ECI Telecom Offers ROADM Options

ECI Telecom today announced the addition of a range of Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer (ROADM) solutions to its XDM 2000 MSTP/MSPP platform.

The XDM 2000, which extends the integrated CWDM/DWDM/Ethernet/SONET platform into metro and regional deployments, now includes an integrated ROADM on a card.

Mano Nachum, ECI’s vice president of marketing – North America, says the company will introduce a ROADM with a wavelength selective switching function, which will be available for testing in three months and generally available at the end of the year or early 2006. The system is being demonstrated at the company’s booth at SUPERCOMM.

Under the same timeline, Nachum says ECI also will make available a ROADM using wave blocker technology. While the blocker has less functionality than the WSS, he says it is more economical and sufficient for dropping up to 40 channels at hub sites.

Finally, ECI will offer an entry-level pluggable ROADM, which has been available for more than two years but not publicly announced. Providers plug in a filter that can add and drop a wave. It cannot be managed remotely, but Nachum says the option provides a primary benefit -– not requiring preplanning of the network -– of ROADMs at around half the cost. ECI has filed a patent application for this installation solution.

Nachum says ECI has opted not to produce a “switchable ROADM,” which ties waves to certain ports, saying that it does not offer the flexibility providers require.

In contrast, ECI’s XDM WSS ROADM solution provides access to all wavelengths at every port, thus paving the way for multiring and full mesh networks. Built-in metro optical amplifiers reduce the complexity and lower the cost of ROADM nodes. There is also an amplifier option available for regional applications.

Service providers and carriers now have a full spectrum of ROADM capabilities available in one converged and easily configurable platform. The Pluggable ROADM is already field-proven with several deployments while the WSS and Wavelength Blocker will be in trials in three months.

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