L.A. Department of Water and Power Fosters Community Development with Nortel Networks Optical Enterprise Solutions for Utility Services


OTTAWA, Ontario /Wi-Fi Technology News/- The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LA DWP) has deployed a metropolitan optical network solution from Nortel Networks* [NYSE/TSX: NT] to provide optical broadband services to city departments, carriers, Internet Service Providers and enterprises in the Greater Los Angeles Area.

This new network ? dubbed Los Angeles Optical Network or LAON ? provides resilient, high-speed, on-demand access to virtually unlimited bandwidth for support of community and economic development initiatives.

To bring optical broadband services to the Greater Los Angeles area, which ranks as the 12th largest economy in the world, LA DWP has deployed Nortel Networks Passport* 8600 Routing Switches, Nortel Networks OPTera* Metro 3500 Multiservice Platform, and Nortel Networks OPTera Connect DX Optical Switches to create a flexible, reliable, responsive network that connects approximately 150 buildings spanning more than 300 miles.

?As a city department, we seek new ways to serve our community,? said Bruce Hamer, director of the Los Angeles DWP Fiber Optic Enterprise. ?Our optical network gives us a unique opportunity to leverage the assets we have as an electric and water utility to accelerate business development and improve community services in Los Angeles. Because LAON will generate economic growth for the community, it was vital that it be of the highest reliability, speed and capacity ? features found in the optical solutions from Nortel Networks.?

?Utility and Energy Service companies have a unique benefit with optical solutions from Nortel Networks because they deploy the solutions both as enterprises and as emerging service providers,? said Steve Schilling, president, Enterprise Accounts, Nortel Networks. ?LA DWP will be able to increase the bandwidth and performance of its own network, while cost-effectively delivering converged voice, data and video services.?

?LA DWP will also be able to leverage existing assets to foster increased communications and collaboration between city departments, as well as to make optical broadband services available to a broader customer base ? thus promoting economic development in the community,? Schilling said.

As part of Nortel Networks enterprise technology vision, ?One Network. A World of Choice,? Nortel Networks optical solutions for the enterprise offer an unmatched scalable, simple and resilient infrastructure to increase the competitiveness of enterprises as they seek a profitable and responsive business model for serving their clients and customers.

Nortel Networks provides a complete set of simple, scalable and secure Optical Enterprise solutions to assist the utility sector in maximizing their networking investment by increasing bandwidth, improving network resiliency and providing new service opportunities. By implementing these solutions, utilities can achieve reduced network complexity and improved total cost of ownership by converging multiple disparate networks over a common infrastructure. Additionally, they can leverage their assets to generate new revenue opportunities through the delivery of next generation Optical Broadband Services including Optical Ethernet and storage connectivity.

Nortel Networks comprehensive Optical Ethernet portfolio ? including OPTera Metro Multiservice Platforms, OPTera Long Haul Optical Line Systems, OPTera Connect Optical Switches and Ethernet Service Switches ? enables delivery of Ethernet services across service provider and enterprise networks. Nortel Networks is the only vendor that provides a complete set of Ethernet services via Ethernet over fiber, Ethernet over SONET/SDH and Ethernet over WDM.

Deployed in more than 1,000 customer networks in 65 countries, Nortel Networks end-to-end optical network portfolio includes next generation SONET/SDH, optical switching products, photonics (WDM) and Optical Ethernet products. Nortel Networks was #1 worldwide in market share for the Ethernet DWDM and SONET MSPP segments of the Optical Ethernet market for 2002, according to IDC.

Nortel Networks is an industry leader and innovator focused on transforming how the world communicates and exchanges information. The Company is supplying its service provider and enterprise customers with communications technology and infrastructure to enable value-added IP data, voice and multimedia services spanning Wireless Networks, Wireline Networks, Enterprise Networks, and Optical Networks. As a global company, Nortel Networks does business in more than 150 countries. More information about Nortel Networks can be found on the Web at http://www.nortelnetworks.com.