SURFnet and Internet2 have deployed industry-leading optical solutions from Nortel to provide optical interconnect capabilities into their internationally acclaimed research and education networks. The combination of these two deployments will allow for unprecedented secure and reliable collaboration among researchers and scientists globally.

SURFnet, the global pioneer in advanced network research, has deployed a Nortel Optical Multiservice Edge 6500 and a high-density Nortel Optical Cross Connect HDXc (HDXc) in its NetherLight advanced optical switching facility in Amsterdam. Nortel will also provide SURFnet with a Nortel Common Photonic Layer (CPL) for deployment in the SURFnet6 optical backbone network, which includes NetherLight as a major node.

Internet2, a consortium led by over 200 universities working in partnership with industry and government to develop and deploy advanced network applications and technologies, will deploy Nortel Optical Multiservice Edge 6500 and Nortel HDXc into the Manhattan Landing (MAN LAN) facility, a high-performance exchange point used to facilitate Internet Protocol (IPv4/v6) peering between U.S. and international research and education networks.

Nortel optical solutions offer new levels of scalability, packet capability and flexibility to these two high-performance nodes. As a result of this deployment, both NetherLight and MAN LAN will become main hubs of the Global Lambda Integrated Facility (GLIF). The GLIF community shares a common vision of building a new grid computing paradigm in which the central architectural element is optical networks, not computers, to support this decade's most demanding e-science applications. The GLIF's links are being made available for scheduled use by e-scientists and computer scientists involved with advanced data-intensive application, middleware, protocol and optical networking development.

"Deploying Nortel HDXc and Optical Multiservice Edge 6500 is a logical step in the evolution of NetherLight," said Kees Neggers, managing director of SURFnet. "It will allow us to further develop the prominent role The Netherlands is playing in the GLIF, with virtually unlimited switching capacity and seamless integration with our existing optical infrastructure."

As part of the Dutch GigaPort Next Generation Network project, SURFnet is building a hybrid optical and packet switching infrastructure using the latest optical technology from Nortel as part of its network evolution and expansion plan for the next seven years. Nortel's highly-integrated solution delivers both IP and optical broadband services over an extremely resilient common infrastructure, on top of SURFnet's own dark fibers, that is suited for and efficient for all traffic types. With unprecedented levels of intelligence, the hybrid network will use the unique blend of IPv4, IPv6 and optical technology that is best suited for each particular application, thus dynamically allocating the IP and optical bandwidth.

Similarly, the expansion of MAN LAN is one of the first steps within a broader Internet2 plan to design and deliver an advanced network infrastructure to meet the needs of its member community for 2006 and beyond. This plan includes the design of a hybrid optical packet infrastructure and the development of a national-scale evaluation testbed. With this Nortel deployment, the MAN LAN will expand its capabilities to incorporate additional optical cross-connect functionality for circuit switching, extending its ability to create optical paths for the research community.

"Internet2 is focused on enabling leading-edge network capabilities for the U.S. research and education community and working in close collaboration with our international partners such as SURFnet," said Steve Corbato, Internet2 director of network initiatives. "Through this integration of Nortel optical networking technology into MAN LAN, we will enable greater global research collaboration, while at the same time accelerating our work with our U.S.-based member community to create a new class of network infrastructure with both optical circuit and Internet packet capabilities."

"We're pleased to be working with world-leading research network operators such as SURFnet and Internet2 to pioneer new network architectures that better support data-intensive research applications," said Philippe Morin, general manager of Optical Networks at Nortel. "Our HDX platform has been developed to work seamlessly with our Optical Multiservice Edge 6500 to underpin the scalability and packet capabilities of these two major GLIF nodes."

The new capabilities of NetherLight and MAN LAN will be showcased Nov. 6-12 as part of a live demonstration at SC2004 in Pittsburgh.