Pirelli Broadband Solutions Unveils DWDM XFP And Tunable Transponder At ECOC 2006

Pirelli Broadband Solutions Unveils DWDM XFP And Tunable Transponder At ECOC 2006

Company strengthens tunable and pluggable portfolios

Milan, Italy, 22 September, 2006 – Pirelli Broadband Solutions, the broadband access and photonics company within the Pirelli Group, today announced that it is launching its high-end DWDM XFP optical transceiver portfolio at the ECOC exhibition and conference, taking place in Cannes, 24-28 September 2006. Pirelli’s DWDM MSA 300-pin tunable transponder portfolio, which is based on the company’s dynamically tunable laser, will also make its world debut in Cannes.

The XFP family includes an extensive portfolio of modules featuring high output power and a wide range of dispersion tolerance levels for distances of 80 to in excess of 200 km. This range allows customers to optimize the cost-performance ratio across different networks, including metro and regional.

“The growing number of bandwidth-hungry applications, such as IPTV and VoIP, is fuelling massive demand in the metro and access networks,” said Pierluigi Franco, Senior Vice President Marketing and Product Management – Photonics Products, Pirelli Broadband Solutions. “This growth presents a new set of challenges to network equipment vendors. By leveraging our expertise in nanotechnology and the value-proposition of our tunable and pluggable components, modules and subsystems, Pirelli can reduce multi-channel WDM system inventory and minimize dispersion management complexity and costs.”

Pirelli’s 300-pin tunable transponder product family – also debuting at ECOC 2006 – is MSA compliant and allows tuning over the entire C or L band. In addition to the newly qualified dynamically tunable laser, the products include either a PIN or an APD receiver and optical dispersion compensation techniques, and are designed for metro and long haul DWDM networks, with dispersion reach of 80 to over 350km. The portfolio features products with different modulation formats, including standard NRZ, negative-chirp NRZ, Duobinary, and high dispersion tolerance.

Both portfolios are fully RoHS compliant and are currently being trialed by key customers. They will be commercially available in the first quarter of 2007.

Pirelli Broadband Solutions will be expanding on its strategy for metro and access networks in the ECOC Market Focus, where Eugenio Iannone, Senior Vice President, Application Engineering and Market Validation, for Pirelli Labs Optical Innovation, will deliver a presentation entitled Solution for metro bottlenecks – evolution or revolution? The seminar will take place on 26 September.

Ends

Notes to editors
1. A complete portfolio of pluggable and tunable components, modules and subsystems will be on display at the Pirelli booth – number 183.

About Pirelli Broadband Solutions
Pirelli Broadband Solutions is the Company within the Pirelli Group specializing in broadband access technology and photonics. The Access division provides a range of broadband CPE including access gateways, set-top boxes, multiple handsets, and a remote management system; while the Photonics division leverages nanotechnology and its use of tunable and pluggable solutions to deliver multi-wavelength components, modules and subsystems including tunable lasers, RoF, GPON Triplexers, and a CWDM metro access system. In 2005, Pirelli Broadband Solutions posted sales of 112 million euros, with a 78% growth compared with the previous year. For additional information: www.pirelli.com