Charles Industries Ltd. (Booth 1152), a privately held, diversified manufacturing and high-technology company, announces its Access and Transmission Business Unit now offers Release 2.0, a new software ideally suited for international applications of the Mini-Mux 840, a flexible optical broadband multiplexer.

Charles Release 2.0 enables its Mini-Mux 840 to be configured through software as either a SONET or SDH ADM. With support for up to 63 E1 drop interfaces from a single OC-3 or STM-1 line interface, Release 2.0 for the Mini-Mux 840 easily will permit deployment in European, Caribbean and Latin American markets.

The current version of the Mini-Mux 840 is being successfully deployed by numerous customers domestically, says John Eberhart, vice president of sales at Charles Industries. Our domestic customers have seized the value of this product and taken strides to aggressively deploy it where possible.

The Release 2.0 enables Charles to better serve gateway applications in which support for a mixture of T1/E1s and OC-3/STM-1 is required, adds Eberhart. We have made inroads with international customers with our Exchange Mux II, which has been well received internationally. We believe Release 2.0 for the Mini-Mux 840 will lead to even more international customers.

The Charles Mini-Mux 840 combines the functionality of three complete M13 multiplexers with a SONET/SDH add/drop multiplexer. Mini-Mux 840 offers small (or reduced) size, simple installation and configuration, 1 x 1 redundancy, multiple-power options, and an extended temperature-range platform. Extensive diagnostic and alarm features are standard. Internal, external, through, line, and loop-timing modes are all supported.

Charles base model combines 84T1s (63 E1) into an OC-3 (STM-1 or OC-3) within a 1-RU shelf, providing the densest broadband multiplexing solutions available. The Mini-Mux 840L drops 28T1s (21 E1s) from an OC-3 (STM-1 or OC-3) for smaller applications. The Mini-Mux 840 is ideal for mass termination of OC-3 or STM-1 signals, highly efficient intra-office transport of T1/E1s, wireless cell site interconnects, or backhaul of legacy DLCs. It can be configured for point-to-point 1+1 or UPSR ring applications.