Tellabs Insight Magazine - 2nd Quarter, 2013

Q2 2013 

THE WORLD’S 

LARGEST PASSIVE 

OPTICAL LAN 

Sandia National Laboratories 

taps Tellabs for Optical LAN 

spanning 265 buildings 

Advance smart networks

4 

6 

11 

18 

LEADING EDGE 

Tellabs CEO and President Dan Kelly highlights our 

focus this month on optical networking and how the 

technology is transforming enterprise and service 

provider networks. 

UPLOAD 

People all over the world are using laptops and 

smartphones as “second screens” while they watch 

TV. Many Americans treat their mobile devices like 

their best friend. 

THE WORLD’S LARGEST PASSIVE OPTICAL LAN 

Sandia National Laboratories has built a passive 

Optical LAN using Tellabs equipment that connects 

265 buildings. By Sue Holmes, Sandia National 

Laboratories 

MIKE BIRCK’S LEGACY 

Our photo essay highlights the life and times of 

Tellabs Chairman Michael J. Birck. After leading 

Tellabs for 38 years, Birck retires May 1. 

By Joan Engebretson 

28 

32 

37 

GLOBE BUSINESS GETS AGGRESSIVE 

WITH CARRIER ETHERNET 

Philippines-based competitive carrier Globe Business 

was the first in Asia to receive Carrier Ethernet 2.0 certification. 

The company chose Tellabs equipment for a 

broad Metro Ethernet service expansion. 


OTN SWITCHING MOVES INTO THE METRO 

As bandwidth demand grows, carriers are deploying 

Optical Transport Network switching in metro networks. 

Support for packet and TDM services helps carriers 

make the TDM-to-packet transition. 

By M.J. Richter 

THE RISE OF THE OPTICAL LAN 

Optical LANs are catching on at the high end of the 

enterprise market, says Jeff Heynen, directing analyst 

for Infonetics Research. In a Q&A with M.J. Richter, 

Heynen offers his views on Optical LAN opportunities. 

Subscribe to Insight: www.tellabs.com/insight 

Insight Q2 2013 2

One Tellabs Center 

1415 West Diehl Road 

Naperville, IL 60563 USA 

Phone: +1.630.798.8800 

Fax: +1.630.798.2525 

www.tellabs.com 

Now you can receive Insight magazine 

on your iPad or Android tablets, 

including videos 

President and CEO 

Daniel P. Kelly 

Editorial Board 

George Stenitzer 

Joan Engebretson 

Editor 


Editorial Contributors 


Sue Holmes, Sandia 

National Laboratories 

M.J. Richter 

Get the free “Tellabs” app 

in the iTunes App Store or at 

https://play.google.com/store/ 

searchq=tellabs&c=apps 

Design 

Herring Design 

Cover photography by 

Randy Montoya and 

Dino Vournas 

Statements herein may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events, products, 

features, technology and resulting commercial or technological benefits and advantages. These statements are for 

discussion purposes only, are subject to change and are not to be construed as instructions, product specifications, 

guarantees or warranties. Actual results may differ materially. The following trademarks and service marks are owned 

by Tellabs Operations, Inc., or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries: Tellabs ® , Tellabs and 

T symbol ® , and T symbol ® . Any other company or product names may be trademarks of their respective companies. 

Copyright ©2013 Tellabs. All rights reserved. 74.2231E 



LEADING EDGE 

The Optical LAN Revolution Begins 

Dan Kelly 


One technology that’s transforming enterprise networks is Tellabs Optical LAN solution. 

Sandia National Laboratories has built the world’s largest passive Optical LAN, 

connecting 13,000 workstations in 265 buildings on its 13-square-mile campus. 

Replacing its copper-based LAN with Tellabs Optical LAN gives Sandia a simple, 

secure and scalable network that saves energy and money. In fact, Sandia expects to 

save $20 million over 5 years on its $15 million investment in Optical LAN (page 11). 

Much of that savings comes from reducing power consumption by 65%. 

How will the market for Optical LAN evolve Jeff Heynen of Infonetics Research 

addresses this question in a Q&A. In his view, Optical LAN can be a long-term solution 

for enterprises. “… Long term, we can go gigabit and beyond with fiber,” he notes 

(page 37). 

I’d like to congratulate our customer, Globe Business, the first carrier in Asia to 

achieve Carrier Ethernet 2.0 certification. Building on Tellabs technology, Globe has 

raised the bar in the Philippines. Over the past few years, Carrier Ethernet has become 

the dominant transport technology in the world, and Globe is fully prepared to capitalize 

on it (page 28). 

Since 1975, Tellabs co-founder and chairman Mike Birck has led Tellabs through 

many industry and technology changes. Back in the 1970s, Mike designed Tellabs’ first 

products himself. Over almost 4 decades, Mike led Tellabs as networks evolved from monopoly 

to competitive, analog to digital, wired to wireless, and narrowband to broadband. 



LEADING EDGE 

On May 1, Mike will retire from Tellabs. Our special section on Mike’s career begins on 

page 18. 

User experiences are growing richer as mobile devices advance. Around the world, 

users are watching TV and accessing the Internet at the same time — giving rise to the 

“second screen” phenomenon. Americans even use their tablets as companions (page 6). 

The evolution of networks presents opportunities for our customers to win, through 

strategic thinking, better performance and lower costs. As our industry transforms, Tellabs 

is here to help you succeed 

Sincerely, 

Dan Kelly 




UPLOAD 


The 'second screen' goes worldwide 

Consumers are becoming digital multitaskers. 

Although more people are using digital Internet-based media, usage of traditional 

media such as TV remains high, says KPMG. The consulting firm surveyed 9,000 consumers 

in 9 countries. It found that 60% of metro Chinese consumers, 57% of metro 

Brazilians, 50% of North Americans, and 44% of Europeans and Australians watch TV 

while accessing the Internet by PC or laptop. 

