Champion ONE’s Exclusive Fiber Optic Technology Allows Ohio-based Service Provider to Increase Existing Fiber Utilization
Service provider chooses unique single fiber single wavelength technology, laying groundwork for substantial future expansion

BEACHWOOD, Ohio – March 27, 2012 – DRS LLC., a service provider and information technology consulting firm with client networks in 37 states and 6 countries, recently experienced a pressing need to expand its network capabilities when its fiber plant around Columbus, Ohio was exhausted for future growth. With more than 800 miles of fiber optic cable delivering service to clients across Ohio and Pennsylvania, the company sought a cost-effective means of accommodating its steady growth without accruing significant new infrastructure expense. By partnering with Champion ONE, a global provider of carrier-grade fiber optic solutions, the company found an innovative, cost-effective means of doubling its fiber plant in the Columbus area without trenching additional fiber optic cable, creating the foundation for DRS’s future expansion in the region.

DRS, headquartered in Youngstown, Ohio, specializes in cloud services, managed services, data center operations and network infrastructure deployments. DRS’s building and metro cabling services division has been building out its infrastructure for more than 10 years, providing metro area clients with broadband services, IT expansion services and critical support capabilities. To support commercial growth in the Ohio market, however, DRS concluded that it would need to increase its existing network capacity, to enable the completion of fiber rings in the Columbus metro region and future expansion.

DRS turned to Champion ONE, an Ohio-based provider of MSA compliant, carrier-grade transceivers and optical solutions known for its superior service, pricing and support. Working closely with Champion ONE engineers, DRS opted to deploy single fiber single wavelength (SFSW) fiber optic pluggable transceivers to enable full duplex data transmission on a single strand of fiber while using the same wavelength on both ends of the connection. The adoption of SFSW technology effectively doubled DRS’s fiber plant while eliminating the need to incur the high costs of laying new fiber, as each strand of fiber can now be leveraged to support a full service whereas it previously required two strands.

“With Champion ONE, we gained value and saved money at the layer one level,” said Dave Wilkeson, DRS chief technology officer. “Any time you can save fiber count, it’s a very good thing.”

Champion ONE SFSW optics also positioned DRS’s network for future growth. When the need arises the number of services can be substantially increased using the same fiber. Champion ONE’s SFSWs transceivers can be used in combination with its CWDM (coarse wavelength division multiplexing) passive filters to enable up to eight wavelengths to be transmitted on a single strand of fiber. In addition, multiple channels of mixed protocols and data rates can be supported. By capitalizing on this technology, DRS can gain substantial additional bandwidth without investing in costly network upgrades, relying on Champion ONE to provide accessible service, support and products when the time comes.

“It is clear that single fiber technology has established a strong foothold in networks across the country. But the exciting part is that with our new single fiber single wavelength technology we are now able to provide a true migration path to exponentially expand network bandwidth, using gigE and soon 10gig service, while minimizing both capital and operational expenses,” said Keith Lewis, Champion ONE director of marketing and product management.

“DRS relies on Champion ONE for high-quality, cost-effective products that maximize fiber, which enables us to deliver dependable service to our client base,” Wilkeson said. “Additionally, having access to fiber optics industry experts provides a level of support unavailable through most OEMs.”

About Champion ONE
Champion ONE is a global supplier of standards-based, carrier-grade network solutions for clients in the service provider, enterprise, healthcare, education and government sectors. The company’s transceivers, optical filters and accessories, and optical systems are optimized for use with the industry’s leading OEM platforms. Putting an emphasis on providing In A Class By Itself Service™ to its customers, Champion ONE provides products that are backed by an exceptional warranty and consistently superior support. For additional information on Champion ONE, call 800-860-7466 or visit our website at www.championone.net.

