Press Releases

Meriton Networks Announces Technology Partnership with Capella Photonics to Add Optical ROADM Interfaces to Award-Winning Meriton 7200 OADX

Ottawa, Canada, June 22, 2004 – Meriton Networks Inc., the leading provider of carrier-class wavelength networking systems announced today a technology partnership with Capella Photonics, the world leader in Wavelength Selective Switches (WSS) with its WavePath family of products. Meriton is incorporating all-optical reconfigurability in Release 2.0 of its High-Speed Metro (HSM) architecture via the 7200 OADX (Optical Add/Drop Switch), an integrated wavelength switch and transmission system. The 7200 OADX already has full wavelength networking capabilities (multi-degree support, wavelength translation, simultaneous support of CWDM and DWDM, bridge-and-roll of lightpaths, performance monitoring, etc.), and with the addition of optical ROADM interfaces to its transmission capabilities, it will be the only solution capable of enabling both HSM service delivery and cost effective transport infrastructure deployment in a single platform.

The Capella WavePath product is recognized as the leading dynamically reconfigurable subsystem because it provides ten functions within its patent-protected, compact module. Some of the functions include multiplexing, demultiplexing, switching, dynamic channel equalization, variable optical attenuation, power monitoring, tunable filtering, and wavelength connectivity confirmation. The entire multi-wavelength/port configuration can be dynamically and remotely reconfigured.

"With the increase in 10 Gb/s traffic in metro and regional networks, it makes good business and operational sense to add optical reconfigurability," said Michael Howard, principal analyst and cofounder of Infonetics Research, an industry research and consulting firm. "The addition of the Capella WSS technical innovations to Meriton's state-of-the-art products promises to deliver a very cost-effective solution for service providers."

"Since day one, a hallmark of Meriton network architectures has been reconfigurability - the ability to add and/or drop any or all wavelengths to any others in the network," said Mike Gassewitz, president of Meriton Networks. "At a time when other system vendors are still stuck on east-west OADM configurations, we are advancing the state-of-the-art of true networking that allows ring and mesh architectures, a crucial component to enabling the migration from dedicated to shared HSM service delivery. We are very pleased to incorporate the Capella technology into our architecture."

"We have been championing the use of wavelength selective switches rather than expensive waveblocker subsystems, and it is extremely rewarding to see system vendors like Meriton recognize the value of and endorse this approach," said Joe Davis, chief executive officer of Capella Photonics. "We are excited to partner with Meriton Networks to bring a very powerful solution to carriers as they look to cost-effectively deliver high-speed metro services."

The optical ROADM interfaces for the Meriton 7200 OADX are expected to be in trials by the end of this calendar year.

About Capella Photonics
Located in San Jose, California, Capella Photonics was founded in December 2000. The product architecture is based on an extension of free-space optics technology proven by the founders' groundbreaking work in the fields of optical and magnetic data storage. Capella's WavePath product line enables system architects to design optical platforms that offer dynamic and remote reconfigurability, thus greatly simplifying the engineering and provisioning of optical networks. For additional information, please visit www.capellaphotonics.com.

About Meriton Networks Inc.
Meriton Networks Inc. is an innovative wavelength networking company that has developed the industry's first managed high-speed metro (HSM) services architecture. Meriton customers deploy a single, cost-effective solution that addresses the issues of fiber relief and network cost reduction, while also enabling the delivery of all HSM services. The Meriton solution includes metro access, metro core and regional extension products, which are fully managed by a best-in-class suite of network and service management tools. For more information, please visit www.meriton.com.

Meriton Networks, the Meriton Networks logo, MeritonCare, OI 2 - Optical Inter-networking Intelligence, IVFN and Out-of-the-box WDM are trademarks of Meriton Networks Inc. Other trademarks that may be used in this document are property of their respective owners.