Sunday, August 13, 2006

Ciena Upgrades Pseudowire Capabilities on Edge Switching Platform

Ciena introduced key enhancements to its pseudowire emulation edge-to-edge (PWE3) and advanced Ethernet interworking capabilities on the DN 7000 Series FlexSelect Multiservice Edge Switching and Aggregation Platform.



The enhancements address carrier applications such as migrating DSL aggregation from ATM to Ethernet, delivering access technology-agnostic Layer 2 MPLS VPNs and consolidating 2G/3G TDM, Ethernet, and ATM-based wireless backhaul onto a converged radio access network (RAN). These upgrades enable Ciena's DN 7000 to provide support for seamless interworking of TDM, Frame Relay and ATM with new advanced services delivered natively across Ethernet or over MPLS. All of DN 7000 series' pseudowire and advanced Ethernet interworking capabilities are standards-based implementations.



Some key features include:

  • Multiservice Flexibility - supports Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) Mediation defined by the IETF for Ethernet to ATM/FR service interworking; RFC 1483/2684 and RFC 1490/2427 for Ethernet to ATM/FR network interworking; full suite of multiservice pseudowires - Ethernet, TDM, ATM and Frame Relay; and the MFA Forum's ATM-MPLS interworking standard.


  • Scalability - patent-pending Learning Virtual Connection (LVC) functionality for a unique but standards-based approach to overcoming Ethernet virtual local area network (VLAN) scalability issues when interworking with ATM, particularly in DSL aggregation-including support for DSL Forum's WT-101. Also supports several hundred thousand pseudowires per platform to accommodate high-growth traffic and large installed bases of legacy customers.

  • Reliability, OAM & QoS - the DN 7000 series platforms are the only data products to deliver six-nines (99.9999%) system availability along with strict priority queuing and multiple QoS levels for ensuring service level agreements. Support for MPLS resiliency via Fast Re-route, LSP ping and traceroute, and Virtual Circuit Connection Verification (VCCV) to ensure reliability, ease of operations and performance monitoring.


Ciena's DN 7000 Series includes three product models that share common hardware and software. http://www.ciena.com