About DRS LLC
DRS LLC is an information technology consulting firm and service provider specializing in Cloud services, Managed Services, data center operations, and network infrastructure deployment including local area networks, wide area networks, VoIP, and connectivity. DRS has strategic partnerships with top technology vendors, most tier-one carriers, and operates two state-of-the-art data centers in Youngstown delivering bandwidth to both public and commercial entities. For more information visit www.drsllc.net.

Media Relations Contact
Keith Lewis
Champion ONE
+1 216.831.1800
klewis@championone.net

Georgia School District Optimizes Fiber Optic Network
Partnership key to dramatically reducing annual costs

 BEACHWOOD, OH – November 08, 2011 –Effingham County School District of Springfield, Georgia, was challenged recently when the economic downturn reduced revenues from both state and local sources, forcing the district to reduce costs while maintaining the innovative technologies it had implemented over the past several years. One area of focus was its fiber optic network. Even though the district needed to cut costs, it was imperative that it maintain the bandwidth required to maintain its technology-focused programs, including its website. Thanks to a partnership with Champion ONE, a global provider of carrier-grade fiber optic solutions, the district was able to optimize its fiber optic network while maintaining continuity of service and realizing a substantial decrease in network-related costs.

Composed of 14 schools, Effingham County School District prides itself on adopting cutting-edge technology to provide a top-notch level of education for its traditional and career academy students.

“Technology is vitally important to this school district’s day-to-day mission,” said Jeff Lariscy, technology and media services coordinator for the school district. “In addition, about 95 percent of the central office’s applications are web-based. We need to keep them operating optimally.”

Upon researching options for maintaining the district’s network, Effingham County schools found Champion ONE, a global company that provides an extensive line of carrier-grade optical network products and that is known for its superior service, pricing and support. Included in its product portfolio, Champion ONE provides a line of single-fiber or bi-directional transceivers, a technology that allows a single fiber optic cable to both send and receive a full duplex signal across a single strand of fiber. By adopting this technology, Effingham County schools stood to double their data-carrying capacity and reduce leasing costs significantly by reclaiming half of their fiber strands that were no longer necessary. After hearing great reviews of Champion ONE’s service from other academic institutions, the school district decided to move forward with optimizing their network.

“The educational community is under tremendous pressure to manage their costs in these tough economic conditions,” said Keith Lewis, Director of Marketing, Champion ONE.  “School districts across the country are especially faced with shrinking budgets as tax revenues fall.  Leveraging single fiber optics is just one way they can maintain the same level of network services while substantially reducing their cost structure.”

Working with Champion ONE, Effingham County schools were able to greatly optimize their district’s fiber plant, use previously unavailable digital optical monitoring for real-time monitoring of their transceivers and cut its fiber costs by 50 percent, or approximately $25,000 per year.

“The Champion ONE solution has allowed us to continue to provide the robust network our educational programs require and the cost savings are phenomenal,” Lariscy said.

# # #

About Champion ONE

Champion ONE is a global supplier of standards-based, carrier-grade network solutions for clients in the education, service provider, enterprise, healthcare and government sectors. The company’s transceivers, optical filters and accessories, and optical systems are optimized for use with the industry’s leading OEM platforms. Putting an emphasis on providing In A Class By Itself Service™ to its customers, Champion ONE provides products that are backed by an exceptional warranty and consistently superior support. For additional information on Champion ONE, call 800-860-7466 or visit our website at www.championone.net.

About Effingham County Schools

Effingham County School District is located in Springfield, Georgia and is composed of 14 schools, including two high schools, a college and career academy. The district is dedicated to adopting emerging technologies that help redefine the teaching methods. Effingham school district seeks to provide rigorous and relevant instruction in a safe environment that enables all students to obtain a high school diploma as a foundation for post secondary success.  For more information on Effingham County Schools, please visit our website at www.effinghamschools.com.

First off, “grey market” can designate a used part. It was once sold as new from the platform OEM or a distributor of the OEM’s products, but now it’s been in the field. Maybe a company went out of business and they sold off their assets. This is problematic because you don’t know the ‘state’ of the parts. They’re usually very, very, cheap because there’s no way to know the quality of the unit. Champion ONE only sells NEW products.

