted applications

Powered by CPB4612 processor blade, which utilizes Intel Pentium M processor, PlexSys-1 and PlexSys-2 are PICMG 2.X-compliant building blocks that provide telecom and Internet IP-based OEMs with open standards ecosystem for application solutions development. PlexSys-1 1U system features 2-slot backplane with 1 system master and 1 node slot, while PlexSys-2 2U system features 4-slot backplane with 1 dedicated system master and 3 peripheral node slots.

DTI's two new additions to the PlexSys Family of CompactPCI Systems are ultra compact enclosures ideal for carriers and service providers deploying communication platforms in mobile and space restricted environments.

RIDGELAND, MS - March 28, 2005 - Diversified Technology, Inc. announced today the release of the PlexSys-1 and PlexSys-2 CompactPCI Systems. These general purpose Platforms are new additions to DTI's PlexSys family of PICMG 2.X-compliant building blocks and they provide telecom and Internet IP-based OEMs an open standards ecosystem for application solutions development. Both systems are powered by the CPB4612 processor blade, which utilizes the low power, high performance Intel Pentium M processor.

"These new low profile PlexSys systems give DTI products that will help make a push in the space-restricted market for CompactPCI," commented Donald Germany, DTI's Systems Engineering Manager. "The PlexSys-1 and PlexSys-2 give our customers platforms that deliver the performance they need, while also saving on the amount of space they have to take up. The CPB4612 processor blade, which powers the chassis, is a great CPU to handle today's intensive, data-flow applications."

The PlexSys-1 and PlexSys-2 are ideal solutions for systems integrators, value added resellers or network equipment providers in telecom or networking industries specializing in providing high-end VoIP, Fire Wall, QoS, VPN, and SS7 gateways because of its flexibility. These compact units meet fast time-to-market demands while also providing robust and reliable blade system platforms for Datacom and Telecom markets (for example Net Routers and the Net gateway markets).