Foundry Scales Carrier Ethernet Trunks to 320 Gbps

Foundry Networks introduced new link aggregation capabilities that enable its NetIron XMR backbone routers and NetIron MLX metro routers to support trunks of up to 320 Gbps using 10 Gbps line rates.

Specifically, Foundry enables new and existing NetIron XMR and MLX customers to aggregate up to 32-ports of 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) to provide an aggregated link capacity of 320 Gbps. The company employs load-sharing algorithms in order to fully utilize the increased capacity. The load-sharing algorithms also help reduce correlation between Equal Cost Multipath and Link Aggregation.


Foundry said that in addition to the 320 Gbps trunk capacity, its solution allows service providers to maximize the return on investment (ROI) of their existing routers. Its platform offers a 10GbE density of up to 128-ports of wire-speed connectivity in a single NetIron router.


In addition, Foundry allows the efficient scaling of Metro/Carrier Ethernet services through MPLS integration with Layer 2 networks and enhances the stability of large-scale Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) networks through the isolation of unstable customer networks. Using Foundry's NetIron MLX router, service providers can integrate standard Layer 2 Metro protocols, Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) and Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP), and Foundry's Layer 2 Metro protocols, Metro Ring Protocol (MRP) and Virtual Switch Redundancy Protocol (VSRP), with VPLS/MPLS services.


Foundry is extending the NetIron XMR Series' Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) capabilities to enable service providers to suppress the instability of customer networks from the provider backbone while maintaining reachability to the customer network. Foundry said its solution is superior to traditional route flap dampening mechanisms and significantly reduces the routing changes in the network, leading to greater stability and improved resiliency in the provider core network. The increased network stability results from the ability to increase peering with other service providers and the ability to increase the number of IP services and BGP/MPLS Virtual Private Network (VPN) services. It also allows service providers easier service differentiation with better customer service level agreements (SLAs) by leveraging the increased resiliency and scalability of the network.http://www.foundrynet.com