The second meaning of ‘grey-market’ is pretty close: refurbished. The parts are (or at least claim to be) tested for operation, or repaired after a fault, and sold at a discount. Champion ONE does NOT sell refurbished parts.
The third type of ‘grey-market’ product really pushes the limit towards the ‘darker’ side of grey…and that is counterfeit products. There’s a whole spectrum of counterfeit products – those that are reverse engineered from a true OEM product, but labeled and presented as the real thing; those that are produced and don’t meet the true spec, but marketed as ‘same’, and a variety of other ‘fakes’. Besides the legal concerns, the problem with this market is that the quality is most assuredly lower than the true product. Champion ONE will NEVER sell counterfeit products.
While a transceiver has fairly low impact on overall system power consumption and system requirements, they do draw on main power sources for (what are sometimes) very expensive cards and/or chassis. And all it takes is one poorly constructed non-MSA transceiver to fry an entire chassis. In other words – you get what you pay for! Anything that seems too good to be true usually is…

In closing: remember that Champion ONE is a third-party supplier of optical transceivers, this is our specialty. The parts are built for us by the same OEMs that build for the platform OEMs. We offer the greatest variety and most flexible solutions in the industry. Our transceivers comply with the MSA standards, come with a 5 year warranty and have been recognized as the best value in the industry by our customers.

What does Third-Party Mean?
First off, third-party suppliers exist in all sorts of industries and are typically companies that have a high degree of specialization in their field. Third party comes up most often in technical areas. For example, software developers create programs that can be used on platforms created by another company, and often do so to fill a niche that the platform developer cannot or will not address (for whatever reason), but users may need. A quick look at that description will also give you the basis for the term ‘third-party’. It’s not the platform or OEM (first party), or the user (second party), but another (third-party) developer that brings a solution to the marketplace.

Some of the confusion arises in the telecom/datacom industry, where there are OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) that really aren’t manufacturing anything, but rather, have things built for them under contract, and then “integrate” this solution under their brand name. Then there are OEMs that continue to supply components to other OEMs, while establishing a brand of their own. They can also be considered third-party for other OEMs, if they’ve not explicitly been brought into the fold as a ‘vendor’ to that OEM.

It really comes to a head when you look at the subject of this blog: transceivers. Transceivers are components which, thanks to the MSA, are standardized for use in a variety of devices such as switches and routers. However, the switch and router manufacturers DO NOT build their own transceivers. Instead, they have them built, under contract. They’re not considered third-party because they are sold by the OEM, under their brand – and usually with a cost premium for that distinction.

Champion ONE has been supplying transceivers for over ten years, and our approach has always been to be a vendor agnostic supplier of transceivers to users (the second party) of the switches and routers (the first party). Because of this, we take the same approach – we have our transceivers built for us, under contract, by the same transceiver OEMs that build for the switch and router OEMs. And just like the switch and router OEMs, we have our parts labeled and programmed with our information. This is why we’re third party – it’s a Champion ONE part that is being sold, not a Cisco, or Juniper, or Alcatel-Lucent part. But it’s an MSA compliant part, so it works cross platform.

Now that we know what a third-party transceiver is, we’ll tackle the topic of ‘grey market’ products, and how they are very different from what Champion ONE offers. See you next time!

MSA – An overview

MSA stands for “Multi-Source Agreement”, and it is a document that provides the ‘common’ or ‘internationally compatible’ specifications for systems manufacturers, system integrators, and suppliers, so that they can build both the transceivers and the switch and router (or other device) ports that will interoperate with each other.