That’s not counting people who watch TV while using a social networking site. Social-networking 

TV viewers include 36% of metro Chinese, 26% of Australians, 30% of 

North Americans, 37% of metro Brazilians and 25% of Europeans. 

WATCH TV & 

USE A SOCIAL NETWORKING SITE 

C O N T I N U E D 

& 

26% 

AUSTRALIA 

37% 

METRO BRAZIL 

36% 

METRO CHINA 

25% 

EUROPE 

30% 

NORTH AMERICA 

30% 

SINGAPORE 



UPLOAD 

Computers, smartphones and tablets that consumers use while watching TV are 

now commonly known as the “second screen.” And content providers increasingly are 

taking the second screen into account as they develop new offerings. 

KPMG argues that content, devices and distribution channels need to be integrated. 

“It is unlikely that any single player can master all these components, making cooperation 

and collaboration a necessary approach,” the report advises. 

KPMG encourages stakeholders to experiment with the second screen. “There will 

have to be failures in order to find success,” says the report. “The winners will be those 

prepared to take risks and learn from their mistakes.” 

WATCH TV & ACCESS INTERNET 

VIA PC/LAPTOP (NOT FOR SOCIAL NETWORKING) 

& 

44% 

AUSTRALIA 

57% 

METRO BRAZIL 

60% 

METRO CHINA 

44% 

EUROPE 

50% 

NORTH AMERICA 

49% 

SINGAPORE 



UPLOAD 

Pets may be feeling 

left out now that more 

Americans are using 

smartphones for 

companionship. 

Man’s New Best Friend 

Perhaps dogs are overrated. 

Many Americans today use their mobile devices for companionship, essentially treating 

the devices like a best friend, says Wakefield Research. It conducted a survey of more 

than 1,000 adult smartphone and tablet owners for cloud computing company Citrix. 

More than two-thirds of respondents (69%) said it had been one day or less since 

they last ate a meal without checking their device. And 64% said their primary reason 

for using their mobile devices was to “keep myself from being bored.” 

Like a best friend, an American’s mobile device may know things about him or her 

that no one else knows. Nearly half (46%) of respondents said they have used their mobile 

device to watch a television show in private that they would never watch with their 

friends. Top shows watched in private were “Pawn Stars,” “Storage Wars” and “The 

Real Housewives.” 

Americans also turn to smartphones and tablets for advice. Younger adults — including 

62% of Generation X and 54% of Millennials — said they trust “how to” advice 

from the mobile Web more than advice from their parents. 



UPLOAD 

By 2018, ABI expects 

fiber-to-the-home to 

generate one-third of 

broadband service 

revenues. 

Global broadband speeds increase as profits decline 

Broadband services continue to see strong growth worldwide. But profitability isn’t 

keeping pace. 

Fixed broadband services — including DSL, cable and fiber-optic services — generated 

$188 billion globally in 2012, according to ABI Research. That's a 7% increase from 

2011. By 2018, ABI projects global broadband service revenues to reach $251 billion. 

Fiber-based services are the fastest-growing within the fixed broadband category, 

according to ABI. While fiber-based services grew 24% from 2011 to 2012, growth 

rates for DSL and cable broadband were 2% and 6%, respectively. By 2018, ABI 

expects fiber-to-the-home to generate one-third of broadband service revenues. 

Unfortunately, ABI notes that average revenue per broadband user has declined across 

all broadband technologies over the past few years. This trend is expected to continue 

as the majority of service providers offer lower prices to capture greater market share. 

Parks Associates notes similar trends, looking at global Internet and broadband growth 

on a household basis. By 2016, Parks expects 814 million households worldwide to 

have Internet service and 94% to have broadband — up from 650 million broadband 

households in 2013. By 2016, 99% of Internet households in the U.S. and most 

Western European countries will have broadband, Parks predicts. 

While broadband speeds have increased, pricing for broadband services has remained 

flat, Parks says, yielding the same profit decline that ABI found. Moving forward, Parks 

believes that usage-based business models and tiered services will become more common. 

And service providers will turn to a multi-service strategy, leveraging broadband 

connections to support services such as home monitoring and advanced video, 

Parks says. 



UPLOAD 

Visit Tellabs at these upcoming events: 

Sviaz Expocomm 

May 14-May 17 

Booth 82C60 

Expocentre Fairgrounds 

Moscow, Russia 

iPOP IP and Optical Networks 2013 

May 30-May 31 

TKP Otemachi 

Conference Centre 

Tokyo, Japan 

WDM & Next Generation 

Optical Networking 

June 17-June 20 

Grimaldi Forum 

Monaco 

“I have just one more question — 

will it make me happy 



THE WORLD’S 

LARGEST PASSIVE 

OPTICAL LAN Sandia’s Optical LAN connects 

265 buildings and saves 

$20 million over 5 years 

By Sue Holmes, Sandia 

National Laboratories 

PHOTOS: RANDY MONTOYA 


OPTICAL LAN 

The fiber distribution system 

uses only part of the conduit 

and needs only a 2- by 3- 

foot cable box. “The frames 

go away, and the walls are 

bare and the tray empties,” 

said Sandia Senior Engineer 

Steve Gossage 

Sandia National Laboratories is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia 

Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the 

U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. With 

main facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif., Sandia has major R&D 

responsibilities in national security, energy and environmental technologies, and 

economic competitiveness. 

It also has become a pioneer in large-scale passive optical networks, 

building the largest passive Optical Local Area Network in the world. 

