Meriton Networks is enhancing its 7200 Optical Switching Platform with new Optical-Ethernet capabilities aimed at the emerging Carrier Ethernet Transport (CET) market -- the goal is to combine the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of native Ethernet with the reliability and power of WDM.
The strategy is being driven by an increasing need to switch Gigabit Ethernet traffic, end-to-end, across an entire network, for instance, from a video server farm to a Gigabit Ethernet enabled DSLAM of OLT. This would significantly reduce the demand for GigE ports at the metro head-end, and reduce the requirement for a separate layer 2 aggregation platform between the optical and packet layers. Meriton believes that by keeping the switching in the optical domain, carriers can achieve a deterministic QoS, low latency, low jitter approach for switching Carrier Ethernet traffic. Additionally, keeping traffic in the optical transport domain wherever possible minimizes tributary handoff and the number of layer 2/layer 3 hops. The design would allow management of individual GigE optical paths, with point-and-click provisioning, protection, and bridge-and-roll functionality, while optimizing fiber usage.
To deliver on this architecture, Meriton is announcing a multi-phase CET product delivery strategy.
Phase one of Meriton's CET capabilities enables carriers to support high-density Gig E networking within the metro using sub-wavelength switching (SWS) and grooming of nine Gigabit Ethernet streams onto a 10 Gb/s wavelength. The capability of switching a Gig E path within the optical transport layer and maintaining the path throughout the entire network and assuring it with a Service Level Agreement (SLA) makes it ideal for wholesale interconnect services.
Phase two will introduce support for Carrier Ethernet Tunnel switching and aggregation for local handoff. The first Ethernet tunnel technology to be supported by Meriton will be Provider Backbone Transport (PBT), which is currently undergoing ratification within the IEEE, under the proposed name of Provider Backbone Bridging -- Traffic Engineering (PBB-TE).
Meriton's CET solutions deliver the following networking capabilities:
- Wavelength Switching (any port to any port), Sub-wavelength (typically Gig E) Switching (any port to any port), and Carrier Ethernet Tunnel Switching (any port to any port)
- Separation of the service delivery architecture from the underlying transport architecture. By doing so, the transport network is transparent for service creation and modification (e.g. adds, moves and changes)
- Reliable, deterministic, end-to-end connections that can support guaranteed SLAs
- Optimized hand-off of Ethernet traffic so there is less "hairpinning" of traffic to layer 2 switches and the resulting unnecessary consumption of ports on these switches.
http://www.meriton.com
