High capacities and the increasing bandwidth demand through Metro Access and Enterprise network applications such as GbE, SAN, Video on demand or Storage over IP at the access site, are pushing the end user bandwidth needs far beyond the existing limits at this “First Mile”. Today, the focus on this “First Mile” applications have dramatic influenced the technology used in the past, to achieve the highest cost optimization in terms of investment cost (Capex) and operation costs (Opex). Coarse Wavelength Multiplexing Technology (CWDM) offers the most cost efficient solutions for this Metro Access and Enterprise applications where additional bandwidth is required over the existing Fiber infrastructure at the “First Mile”.

The parallel transmission of multiple channels on a single fiber using different wavelengths for each channel offers a nearly unlimited increase in transmission capacity for fiber optic networks.

To ensure the highest flexibility and economical effectiveness, optical multiplexer must be designed in that way, that the capacity can grow together with bandwidth demands.

A modular approach at channel level gives the flexibility to add transmission channels to increase capacity on demand. The optical add/drop multiplexers, which can be integrated into the system, allow flexible network structures from point-to-point to meshed ring topologies.

Users will only invest in the transmission capacity actually used. The number of channels can easily be expanded at any time

 The basic system offers up to 8 CWDM channels per chassis. If capacities need to be increased, each individual CWDM channel can be expanded by up to 8 DWDM channels. Maximum expansion capability is 64 optical channels.

Permits the construction of cost effective wavelength multiplexers. Using modular systems, a single chassis can transmit up to eight independent high-speed services via a fiber optic route. Optimized design allows an optical budget for transmission distances of up to 80 km. Due to the transparent transmission, different protocols such as Fast Ethernet, SDH STM-1, STM-4, Gigabit Fiber Channel, Gigabit Ethernet, and STM-16 may be used. This system provides very low initial cost since its modularity allows to install only the number of channels that are actually used. For increased availability requirements, optional line, channel, and system protection can be provided. The local optical interfaces of the individual data channels are designed as pluggable transceiver modules (SFP's - Small Form Factor Pluggable.)

Automatic optical path and channel protection can optionally be installed for maximum fail-safe systems. The status of each transmission channel is monitored by a centralized management module. Alarm messages are generated automatically when components fail.