Nortel Networks* [NYSE/TSE:NT], SBC Communications Inc. (NYSE:SBC) and its subsidiary SBC Ameritech, and Northwestern University today announced the creation of OMNInet (Optical Metro Network Initiative), a collaborative experimental network designed to assess and validate next-generation optical technologies, architectures and applications in metropolitan networks.

The OMNInet technology trial, a four-site network located in Chicago, will provide a testbed for all-optical switching, advanced high-speed technology such as 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10 GE) and will test next-generation applications for healthcare, industrial design, finance and commerce.

Applications being tested for future 10 GE technology include high-resolution streaming video to deliver full screen, full color, full motion medical images to specialists at remote locations in real time. The trial will also test applications such as next-generation 3D visualization for industrial design, financially focused large-scale data transfers, data mining for scientific and commercial use, and computational science - data intensive science for high bandwidth applications. “We believe that retail metro Ethernet services revenue is set to increase sharply over the next five years reaching over $4 billion by 2006,” said Marian Stasney, senior analyst Carrier Convergence Infrastructure, The Yankee Group. “The pioneering work of OMNInet will speed the deployment of optical products in metro networks, where they’re needed most.”

The OMNInet research project includes:

• Trials of highly reliable, scalable 10 GE in metropolitan and wide area networks. Ethernet is the global standard for local area networks (LANS) that connect today’s computing devices. 10 GE runs at speeds 10-100 times faster than current standards, and can extend the network throughout metropolitan areas (MANs) and between cities (WANs).
• Trials of new technologies to support applications that require extremely high levels of bandwidth. The International Center for Advanced Internet Research (iCAIR) at Northwestern University and its research partners are expected to use the test bed to develop techniques to support applications such as computational science and ultra-high resolution digital imaging. Other research partners include The Electronic Visualization Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory and CANARIE, the Canadian national research network.
• Development and trial of optical switching, ensuring maximized capabilities in the wide scale deployment of all-photonic networks.