The network pulls together 265 buildings and 13,000 computer 

network ports and brings high-speed communication to some of the Labs’ 

most remote technical areas for the first time. It will save an estimated 

$20 million over 5 years through energy and other savings and not having 

to buy replacement equipment. Sandia expects to reduce energy costs by 

65% once the network is fully operational. 

Fiber offers far more capacity, is more secure and reliable and is less 

expensive to maintain and operate than traditional LANs that use copper cables. 

An Optical LAN gives people phone, data and video services using half-inch fiber 

optic cables made of 288 individual fibers instead of the conventional 4-inch copper 

cables. Copper cables typically fill up underground conduits and require steel overhead 

racks as well as distribution rooms filled with separate frames for voice and data cables. 

The fiber distribution system uses only part of the conduit and needs only a 2- by 

3-foot cable box. 

“The frames go away, and the walls are bare and the tray empties,” said Sandia 

Senior Engineer Steve Gossage, who has spent his 36-year career at the organization in 

advanced information and network systems engineering. 

The national laboratory has always pushed for speed beyond the fastest transmis- 


LAN: Local Area Network 

R&D: Research and 

Development 


OPTICAL LAN 

sion rate available, Gossage said. “When people were working in much slower data rates, 

kilobit-type rates at short distances, we were trying to get 10 times the distance and 

10 times the speed,” he said. 

Adopting fiber optics 

Sandia began looking at fiber optics early in the technology’s development because 

of its promise of higher bandwidth over longer distances. The Labs started converting 

from copper in the 1980s, first installing then-emerging fiber optics in a single building 

and bumping that facility to megabit speeds. “Today we’re way past that. We’re at 

10-gigabit-type rates and looking hard at 100,” Gossage said. 

After years of planning, Sandia completed a formal network plan in late 2008 and 

sought competitive bids the following year. Sandia selected Tellabs as the equipment 

vendor for the network, and Gossage and his colleagues simultaneously began to jumpstart 

the deployment of the fiber infrastructure and set up a test lab to validate equipment 

configurations and the performance of network functions. The technology began 

moving to desktops in 2011, and by the end of 2012, Sandia had converted more than 

90% of bulky copper cable to a fiber optic LAN. 

Sandia, which will spend about $15 million on the project, needs superb computing 

capability for the problems it tackles. 

“Whether it’s a materials science problem or modeling an event, we need a lot of 

data and a lot of processing capability,” Gossage said. “We need to be able to see it,we 

need to be able to view it, and we need to be able to put teams together. This is a large 

laboratory, deeply stocked with scientists, engineers and test labs. For the analyses we 

get, the problems are not small and they’re not easy.” 

Sandia envisioned being able to use multiple wavelengths in a very high bandwidth 

single strand reaching the farthest tech areas. But decades ago, when Sandia began 


“Whether it’s a materials 

science problem or 

modeling an event, 

we need a lot of data 

and a lot of processing 

capability.” 

— Steve Gossage, 

Senior Engineer, 

Sandia National 

Laboratories 


OPTICAL LAN 

putting in single-mode fiber to desks and adding underground fiber capabilities, the 

technology wasn’t quite mature enough to take advantage of fiber optics’ inherent 

multiple wavelengths and speeds. 

So Sandia continued to install the fiber optic foundation and waited while the technology 

developed, progressing quickly when commercial optical networks began 

supporting voice, data and video to large collections of homes and offices. 

“There weren’t that many unknowns for us because we had been thinking about 

ways to do this on a large scale for quite a while,” Gossage said. “We had already 

thought through what this might mean to us, what it might mean to our lifecycle costs 

and where the investments would be, and we were already pretty comfortable with fiber 

and the technologies that go with it.” 

Passive Optical LANs have 

greater range, reaching up 

to 30 kilometers, or 300 

times farther than copperbased 

LANs. 

Copper vs. fiber optics 

Buildings with conventional copper LANs have separate networks for phones, 

computers, wireless, security and so on. Fiber optics puts everything in a single network 

cable, eliminating a large number of power-consuming switches and routers and making 

the network simpler to operate and cheaper to install. Because fiber optic systems are 

more compact and efficient, energy and maintenance costs go down. 

“As we research and deploy new technologies, our main objectives are to enable 

the Labs’ mission, decrease life-cycle costs and if possible reduce our footprint on the 

environment. With the deployment of passive optical networks we have been able to 

meet and exceed all of these objectives,” said Sandia manager Jeremy Banks. 

Where a conventional LAN serving 900 customers requires a space the size of 

3 double ovens, an optical network serving 8,000 requires a microwave oven-sized 

space. Where a copper cable approach required Sandia to maintain and manage 



OPTICAL LAN 

Sandia is recycling 

copper as it is replaced, 

which keeps tons of 

valuable material out 

of a landfill. 

600 separate switches in the field, Optical LAN allows the organization to operate a 

data center in one building with simple, standard ports to reach the offices. Because 

fiber optics reach beyond the 100-meter radius that once was the standard from a wiring 

closet to a desktop, remote areas such as the National Solar Thermal Test Facility have 

high-speed communications for the first time. 

The only copper wire for most of Sandia today is a short connection from the wall 

to the desktop. Everything behind the wall is fiber. 

Moving away from copper wasn’t easy. It required new technology for the core communication 

system and made Sandia its own network provider, Gossage said. He 

credited a central team of about 10 people across Sandia who worked together throughout 

2011, plus sub-teams totaling about 40 people. The teams included people from 

engineering design, information technology, network systems, computing, facilities, and 

security as well as people in the field pulling cable and connecting ports. 

“Thank you is just not quite enough when you see people working that hard for that 

long to assist in change, because change is hard and worrisome and disquieting,” 

Gossage said. 

Still to come 

Sandia is recycling copper as it is replaced, which keeps tons of valuable material 

out of a landfill. And the estimated $80,000 the organization will get for the copper 

will offset some of the fiber optic costs. 

