Nortel shows off metro telecom gear

Nortel Networks on Monday announced new gear and software upgrades aimed at reducing operating costs for its telecommunications carrier customers. The Nortel hardware comprises two new optical boxes that handle Ethernet traffic in urban areas. The Optera Metro 1200 usually sits at a customer location like a large business or office building and sends or receives traffic to the Optera Metro 8000, which sits at a telecommunications carrier's central office. Nortel has also upgraded the software on its Optera Metro 3500 gear to work with the other two boxes. Nortel says that these Ethernet products can handle traffic that run on a variety of protocols so that carriers can guarantee the same level of network reliability to their customers regardless of the underlying technology that operates the network. The gear will also help carriers provide services like VPNs (virtual private networks) and VoIP (voice-over-IP) to businesses. The Canada-based company adds that the equipment helps reduce costs because it allows carriers to simplify their networks and requires less time and know-how to connect a customer.