Agere Systems announced two system-on-a-chip (SoC) product families -- "Datamapper" and "MARS T-PHY" -- for building transport systems aimed at fast-growing markets such as the online gaming and VoIP . Mangrove Systems has selected Agere's Datamapper and MARS T-PHY for its new MetroMPLS access and metro equipment platforms.
The Datamapper chip is described as the world's first Ethernet-over-Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) mapper chip with integrated traffic management. The chip combines the following major functions: a layer two processing engine and traffic manager; SONET PHY; framer; mapper; cross connect; data engine; virtual concatenation (VC); generic framing procedure - framed and transparent (GFP-F/T); media access controller (MAC); SPI-3 bus for connectivity to a co-processor; and high-speed SerDes (serializer/deserializer). It provides the intelligence required to manage, organize and schedule different varieties of QoS. Agere said this level of integration allows equipment vendors to slash costs by offering a six-fold reduction in software effort and a 50% reduction in mapping and traffic management silicon costs.
Agere's MARS-T-PHY is described as the world's first framer family to combine a feature- rich, network-hardened 16-channel OC-3/OC-12; four-channel OC-48; and single OC-192 framer with 16 multi-rate, auto detect clock and data recovery (CDR)/mux/demux physical layer interfaces (PHYs). These interfaces meet SONET timing specifications. The chip is a software- compatible successor to Agere's MARS-T-Universal chip. When combined with the auto rate detect feature in the integrated multi-rate CDR, the chip enables the design of a single equipment line card that supports all SONET/SDH rates. http://www.agere.com
- In May 2004, Mangrove Systems, a start-up based in Wallingford, CT, outlined its vision for extending MPLS convergence to the metro and access network infrastructure. Mangrove believes that core networks are fundamentally divided between MPLS and Optical infrastructures. In the metro, a single converged architecture that supports traditional data, Ethernet, private line, VoIP and SAN applications is required. This new converged metro and access network requires new L1 / L2 platforms capable of extending MPLS to a customer premise but without disrupting existing fiber plant, SONET/SDH network elements or operational support systems. Mangrove's MetroMPLS would enable service providers to move service demarcation from the core MPLS network, out to the customer location or access network. Its network architecture leverages recently developed Pseudowire (PWE3) and data over SONET/SDH standards along with network processors and a new generation of multiservice framers. Mangrove will use PWE3 (Martini / Pseudowire) as its service multiplexing layer of choice and GFP is the framing & encapsulation technology of choice. The combination of PWE3 over GFP enables any service to be carried over a common transport. Mangrove said that by blending Generic Framing Procedure (GFP), Virtual Concatenation (VCAT) and MPLS, its MetroMPLS enables existing and planned services to share an efficient, unified access network.