The Labs also must turn off hundreds of switches before potential energy savings 

can be fully realized. That will take some time because it depends on staffing and other 

factors, Gossage said. 

More change could be coming. A small trial is under way for voice-over-fiber — 

putting data and voice in one system rather than the two systems Sandia uses today. 



OPTICAL LAN 

Fiber optical cable can 

provide sufficient bandwidth 

for 25 years or 

more. 

Testing shows Sandia can protect voice running through a congested circuit — 

what Gossage calls “a Mother’s Day test” — when everyone calls at the same time. 

The Gigabit Passive Optical Network standard that Sandia uses enables the organization 

to dedicate part of the bandwidth and give priority to selected traffic such as voice. 

That enables calls to go through even with heavy competition from data traffic. 

Sandia also is working with a small number of researchers who need more bandwidth 

than they’re getting. The Labs’ needs are ahead of the market but the organization 

is pushing for next-generation increases in speed, Gossage said. 

Communication speed improves every 5 to 8 years. With copper, each improvement 

required replacing large, heavy bundles of jacketed cable to re-engineer them to perform 

at the new speed, he said. Fiber optical cable can provide sufficient bandwidth 

for 25 years or more. 

“We change the wavelength, we change the modulation rate, we don’t get back in 

the ceiling, we don’t get back in the customer’s office,” Gossage said. “So our return 

on investment, our capital investment, our operational investment, the impact on our 

customers — everything gets better.” ■ 



OPTICAL LAN 

The world’s smallest: 

Tellabs Mini ONT 


In the second quarter of 2013, 

Tellabs will begin shipping the Tellabs ® 

100 Series Mini Optical Network 

Terminal — the world’s smallest ONT 

with Power-over-Ethernet. 

ONTs connect users, serving as the 

interface between the Optical LAN and 

end-user equipment. 

The Tellabs ® 120W ONT installs in 

office walls in a standard size outlet. It 

provides two Gigabit Ethernet interfaces 

with Power-over-Ethernet to the user. 

The Tellabs ® 120C ONT installs in 

standard cubicle raceways with the 

same interfaces and feature set as the 

Tellabs 120W ONT. 

Purpose-built for enterprise 

networks, Tellabs new Mini ONTs: 

• Reduce cabling requirements 

and exposure to damage or 

theft by eliminating ONTs on 

or under desks 

• Minimize the space needed in 

the communication closet 

• Reduce deployment costs by 

eliminating fiber jumpers and 

desk/wall mounts 

• Require no power or battery backup 

at the desktop because they are 

remotely powered from the 

communication closet. 

Compared with a conventional 

active Ethernet LAN, Tellabs 

Optical LAN can save up to 

70% in total costs, lower power 

consumption by 80% and 

reduce space by 90%. 

Tellabs 120C ONT (above) 

installs in standard cubicle 

raceways. Tellabs 120W 

ONT (below) installs in a 

standard 

size outlet. 

ONT: Optical Network 

Terminal 



MIKE BIRCK’S 

LEGACY 

Co-founder who led 

Tellabs for more than 

3 decades will retire 


Entrepreneur Michael J. 

Birck co-founded Tellabs in 

1975 and designed the 

company’s first products. 

Over 38 years, Tellabs grew 

to become a $1 billion 

global company. 


MIKE BIRCK RETIRES 

Michael J. Birck 

and his team 

worked hard and 

enjoyed what they 

were doing to build 

a billion-dollar 

global company 

Back in 1975 a small group began gathering every morning to plan a new company. 

Their plan was to build telecom equipment for smaller North American phone 

companies. 

The new manufacturing company became Tellabs, which is a $1 billion global 

telecommunications company today. 

One of Tellabs’ original founders and the man who designed its original products 

was Michael J. Birck. Since Tellabs’ founding, Birck has served the company as 

either CEO or chairman, and often as both. After 38 years of helping to shape the 

company’s direction, Birck plans to retire this year. 

To get Tellabs started, Birck sold stock he held in AT&T and used his home to 

secure a loan. Two other founders sold their homes. 

“I didn’t have much AT&T stock and they didn’t have very grandiose homes,” 

recalls Birck. “We came up with $110,000 and we were able to secure a 

$50,000 loan from a local bank.” 

Birck’s children were school age. “I remember telling them we would 

be eating a lot of hamburgers and hot dogs over the next year because 

I wasn’t going to earn a salary,” comments Birck. But after 6 or 8 

months of casseroles, one of them asked after dinner, “What ever 

happened to the hamburgers and hot dogs” 

Several other members of the group of 6 also worked without pay 

for the first year. Fortunately the company was able to begin manufacturing 

and make some sales before the end of its first year. 

“We lost only $47,000 the first year,” Birck recalls. “That’s pretty 

remarkable when you think about it.” 

C O N T I N U E D 


19


Over the years, 

Tellabs expanded 

internationally. 

A strong product heritage 

The company’s early products provided amplification and echo suppression. The 

product line focused on niche products that faced relatively little competition. 

By mid-1980 Tellabs had grown so large that the founders decided to take it public. 

Going public also enabled the early employee-owners to cash in some stock. 

In the 1990s the company introduced the Tellabs ® Titan ® 5500 Digital Cross- 

Connect System, one of the most successful telecom products ever. Customers bought 

more than $3 billion worth of Titan 5500s. 

Over the years, Tellabs expanded internationally. Today it’s focused on packet optical, 

mobile backhaul, Ethernet/IP and access solutions for a variety of telecom and 

Internet applications around the world. 

Committing heart and soul 

Two of Tellabs’ original founders cashed out and left the company shortly after it 

went public. Another, Ron Sproull, was killed in a plane crash in the early years. Chris 

Cooney, an original founder who headed up sales, remained with the company for many 

years. But after Cooney retired, Birck was the only original founder who remained with 

the company. 