Currently, Champion ONE offers transceivers in the following form factors:
• GBIC
• SFP
• XENPAK
• X2
• XFP
• SFP+

As stated above, all of Champion ONE’s form factors comply with their respective MSAs. This means that our transceivers will meet the specifications stated in their MSAs regarding the following characteristics, which include, but are not entirely limted to:
• Mechanical dimensions, tolerances and operation
• Electrical power requirements, consumption, signal communication methodologies and data rates
• Optical power characteristics, signal handling and performances, and error tolerances

The Value of the MSA – Interoperability

The creation and compliance to an MSA is key to achieving uniformity in equipment and allows for the manufacturers of fiber optic transceivers to offer their solution into a variety of switch and router platforms. Unlike vendor- and chassis-specific line cards that offer functionality within a certain platform or product line, a MSA-compliant transceiver guarantees that the same electrical pinouts, modulation techniques, power requirements, and protocol support can be offered regardless of the ‘source’ of the transceiver.

However, within recent years, many switch and router vendors have chosen to use the one component of those ‘specifications’ that is open to modification – the EEPROM that resides inside the transceiver – and add additional information that is queried by the switch or router, making some platforms require vendor-specific information in order to operate. There is nothing in the MSA that says anything about the software of a switch or router, and this exclusion is what is exploited to increase the difficulty of a customer sourcing a third-party MSA-compliant optic.

What MSA Compliance Means To You

As one might expect, this sort of ‘locking out’ of other MSA-compliant transceivers is often met with dissaproval from the end user, who may require a transceiver with functionality, feature set, or pricing that the switch or router vendor cannot offer. This makes designing at the physical layer more difficult, regardless of the feature set the switch or router might offer at higher layers. In general, Champion ONE’s expertise in fiber optic transceivers has made us the ‘standard’ for physical layer conectivity between mixed platforms in our customers’ networks, as we are able to ensure (through testing) that we will interoperate in a variety of platforms, something that switch and router vendors cannot claim of their own transceivers when they attempt to deploy them into a competitor’s port. This ability allows for more flexible layer 1 design options, as well as decreased sparing and part numbers in our customers’ system.

This isn’t meant to be a primer on the technology of electrical versus optical transmission, but a few of those concepts are important when discussing the benefits of fiber.

Copper wire uses electrical signal – pulses – in the forms of high or low voltage or current levels. And as you increase the data rate, you end up getting a lot of physics taking over, in the form of nasty things such as ‘cross-talk’ and resistance across any appreciable distance.

Fiber optic transceivers really “came into their own” when data rates (per port) were approaching 1 gigabit per second range. At this data rate (1000 million bits per second), copper cable could only support a distance of about 100 meters. A fiber optic transceiver running the same data rate can reach 120 KILOMETERS. The reach is even greater if amplifiers are used.

Besides the ability to reach much further, fiber is MUCH lighter than copper cable. And that can make a difference as more and more services are waiting to be deployed…the cost to run copper is higher than running fiber, and the size and weight can become a limiting factor whether on telephone poles, or in conduit.

Speaking of capacity, that whole bandwidth-versus-distance issue mentioned above? The number of channels or services at a certain bandwidth that can be run over a copper cable is miniscule when compared to what can be accomplished over a single fiber optic cable, with a combination of TDM and WDM technologies.

Finally, there’s the matter of security: tapping a copper cable (thanks to that pesky physics again) is a lot easier than tapping a fiber optic cable. In fact, due to the physics of how a fiber optic cable transmits it’s signal, the only way to tap the cable (and therein capture the information being sent) would be to literally cut into it and insert a tap – which would raise an alarm in even the simplest management tools, as it would mean a loss of signal, even for a short time.

The subject at hand is the ever-present, but often misunderstood DECIBEL.  Most folks who’ve dealt with fiber optics, or anything dealing with large power level variations have seen that little “dB” symbol after numbers in spec sheets as well as reports.  We’re going to shed some light on what this means, and why, with a little explanation, you too can take the easy way out!

