Poised to Select OC-192 Vendor, Frontier Shifts DWDM Gears

By: Erik Kreifeldt

Having outfitted much of its initial 13,000-mile network with OC-48 SONET gear and 16-channel dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) equipment from NEC, Frontier Communications is shifting vendors, line rates, and channel counts to outfit another fiber route connecting its 20 most heavily trafficked markets with OC-192-capable, 32-channel DWDM from Pirelli Cables and Systems.

The ability to carry both OC-48 (2.5 Gbps) and OC-192 (10 Gbps) line rates with open interfaces is the key functionality Frontier sought in its new DWDM platform, says Jim Watts, Frontier's director of transmission planning. "We have no qualms with NEC," he says. "They're a great supplier and deliver a very reliable network," he adds. "It's just that where we are with OC-192…NEC is not ready for that."

The OC-192 SONET vendor selection is imminent, Watts reports, as Frontier wraps up interoperability testing. The deployment will be noteworthy, he says, because Frontier will connect the OC-192 equipment directly to open DWDM interfaces. Most carriers deploying OC-192 SONET equipment and DWDM terminals in North America use an integrated system from Nortel Networks.

An OC-192 vendor selection will round out Frontier's supplier portfolio to build out a fiber backbone that interfaces directly to Internet protocol (IP), asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), and SONET equipment. Cisco is supplying IP routers and Ascend ATM switches—both with OC-48 interfaces. "I think OC-192 [interfaces] are not far off for them," Watts says of the vendors, a belief he says contributes to Frontier's decision to upgrade its DWDM platform.

"We're ready to accept delivery on equipment now," Watts says. "You could see OC-192 traffic as early as January [1999]. "Frontier has already deployed Pirelli equipment on a Los Angeles-to-San Francisco route. Next in line is a route between Atlanta and Houston that Frontier is accepting from Williams.

Most of the equipment deployment will take place between now and the end of the first quarter of 1999, Watts says, with linear routes being closed into rings in the second quarter. Frontier is initially configuring its DWDM systems to handle four working channels and four protection channels of OC-48, and two working and protection channels of OC-192, he explains.

Of the 51 terminal equipment sites in Frontier's express network, it will initially deploy add/drop capability in 20 major cities and regenerators at the other 31 sites, Watts says. Another 137 amplifier sites, spaced roughly 60 miles apart, comprise the express network.

Frontier acquired the initial 13,000 miles of its network in a 24-fiber deal with Qwest Communications. A segment from Atlanta to Washington, DC is the last leg of the fiber network purchased from Qwest that remains to be lit, Watts says.

Frontier is the first to select Pirelli's new TeraMux Hyper-Dense WDM system for volume deployment. The platform scales up to carry 128 channels on a single fiber for a total of 1.28 Tbps, roughly equivalent to 16.5 million simultaneous phone calls.