It’s easy to see why Birck was in no hurry to retire. He truly enjoys going to work 

every day. 

“In addition to building a company we had a good time doing it,” says Birck. 

“People committed their heart and soul to it.” 

Undoubtedly, much of Tellabs’ success over the years has come from people who 

share Birck’s attitude toward work. That’s a legacy Birck hopes will remain as he plans 

a long-awaited retirement. Those plans include traveling with his wife and volunteer 

activities in his community. 




The right mix 

Tellabs’ original founders 

met around a kitchen 

table. Birck, in red at 

left, was the president 

and was the company’s 

only “technical guy.” 

Moving clockwise, 

Ron Sproull headed up 

manufacturing. Chris 

Cooney headed up sales. 

Fred Weeks was vice 

president of marketing. 

John Santucci was the 

“creative guy” who came 

up with the Tellabs 

name. Marty Hambel 

oversaw finances. 

A fun first year 

(Below, left) Virtually 

everyone who worked 

for Tellabs the first year 

celebrated Halloween 

together. The man in 

the mask of former U.S. 

president Richard Nixon 

illustrates the lighthearted 

spirit of the 

young company. 

(Below, right) At Christmastime, 

a Tellabs 

tradition was for Birck 

to dress in red and greet 

employees. “I still have 

that shirt,” comments 

Birck. “It’s a little 

threadbare.” 




Covering the country 

Recalling Tellabs’ sales 

team in the early days, 

“Fred and Chris would 

load up their cars,” Birck 

says. “Fred would go east 

and Chris would go west. 

They slept in their cars 

more than once in those 

early days.” The company 

initially targeted the 

2,000 or so independent 

U.S. phone companies 

that weren’t part of the 

AT&T Bell System, which 

served the vast majority 

of the United States. 

Later, Tellabs made inroads 

with large carriers 

in North America and 

around the world. 

Getting the word out 

Tellabs started publishing 

an employee newsletter 

during its first year. 

Bob Pershing (back row, 

second from right) joined 

the founders as director 

of engineering. 

The “technical guy” 

Birck adjusts a program 

amplifier, one of Tellabs’ 

early products. In those 

early days, Birck says, 

“I was in the lab most of 

the time.” 




At home at headquarters 

For many years Tellabs 

was headquartered in a 

rented building in Lisle, 

Ill. “The tree in front 

was a kind of hallmark 

for us,” Birck says. “We 

had a lot of events under 

the shade of that tree.” 

Birck also liked the 

Lisle location because 

“We could bring customers 

there and they 

didn’t worry that we were 

spending money foolishly 

on facilities.” The 

company later opened 

a larger facility in 

Bolingbrook, Ill., before 

settling into its current 

location in Naperville, 

Ill., in 2001. 

Sharing their talents 

Tellabs has supported 

Habitat for Humanity, 

a volunteer organization 

that builds housing for 

disadvantaged people 

worldwide. Employees 

were given time off to 

work on this house in 

Joliet, Ill. “I went out 

and pounded nails with 

them for a while,” 

Birck recalls. 




Wojo’s brainchild 

Bob Wocjinski, known 

as “Wojo,” spearheaded 

development of the 

Tellabs Titan 5500 

Digital Cross-Connect 

System. Before the 

5500, Tellabs had 

offered lower-capacity 

digital cross-connects 

designed for T-1 circuits. 

“Bob came to me one 

day and said, ‘We have 

to have a DS-3 or higherspeed 

version’,” recalls 

Birck. “He said it would 

cost $8 million to 

develop and take 3 years. 

It took $40 million and 

6 or 7 years.” Not everyone 

agreed Tellabs 

should pursue the product. 

But Birck was convinced 

Wojo and his 

team could pull it off. 

“It turned out to be the 

biggest success we ever 

had,” says Birck. “It became 

the standard of 

the industry for quite a 

number of years.” 


One of telecom’s most 

successful products 

The original sales 

brochure for the Tellabs 

Titan 5500 Digital Cross- 

Connect System, which 

Tellabs continues to 

offer. Today, most of 

Tellabs’ revenue comes 

from Ethernet/IP, 

packet optical and 

access solutions. 



Proud moments 

(Upper left) Birck broke 

ground for Tellabs’ current 

headquarters in 

Naperville, Ill., in April 

2000. 

(Upper right) Tellabs’ 

annual sales hit nearly 

$100 million as Cooney 

and Birck celebrated the 

company’s 10th anniversary 

in 1985. 

(Lower left) Tellabs’ 

board of directors in 

1986 included (left to 

right) Michael J. Birck, 

president, Tellabs, Inc.; 

Frederick A. Krehbiel, 

executive vice president, 

Molex Incorporated; 

Paul M. Wythes, general 

partner, Sutter Hill 

Ventures; Robert P. 

Reuss, chairman and 

CEO, Centel Corporation; 

Henry F. McCance, 

general partner, 

Greylock Partnerships. 

(Lower right). Birck 

refers to Tellabs’ 25th 

anniversary celebration 

in 2000 as his proudest 

moment, when comedian 

Bill Cosby entertained 

employees and their 

spouses at McCormick 

Place in Chicago. Birck 

also visited Tellabs locations 

around the world. 




Engaged employees 

Birck helped to create 

a culture at Tellabs 

that encouraged all employees 

to feel engaged, 

as the Chicago Tribune 

reported in 1994. Birck 

is pictured with longtime 

Tellabs supervisor 

Annie Arredondo. Moving 

manufacturing offshore 

several years later was 

a difficult but necessary 

decision for Tellabs 

to stay competitive, 

Birck says. 