The Decibel…A decibel (dB) is one tenth of a bel (B).  OK, so the bel…what’s that?  First off, it’s named after Alexander Graham Bell (you know, the phone guy?), and it’s the logarithm of the ratio of two power quantities of 10:1.  A little bit of high school mathematics helps us here, remember that logarithms were VERY useful for expressing powers of ten.  And, since the power levels of fiber optic components can vary from the milliwatt (mW, or 1/1000th of a watt) to the nanowatt (nW, or 1/1000000000th, or 1 BILLIONTH) of a Watt…well, let’s just say the long division can get unwieldy, and missing a zero or a decimal point can make a big difference when designing a network.

The calculation of the ratio in decibels varies depending on whether the quantity being measured is a power quantity or a field quantity.  For the purposes of fiber optics and network design and link budgeting, we’re talking about a power quantity, so we can avoid square roots and other nastiness.

Speaking of nastiness, switching from watts to decibels means that all the components that either ADD to or TAKE from the power budget of a system can be represented this way, and the math is simply addition or subtraction.  Which is nice, when you’re trying to design/build/maintain/troubleshoot a huge network.

Finally (and this is more bonus than anything mathematics related) – human sense organs – eyes, ears, even touch -  are fairly logarithmic, so we ‘sense’ things in powers of ten more than linearly…a light that is 100 watts bright seems about TWICE as bright as a 10 watt bulb.

Watt about dBm?

dBm is an abbreviation for the power ratio in decibels (dB) of the measured power referenced to one milliwatt (mW).  Since it is referenced to the milliwatt, it is an absolute unit, used when measuring absolute power. The decibel is a dimensionless unit – the ratio between two ratios.  But dBm gives you a power level as a standard of reference.  A good (if not totally solid) example would be 1/8th….if I say “1/8th of an INCH”, then you have a feeling for the ‘size’ of the thing I’m describing.  However, if I just say “1/8th” you’re not sure what I’m using as the ‘whole’….is it 1/8th of a mile?  A foot?  A pie?

So, in the simplest terms, dBm is a comparison to 1mW for the purposes of describing the power level of something.  So, if you’ve not already skipped ahead, you’ll think about those data sheets you see that have power levels for transmitters at 0dBm, or weirder yet, as a NEGATIVE number.  I remember the first time I thought this, and I figured I would owe the power bank something on credit.  No, not really….

Zero dBm is no difference from 1mW….so it’s equal to one milliwatt. A 3 dB increase is basically the same as doubling the power, which means that 3 dBm is ABOUT 2mW. For a 3 dB decrease, the power is reduced by about one half, making −3 dBm equal to about 0.5 milliwatt. To express an arbitrary power P as x dBm, or go in the other direction, the following equations may be used:

x = 10 \log_{10}(1000P)\, or, x = 10 \log_{10}P + 30\

So, when you have a transceiver, for example, that has a receiver sensitivity of -24dBm, that means that it can SENSE (detect) a laser signal that is LESS than 1mW (hence the negative sign) and is equal to 0.004 mW…so, pretty small!

Things like fiber connectors, splices, and other parts of a fiber link can all take away from the overall power, and that taking away is known as “attenuation”.  Anything that TAKES AWAY from the power budget of a system is given a negative sign, and the amount it drops the signal level is represented in dB…so all that the engineer needs to do is add up the components of the system, and get the overall system budget.  And it’s all able to be calculated with addition and subtraction, easily and universally.

One of the techniques that I learned VERY early on in my career was the use of mnemonic devices.  For those not familiar with the term, a mnemonic device (or simply mnemonic) is a learning technique that helps one remember what they’ve learned.  I’ve come up with BUNCHES of these through the years…but one that has stuck with me since my first electricity and magnetism class in college was the acronym “FLEC”.  And it’s very helpful for engineers and technicians who are (or are trying to) grasp DWDM technology.

So, what is “FLEC”?  Or better yet, what does it stand for?

FLEC was my method for remembering the relationship between frequency and wavelength*.

