FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 17, 1998
NTT and BellSouth Working on
High-Speed Optical-Access System
NTT and BellSouth have begun to jointly develop a high-speed optical-access system
for economical network services, provided in a single system, ranging from low-speed
telephony to high-speed ATM leased circuits (Mega-Link service) and Open Computer
Network (OCN) services.
The high-speed optical-access system will be for access networks using ATM-based
Passive Optical Network (ATM-PON) technology. Technical problems of the system has
been and are being discussed by Full Service Access Network (FSAN), a de facto
standardization association comprising carriers interested in the early installation
of optical access network systems.
NTT has promoted the international standardization of interface specifications for the
system by playing a leading role, via FSAN, in obtaining approval of the system by the
International Telecommunications Union-Telecommunication Sector (ITU-T).
According to their agreement, NTT and BellSouth have begun exchanging know-how and
data to develop common technical specifications, including interfaces and functions,
for the system. They have also agreed to promote, through FSAN, adoption of the
specifications on a worldwide scale.
This first major joint undertaking between the two partners has several benefits:
- Sharing technical know-how and data, compared with independent development, should
increase the availability of technical information and lead to faster development of a
more effective system.
- Both companies will be able to procure cost-efficient high-speed optical-access
system equipment worldwide. This is because suppliers will be able to offer the
system equipment relatively easily, due to the common technical specifications
developed by FSAN.
- Suppliers will be able to expand market scale, concentrate resources on development,
simplify product lines and reduce product costs, because both partners will be able to
order high-speed optical-access system equipment based on the common specifications.
- Hight-Speed Optical-Access System
Besides sharing information on access systems, the partners plan to deepen their joint
involvement in the development of access system and optical fiber distribution technology.
BellSouth is a $21 billion communications services company. It provides telecommunications,
wireless communications, directory advertising and publishing, video, Internet and
information services to nearly 30 million customers in nine U.S. states and 20 countries
worldwide.
