Stockholm, Sweden – 20^th October 2010 – Transmode, a leading supplier of optical networking solutions, today announced that ESB Telecoms is building a mobile backhaul wholesale network throughout Ireland, based on Transmode’s Native Packet Optical network architecture.  

Initial customer reaction has been very positive and multiple customers have already signed up for new services that will allow them to take advantage of the capabilities of the new Transport Ethernet products and the Native Packet Optical architecture from Transmode. The initial customers include a major international mobile operator and a national wireless operator. These customers will enjoy a flexible bandwidth service across the whole of ESB Telecoms’ enhanced network. Karl Thedéen, Transmode’s CEO, commented, “We’re very pleased to be announcing this installation today. First of all, it proves the case for Mobile Backhaul and we expect to see large investments in this area in the next few years. Secondly, this project is our first public announcement addressing the new Transport Ethernet products. The fact that we have several other customers in North America and Europe already using these products, makes this even more exciting.”

The new network will increase both the capacity and the flexibility of ESB Telecoms’ existing infrastructure and is designed to manage increasing volumes of mobile backhaul traffic from aggregation sites across Ireland. The TM-Series network is designed to be a Layer 2 Native Packet Optical network using Transmode’s Ethernet Muxponder II (EMXP II), which ideally suits the traffic management needs at the edge of ESB Telecoms’ optical network.

Transmode’s EMXP II will provide ESB Telecoms’ network with scalable bandwidth from 100 Mbit/s to multiple Gigabit Ethernet circuits per site. In addition it also provides demarcation of all Ethernet services and aggregation onto a 10G Ethernet ring. Transmode’s Intelligent WDM (iWDM™) solution will add further scalability at the wavelength layer.

"With our focus on high capacity services and rapid service delivery, the ability to provide carrier class operation is critically important to ESB Telecoms," said Tom Bambury, ESB Telecoms' General Manager. "Transmode’s solution will provide our team with better visibility and enable easier management of the mobile backhaul traffic at our primary sites. In addition it is a very economical solution and gives us Ethernet ring protection on all Layer 2 services. We will therefore be able to supply our prestige mobile service provider customers with a more economical and scalable wholesale offering.”

When planning the new network development with Transmode, it was clear that it would be more economical for ESB Telecoms to incorporate Layer 2 products in the high capacity Layer 1 network instead of deploying a pure Layer 1 solution, in which the minimum bandwidth is 1 GbE per site. The Layer 2-enabled network will be able to share 10 GbE rings across multiple sites, providing bandwidth from 100Mbit/s to multiple GbE circuits per site. This will enable a highly reliable but low-cost solution for the network, due to the lower number of overall components required for the solution.

Sten Nordell, Transmode’s CTO, added, ”Native Packet Optical is an architecture that is ideally suited to the edge of an optical network as it keeps the traffic payload as standard native Ethernet frames. This solution will provide ESB Telecoms with a reliable and scalable network with the ability to manage Layer 2 traffic. Primarily, the new architecture will allow better aggregation of traffic to fill the pipes prior to handover to the core.”

About ESB Telecoms

ESB Telecoms, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ESB, is Ireland’s leading independent provider of wholesale telecommunications services. ESB Telecoms' network includes a 1300km nationwide fibre optic network. It also owns and manages over 300 strategically positioned telecommunications towers and sites throughout Ireland on which all major Irish telecommunications companies have substantial installations. ESB Telecoms’ customers include all the mobile phone operators, the Irish Government, licensed operators and wireless internet services providers.

About Transmode

Transmode is a leading provider of optical networking solutions for transport of data, voice and video traffic, based on CWDM and DWDM technology (Coarse/Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing).  

Transmode's unique Intelligent WDM (iWDM™) approach has lead to widespread deployment of over 20000 systems in a customer base consisting of more than 300 fixed and mobile network operators, service providers, large enterprises and public institutions across Europe, the Americas and Asia.

Transmode's comprehensive product portfolio and strong global organization enable our customers to grow the capacity and to improve service level of their regional, metro and metro access networks, on a cost-efficient basis without compromising on functionality.

For additional information about Transmode, please visit www.transmode.com.

For more information please contact:

Ola Elmeland

Vice President Marketing & Communications

Transmode Systems AB

Telephone: +46 8 506 882 71