Hammerhead Systems added a suite of Ethernet features to its HSX 6000 Layer 2.5 Aggregation Platform, positioning the platform to be used for IPTV and business-class Ethernet service offerings. Key elements of the new Hammerhead Ethernet suite include:
- A 10-port Gigabit Ethernet module that provides aggregation of key elements of an IPTV network such as Ethernet-based IP-DSLAMs. The HSX 6000 allows service providers to provide Ethernet switching and aggregation with a total capacity of 960 Gigabit Ethernet ports within a telco rack.
- Granular QoS providing efficient grooming of individual customer data flows and mapping to Layer 3 service attributes, scalable to over a million flows per system.
- Seamless bandwidth expansion and link protection via the IEEE 802.3ad (Link Aggregation) standard, and support for IEEE 802.1Q (VLAN Tagging) and Q-in-Q (VLAN Stacking) to facilitate scalable Ethernet aggregation.
- Support for Next Generation SONET/SDH networks using Ethernet-over- SONET with GFP, VCAT and X.86.
- Availability of dynamic Pseudowires to enable a controlled migration of customer traffic from legacy networks to MPLS.
Hammerhead Systems features a "Layer 2.5" edge aggregation approach
designed to integrate access services (wireline, broadband, broadband fixed wireless and 3G) that are typically based on Layer 2 connection-oriented technologies with new services that are based on Layer 3.
The HSX 6000 now features high density Gigabit Ethernet aggregation, service interworking of Ethernet with legacy corporate data services, and granular QoS for real-time and non real-time services.
The HSX 6000 platform, which already supports the migration of Frame Relay / ATM services onto MPLS backbones, now adds high-density Gigabit Ethernet aggregation, enabling it to serve key elements of an IPTV network such as Ethernet-based IP-DSLAMs. The central office-based data platform also supports GFP (Generic Framing Protocol), enabling service providers with large SONET/SDH networks to extend those networks for supporting to offer new business and residential services. The company said its HSX 6000 is the first platform to offer Ethernet-over-DS3 and Ethernet-over-SONET, supporting both GFP and X.86, virtual concatenation (VCAT), and interworking between GFP and X.86.
Hammerhead has completed Ethernet-over-SONET interoperability testing with key SONET and MSPP infrastructure suppliers including strategic partner Fujitsu Network Communications (FNC), and application-level integration and testing efforts are underway.
Hammerhead's HSX 6000 is in lab trials for Pseudowire, Ethernet and Layer 2.5 aggregation applications, and the Ethernet capabilities announced today are central elements to ongoing evaluations and application scenarios.
http://www.hammerheadsystems.com
