PALO ALTO, Calif., April 12 -- Nortel Networks and Agilent Technologies Inc. have agreed to jointly develop and market a comprehensive solution for simplifying optical network management. This solution, which will be designed to integrate physical fiber and logical network layers, will leverage the strengths of Nortel Networks Preside network management and Agilent's accessFIBER to help service providers reduce operating costs, improve reliability, and simplify provisioning of bandwidth trading and other mesh services.
    "Market dynamics are driving demand for innovative solutions that will help service providers accelerate time to revenues and reduce operational costs," said Tom White, senior vice president and general manager of Agilent's Communications Solutions Group. "The synergy from this agreement between two industry leaders will drive more effective management of next generation optical networks."