Feb 25 2008
Nistica, a global supplier of agile optical modules to leading telecom system OEMs, announced today the launch of its new FULL FLEDGE subsystem to meet growing demand for cost-effective Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Modules (ROADMs) in core network nodes. Nistica has blended the optical performance strength of its ROADM architecture with the proven technology from Texas Instruments (TI) DLP Products to create a first-of-its-kind module for heavy-duty core node applications.
The new FULL FLEDGE module rounds out Nistica’s edge ROADM product portfolio, and delivers critical features that OEMs need to serve metro optical nodes with 100% add-drop capacity. Using FULL FLEDGE, customers can affordably extend the benefits of the FLEDGE series to more nodes in carrier networks than with any other optical solution. The new device further exploits more than a decade of the experience that TI has built into its award-winning DLP technology, including HDTVs, projectors, and Digital Cinema® theatres worldwide.
Speaking on the product launch, Nistica CEO Ashish Vengsarkar stated that, “Telecom OEMs asked us to expand our FLEDGE platform to improve their network scalability, and they are clamoring for the FULL FLEDGE ROADM device. Their customers’ networks are steadily moving to Gigabit bandwidth for mass market services like consumer video-sharing and gaming, carrier Ethernet, and data center connectivity. Carriers urgently need better, faster, and most importantly, cost-effective provisioning of flexible optical bandwidth in dense metros. This is a high-volume need -- as many as 80% of metro nodes can immediately benefit from the FULL FLEDGE configuration.”
He continued, “Our marquee partnership with Fujikura has given our customers the comfort they need to embrace this innovative product. Moreover, Texas Instruments has chosen to work with us in telecom DLP applications because of our innovative approach to achieving a low-cost, full-featured platform and our overall experience with the Telcordia-certified FLEDGE platform.”
Eric Braddom, Manager of Texas Instruments’ DLP® Catalog Products, said, “We are pleased to see innovative developments like this that have the potential to enable a new level of cost and performance.”
Nistica’s FULL FLEDGE ROADM will provide the following powerful features at the lowest cost points in the global marketplace:
- 1 x 2 Wavelength Selective Switching for ringROADM applications
- Reconfigurable optical add/drop with up to 100% capacity and dynamic power equalization
- Full 40 Gbps transmission, cascadable over 24 nodes, with upgradability to 100Gbps
- Fully flexible, software programmable channel plan to future-proof network reconfigurability
- 50% smaller footprint, allowing single-slot implementation
Daryl Inniss, vice president in communications components with Ovum RHK, commented, “There is a tremendous need for low-cost, low-loss ROADM solutions that allow carriers to flexibly manage bandwidth demands. Nistica has been able to leverage its edgeROADM platform and TI’s DLP to design a solution for degree-two core nodes. These are high-volume nodes, and will significantly outnumber mesh nodes in carrier networks.”
Nistica was first to market with a new class of lean, flexible and intelligent subsystems to automate the edge and metro core of service provider networks. The company’s FLEDGE series delivers a new class of devices to fulfill the requirements of an Agile Optical Network, while automating and simplifying optical systems deployment and reconfiguration in edge and core networks. Nistica has built a leadership reputation for the high optical performance of its devices, driven by ultra-low insertion losses and extremely sharp filtering functions. With the addition of the FULL FLEDGE, Nistica now enables cost-effective ROADM functions anywhere in the optical network.
In a separate release today, Nistica announced that it has closed $10M in Series B and additional financing to scale production, launch new products and expand global support for customers.