RAD Enhances Demarc Device for Carrier Ethernet Access and WiMAX/LTE Backhaul

RAD Data Communications introduced its ETX-A series of intelligent demarcation units designed to support managed Carrier Ethernet services and WiMAX/LTE backhaul traffic. The first product in the series, the ETX-202A, provides key functions at customer premises, multi-tenant units (MTUs), remote cell sites, and aggregating hubs. Specifically, it offers bandwidth control mechanisms to classify, police, schedule, and shape high-priority traffic to ensure that it is not delayed or discarded even when the link is congested. At MTUs or WiMAX/LTE hub sites, the ETX-202A aggregates traffic from multiple customers or cell sites and ensures fair distribution of bandwidth in accordance with the carrier's policies. Intelligent traffic engineering, including a WRED policy, ensures that queues are not congested and high priority traffic is not dropped, even when links are oversubscribed.


RAD's ETX-202A builds on the company's exiting line of Ethernet private line (EPL) port-based ETX Metro Ethernet demarcation products, adding support for Ethernet virtual private line (EVPL) and flow-based services with flexible mapping of the user traffic into Ethernet flows. It is a carrier class solution with redundant power supply and environmentally hardened options.


In addition, the ETX-202A features end-to-end Operation, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) based on IEEE 802.1ag and ITU T Y.1731, enabling mobile operators and Ethernet service providers to monitor their services proactively, measure end-to-end performance and ensure they receive the contracted Service Level Agreement (SLA). Fault monitoring and performance measurement include frame delay, frame delay variation, frame loss, and availability.


RAD also noted that its ETX-202A can test end-to-end Layer-2 link integrity with the help of wire-speed MAC swap loopbacks, so that the ETX exchanges source and destination MAC addresses of the incoming packets. This loopback can be performed per port, per VLAN or per flow. It passes through Ethernet bridges and does not disrupt traffic flows, which are not being tested.


RAD's ETX-202A is MEF-9 and MEF-14 EPL and EVPL certified.http://www.rad.com