A side note:  depending on the particular industry one comes from, there is sometimes a mistaken belief that frequency and wavelength are interchangeable terms.  This is not the case, as this blog hopes to point out.

FREQUENCY is the number of times something happens per unit of time.  In the world of MOST technology, we talk about frequency in SOMETHINGS per SECOND.  When an events frequency is per SECOND, it usually gets referred to as “Hertz”, which is simply the scientific way to say “per second”, and is represented by “Hz”.  Add the standard metric unit prefixes to that (kilo-, mega-, giga-, etc.) and it multiplies the times per second by 1000, 1 million, or 1 billion, respectively…

We use this idea of frequency elsewhere, though we don’t refer to it in the same way.  Your car tells you your miles-per-hour, or MPH…well, hours are a unit of time, but because they thing we’re measuring (how many miles) tells us more about the situation (in this case, how far we go in that time) , we don’t say you’re going .005mile-Hz…we say 20MPH, which is a measurement of SPEED (length per time).

However, when the “thing” that’s happening is a cycle or a pattern (which doesn’t have a unit, like miles or whatever) the idea of Hertz (Hz) makes a lot more sense.  Electrical signals, waves of any kind (sound, light, ocean), and even radio waves are cyclical things whose FREQUENCY can be measured in Hertz.  Depending how many times the ‘cycle’ repeats per second defines it’s frequency.  So, a radio station broadcasting at 99MHz has a signal that goes through a cycle 99 MILLION times a second.  A wireless phone in your home operating at 2.4GHz has a signal that goes through it’s cycle 2.4 BILLION times a second.  The electrical power coming into your house (known as AC power because it’s cyclical) is a very low 60Hz, in comparison.

So, why do we bring this up?  Because with optical components, lasers in particular, they operate at a specific wavelength.  Typically, the jargon for fiber optic transceivers talks about the WAVELENGTH.

“But wait”, you might be saying.  “Weren’t you just going on and on about FREQUENCY?”.  Thanks for paying attention.

It ends up that one of the VERY cool things about light is that it’s the fastest thing out there, so there’s a very simple relationship between frequency (see above) and WAVELENGTH.

Wavelength is exactly what it sounds like.  It’s the LENGTH (measured in meters, ‘cuz we use metric in the scientific world) of the wave (whether that’s a laser or a crest hitting the side of a boat in the Atlantic).  The wave is measured from the highest (or lowest, or zero point) until it goes through one CYCLE and returns back to that high, low, or zero point.

Now, if you’ve not skipped ahead on me, that relationship of the length (or span) of the wave to make it through a cycle in TIME gets us to the relationship that FLEC represents for us.

FLEC stands for Frequency x waveLength Equals c.

C is the symbol physicists and other scientists use for the speed of light.  In metric terms, it’s JUST about 2.99×108 meters per second.

See that ‘per second’ there? That’s our ‘Hertz’ term….and meters…well, that’s the unit for wavelength…metric again, yes.  And most wavelength we deal with in the laser world are actually BILLIONTHS of a meter ….or nanometers (nm for short).

And, just like we mentioned above regarding the car example…SPEED is measured in LENGTH per time.  Light is the same – it has a speed associated with it.  But with light, IT’S speed is the speed limit of the universe.  And it’s fixed.  So, when we know either the WAVELENGTH of the light OR the frequency, we can solve for the other one.

This comes in VERY handy when you’ve just FINALLY gotten used to working with the unit of choice for laser transceiver wavelengths (the nanometer) and now are faced with someone working in the DWDM realm talking about channels and 100GHz-spaced filters and the like.  Our site has a resource that converts the frequency to wavelength and to the ITU channel for the DWDM lasers in question, but if you’re in a pinch, a little “FLEC” will do ya!

Champion ONE Headquarters
Corporate Headquarters
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Beachwood, Ohio 44122

Phone: +1.216.831.1800
Fax:  +1.216.831.2541