What goes around 

comes around 

(Above left) Tellabs’ 

annual picnics and 

social events offered an 

opportunity to celebrate 

camaraderie – and give 

Birck a dunking. (Above 

right) Birck attempts to 

even the score, taking 

aim at Chris Cooney in 

the dunk seat. The right 

environment is one that 

supports open communications 

among all levels 

of management and employees, 

advises Birck. 

“Communication and 

having no artificial impediment 

to it are key to 

a successful organization,” 

he says. 


Loving your work 

Birck and John Kohler 

enjoy a break in the 

cafeteria at Tellabs’ Lisle 

location. “People at this 

company had a lot of 

fun,” Birck says. “We 

became a significant 

player in telecom. And 

we did it with ordinary 

people who enjoyed what 

they were doing. It was a 

happening — how a very 

small company on the 

plains of Illinois became 

a significant player in 

a large and global 

industry.” ■ 


GLOBE BUSINESS 

GETS AGGRESSIVE 

WITH CARRIER 

ETHERNET 

Philippine competitive 

carrier becomes the 

first in Asia to achieve 

Carrier Ethernet 2.0 

certification with 

Metro Ethernet built 

on Tellabs technology 


Jesus Romero, Head, Globe 

Business, tours the Network 

Operations Center, with 

Ralph Candiloro, Vice President 

& General Manager, 

Tellabs Asia-Pacific. 


ETHERNET 

Globe Business sees the new Carrier Ethernet 2.0 standards as a way to raise 

the bar in the Philippine telecom market. 

“The industry has become hypercompetitive with the merger of the dominant 

carrier and the third player in the industry,” said Jesus Romero. Romero is 

head of Globe Business, the corporate arm of the Philippines’ leading competitive 

carrier Globe Telecom. 

“There is also pressure for telecommunication companies to find fresh revenue 

streams as the market matures,” Romero said. 

Carrier Ethernet 2.0 is the latest set of standards from the Metro Ethernet 

Forum. It adds OAM features and provides class of service. In addition, it offers 

better interoperability and scalability. And it supports end-to-end management. 

Globe Business is the first service provider in Asia, and the fourth in the world, 

to achieve MEF CE 2.0 certification with its point-to-point E-Line (EPL and EVPL) 

and multipoint-to-multipoint E-LAN services. 

“The most important aspects of Carrier Ethernet 2.0 are class of service and service 

performance,” said Romero. “This will enhance and solidify the SLAs we provide our 

customers.” 

Staff working at Globe 

Telecom’s Network 

Operations Center 

OAM: Operations, 

Administration and 

Maintenance 

SDH: Synchronous 

Digital Hierarchy 

SLAs: Service Level 

Agreements 

First to market, again 

Globe Business previously offered Ethernet services delivered over SDH. The service 

provider was the first in the Philippines to be MEF-certified when it received MEF 9 certification. 

The company subsequently received MEF 14 certification, and most recently 

CE 2.0 MEF-certification. 

Ethernet bandwidth demand from Globe’s enterprise customers has been growing 

rapidly. Those customers increasingly need connectivity to data centers for business continuity 

and disaster recovery. They also want an Ethernet platform to support cloud services 



ETHERNET 

“This new approach 

will improve deployment 

cost structure while 

optimizing use of bandwidth 

on our network.” 

— Jesus Romero, Head, 

Globe Business, 

tours the Network 

Operations Center 

CPE: Customer 

Premises Equipment 

RFP: Request for Proposal 

VoIP: Voice over 

Internet Protocol 

and to provide real-time capabilities required for VoIP and Web conferencing. 

Globe Business decided to deploy a structured Carrier Ethernet access network as 

an alternative to Ethernet-over-SDH. The goal was to position the company to 

address those customer requirements. 

“This new approach will improve deployment cost structure while optimizing use 

of bandwidth on our network,” explained Romero. 

Speeding up provisioning and troubleshooting 

When Globe Business looked for equipment for its new network, one requirement 

was to meet Carrier Ethernet 2.0 specifications. Another was quick and efficient 

provisioning and troubleshooting. 

Globe based its equipment selection process on an RFP. The company selected the 

top 2 vendors, who underwent testing based on MEF standards. 

“After the technical qualification, vendors went through commercial evaluation,” 

said Romero. “We chose Tellabs because they provided the solution we were looking 

for. And they passed technical and commercial evaluations.” 

Globe will install Tellabs ® 7305 Ethernet Demarcation Devices at customer sites. 

Romero believes those devices will help Globe achieve its troubleshooting and maintenance 

goals. He particularly likes the RFC 2544 test tool built into the Tellabs 7305 

EDD, enabling non-intrusive real-time testing. “With that and our new Carrier Ethernet 

network we will provide a better user experience,” said Romero. 

In the Globe Business Carrier Ethernet network, the Tellabs CPE connects to 

Tellabs ® 7325 Ethernet Edge Switches. Those switches, in turn, connect to Tellabs ® 

7345 Ethernet Aggregation Switches. Traffic in the core travels on an IP-MPLS network 

based on the Tellabs ® 8800 Series Smart Routers. 

All of this is managed through the Tellabs ® 8000 Intelligent Network Manager. 



ETHERNET 

E-LAN predominantly 

appeals to banking, 

finance and government 

customers. 

Globe Business likes having a single management system for all of the products. 

“One advantage is enabling end-to-end service management for each customer 

circuit from any point in the network,” said Romero. “This helps us rectify service 

issues immediately using the Tellabs INM. And for Globe, this helps to cut costs as we 

do not need to send field engineers to manage the CPE.” 

Delivering 3 types of Ethernet services 

Globe Business uses the Tellabs Carrier Ethernet platform to support 3 types 

of Ethernet services. These include point-to-point E-Line and EVPL (Ethernet virtual 

private line) services and multipoint E-LAN services. 

