Summary

Ethernet over SONET is the wave of the future for customer access. As this book is being written, carriers are planning for Ethernet access to be the next Frame Relay access for customers. Ethernet over SONET enables end customers to connect and extend their LAN by simply plugging it into the WAN with an RJ-45 connector. RPR allows customers to use bandwidth on a SONET-based ring similar to the CSMA/CD protocol of a switched network, thanks to the MAC of RPR. QoS and other features allow for voice and multicast video to be deployed over the WAN simply, quickly, and with efficient use of bandwidth.

SAN demand, which is growing at an enormous rate year over year, is satisfied more easily through its integration into the MSPP platform. It allows direct connection of an FC port from a storage services server to an MSPP card port, and then a direct mapping to the SONET frame. This eliminates the need to map FC into GE pipes for increased distance, or add hardware such as a router, to transport it over the metropolitan area and beyond. This allows both service providers that offer managed storage services and enterprise users to capitalize on their existing infrastructures by simply inserting another card into the MSPP.

Traditional metro DWDM solutions have rigid network architectures and require considerable manual interaction to manage, particularly when new sites are added or network capacity is upgraded. Traditional solutions are optimized for low-cost-per-bit, fixed topologies that cannot efficiently address the operational constraints of metro and regional networks.

Metro networks face unique challenges, such as the inherent difficulty in predicting demand for services such as TDM, data, SAN, and video, or service bandwidth at 1-Gbps, 2.5-Gbps, and 10-Gbps rates. Furthermore, complexities are involved in managing metro DWDM network architectures that are typically ring topologies because of dynamic add/drop traffic patterns. Traditional solutions cannot automatically manage DWDM variables such as optical noise, dispersion, dynamics of adding and dropping wavelengths, and optical performance monitoring.

MSPP-based DWDM has been designed from the start to address these challenges. By taking advantage of the multiservice capabilities of the MSPP, it can natively transport any service-TDM, data, or wavelengths over a metro or regional network at a lower cost than traditional wavelength-only DWDM solutions. Multiservice simplifies service planning. Software intelligence simplifies operations. Management of MSPP-based DWDM is again performed with GUIs that provide intelligent optical-level wavelength monitoring and reporting. With this type of monitoring, problems can be discovered and corrected before carriers see revenue-generating services affected for carriers and enterprises experience downtime.