The E-Line offering is popular with business process outsourcing companies and 

call centers. Global and local service providers also purchase the service on a wholesale 

basis. All of these customers need guaranteed bandwidth. 

E-VPL is mostly used by IT companies and by some service providers. “These are 

companies with multiple applications. They need to tunnel or converge everything into 

a single point,” noted Romero. 

E-LAN predominantly appeals to banking, finance and government customers. 

Those customers often have multiple locations that need to connect to a head office. 

“With this Carrier Ethernet network, we position ourselves to offer carrier-class 

Ethernet services,” said Romero. “The services will conform to the newest standards 

for Ethernet technology set by the MEF. And that assures our customers of our commitment 

to providing world-class and best-quality services.” ■ 



OTN SWITCHING 

MOVES INTO THE 

METRO 

Growing bandwidth 

demand drives 

carriers to extend 

Optical Transport 

Network switching 

beyond the network 

core. By M.J. Richter 


OTN 

OTN is defined in ITU-T 

Recommendation G.709. 

Optical Transport Network (OTN) switching isn’t just for long-haul networks anymore. 

The technology is moving gradually into the metro network as well. 

Several trends are paving the way. 

Wireline, wireless, video and data center traffic in metro networks is growing fast. 

And bandwidth requirements in the metro are moving toward gigabit services and beyond. 

To future-proof their networks, service providers are deploying next-generation 

DWDM and ROADM transport technologies. For efficiency, service providers are converging 

switching and transport technology to concurrently handle TDM and packet services. 

Deploying OTN switching can help service providers achieve 4 critical metro 

network goals: 

• Reduce transport cost-per-bit 

• Efficiently utilize optical spectrum 

• Deliver and manage a variety of higher-bandwidth services seamlessly, 

transparently, and with low-latency 

• Build in the flexibility necessary to support future services. 

OTN or the “digital wrapper” protocol 

OTN is defined in ITU-T Recommendation G.709. The OTN protocol allows service 

providers to transparently transport data rates and services from 1Gbps to 100Gbps. 

OTN “wraps” the client signal into an ODU payload for transport through the network. 

This preserves the native structure and management information of each individual client 

signal as it traverses the network. And that enables the service provider to monitor and 

manage each signal’s performance end to end. 

With OTN, multiple services can be multiplexed and switched into a single 10G or 


DWDM: Dense Wavelength 

Division Multiplexing 

ITU-T: International 

Telecommunications 

Union – Telecommunications 

Standardization 

Sector 

OTN: Optical Transport 

Network 

ODU: Optical channel 

Data Unit 

ROADM: Reconfigurable 

Optical Add Drop 

Multiplexer 

TDM: Time Division 

Multiplexing 


OTN 

Without OTN switching, 

a carrier might waste 

a 10G wavelength to 

transport 1 gigabit 

of data. 

100G wavelength. And OTN adds robust SONET/SDH-like OAM functions to DWDM 

equipment. 

Finally, OTN is designed to provide resilient protected services. 

A case-by-case evolution into the metro network 

OTN switching enables an evolutionary migration to OTN, observes Brian Nagle. Nagle 

is the director of optical transport product line management at Tellabs. 

The metro network is challenging because it supports a mixture of traffic, Nagle explains. 

Traffic includes mobile backhaul, enterprise services, residential video and data 

center interconnection. And each traffic type has different requirements. 

“You’re connecting disparate customers in the access domain,” Nagle says. “You 

need to have seamless coexistence among these technologies, so you can handle all of 

them as the transport network evolves. OTN provides a method to handle this co-existence. 

And OTN switching provides the method to transport OTN payloads 

efficiently.” 

Why bring OTN switching to the metro 

OTN switching fits in with the industry’s shift to packet-based infrastructure supporting 

gigabit Ethernet and Fiber Channel. As higher-speed services grow, service providers 

need to efficiently transport those services. 

Without OTN switching, a carrier might waste a 10G wavelength to transport 1 gigabit 

of data. With OTN switching, however, the carrier can aggregate multiple connections 

onto that single 10G wavelength. 

In some ways, OTN is similar to SONET/SDH, explains Nagle. “SONET/SDH can aggregate 

STS-1s,” he observes. “OTN switching can aggregate 1-, 2.5- or 10Gbps services 

together into single wavelengths.” 


OAM: Operations, 

Administration, and 

Maintenance 

SONET/SDH: Synchronous 

Optical Network/ 

Synchronous Digital 

Hierarchy 

STS-1: Synchronous 

Transport Signal-1 


OTN 

“SONET/SDH infrastructure 

will continue 

to be the workhorse 

technology for transporting 

services with 

rates below 1 Gbps.” 

— Brian Nagle, Director 

of Optical Transport 

Product Line 

Management, 

Tellabs 

Equipment is available today that can support 100G wavelengths. But Nagle says 10G 

wavelengths are the most common “unit of currency” in today’s metro DWDM networks 

because they are less costly. And that’s unlikely to change for some time. 

For now, 100G is mainly for large enterprise customers or for connecting core routers. 

These applications are best deployed via 100G transponders for wavelength services, 

Nagle says. 

A familiar look and feel 

Service providers also are finding other compelling reasons to deploy OTN switching in 

the metro. 

With OTN service providers can offer a point-to-point tunnel through their network with 

no modification to the payload or to payload headers. That provides greater transparency 

and lower latency. And that makes OTN attractive to enterprise customers involved in 

high-speed financial trading. 

Additionally, network technicians like the fact that OTN management has a similar look 

and feel to SONET / SDH management. And that reduces training expenses for 

service technicians. 

SONET/SDH and Ethernet still part of the metro mix 

OTN switching may not be the best technology for every application. SONET/SDH infrastructure 

will continue to be the workhorse technology for transporting services with 

rates below 1 Gbps, notes Nagle. And the migration off of this technology will take some 

time. 

Similarly, Ethernet continues to play an important role in metro infrastructure. It may 

be the preferred solution when service providers need to deliver multipoint virtual LAN 




OTN 

services. It also gives service providers the ability to oversubscribe the network. And that 

may be appropriate for certain types of services. 

Adapt to evolving needs of metro network 

Engineers considered the metro service mix in designing the Tellabs ® 7100 Optical 

Transport System and Tellabs ® 7100 Nano OTS. Those products provide a single platform 

for metro ROADM networks that can switch SONET/SDH, Ethernet and OTN. 

Using that platform, service providers can lower their operational cost per bit, 

comments Nagle. 

“They can generate added revenues from new services,” he adds. “They have a flexible 

solution that can adapt to their evolving needs. And they can meet their constant need 

to efficiently deliver a multitude of services.” ■ 

Engineers considered 

the metro service mix 

in designing the Tellabs 

7100 Optical Transport 

System and Tellabs 7100 

Nano OTS. 



THE RISE OF 

THE OPTICAL LAN 

Jeff Heynen, Directing 

Analyst of Broadband 

Access and Video for 

Infonetics Research, 

recently discussed 

with M.J. Richter his 

view of the evolving 

Optical LAN market. 


ANALYST Q&A 

“Many enterprises and 

a lot of commercial 

real-estate developers 

are wiring their buildings 

with fiber from 

the get-go.” 

— Jeff Heynen, Directing 


Access and Video, 

Infonetics Research 

Richter: Although Optical LAN platforms have been available for more than 5 years, 

the enterprise market began to embrace this type of networking solution only in the 

last year or 2. Why 

Heynen: First of all, within the enterprise there’s a lot of concern now about power 

consumption. Active electronics obviously use far more power than passive equipment. 

The other thing is that the deployment of fiber cabling has reached the point 

where, if you are undergoing a modernization effort within the enterprise, it makes 

sense now to move from Cat 5 or Cat 6 cable to fiber. Many enterprises and a lot of 

commercial real-estate developers are wiring their buildings with fiber from the get-go. 

For any business that moves in there and that has some concern about energy 

consumption and overall operational costs, it makes sense to look at passive GPONtype 

technologies for the Optical LAN distribution. Certainly Cat 5 or Cat 6 can still 

give you gigabit speeds, but long term, we can go gigabit and beyond with fiber. 

Richter: Are any particular verticals leading the way with Optical LAN deployments 

Heynen: Right now, the market is at the very high end. We’re talking about a lot of 

U.S. government installations where speed of data transfer is absolutely critical. Security 

also is very critical. GPON and a number of these technologies offer advanced 

encryption service. 

Definitely the public sector is leading the way. Here in North America, as part of 

the broadband stimulus roll-outs, there have been smaller projects in cities — 

governments, libraries, etc. — where optical LAN technologies have been used. 

Also in these smaller towns, where usually the broadband-stimulus funds are 

going, typically there’s a main street or a business area. If you’re doing fiber to the 


GPON: Gigabit Passive 

Optical Network 



ANALYST Q&A 

“I would say that the 

dominant vertical 

right now is the U.S. 

government and 

public spending.” 





home, and you’re rolling out this GPON network, you might as well use it to pass your 

private enterprises as well. That’s on a very small scale. 

I would say that the dominant vertical right now is the U.S. government and 

public spending. The public sector usually has the kind of speed and security requirements 

that really demand this kind of change. 

Richter: Are any private-sector verticals beginning to adopt Optical LAN technology 

Heynen: Those that are modernizing with fiber are certainly looking at the 

technology. There hasn’t been widespread adoption yet. But at the end of the day, it’s 

something enterprises of all sizes will look at. 

Service providers’ customer support centers, along with large networking 

facilities, are perfect opportunities in different verticals for these technologies to gain 

a foothold. But it’s going to take time. 

Richter: What are the biggest hurdles Optical LANs face, in terms of displacing 

traditional active-Ethernet LANs 

Heynen: Number one is the status quo, the fact that many enterprises are happy with 

their existing switches. 

Number two is the lack of interest in upgrading to fiber. For a large percentage of 

businesses right now, Cat 5 or Cat 6 is just fine. Remember how many T1 connections 

are still out there providing business services. For Optical LAN technology to 

really reach critical mass in terms of private enterprises, it’s just going to take time. 



ANALYST Q&A 

“In Asia you have 

densely populated 

cities, with business 

and residential mixed 

use, where you’re 

already running GPON 

fiber to the home.” 





Richter: Is Optical LAN uptake stronger in some areas of the world than in others 

Heynen: North America is definitely leading, and then it’s a toss-up between Europe 

and Asia Pacific. 

North America is the early pioneer in the technology but, in terms of volume, 

I think Asia Pacific will become the largest market. There you have densely populated 

cities, with business and residential mixed use, where you’re already running GPON 

fiber to the home. It makes sense to offer that to businesses in an optical LAN-type 

environment. It’s so much less expensive to roll out fiber there because you’re able 

to hit 10 or 100 times [the number of customers] that you can when you run it to 

single-family homes or even office parks. ■ 



Is your LAN ready for 

tomorrow’s challenges 

Optical LAN boosts performance, saves energy and cuts costs 

Users need more bandwidth. Executives want lower costs. 

What to do 

Consider Tellabs Optical LAN. 

It outperforms copper-based LANs with higher throughput, 

higher security, higher availability and a longer life. While it lowers 

power consumption and costs. 

Learn more about Tellabs Optical LAN Solution: 

http://info.tellabs.com/OpticalLAN.html

Tellabs Insight Magazine - 2nd Quarter, 2013

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