Performance-grade carrier Ethernet
Ethernet increasingly is being considered as a replacement to SONET/SDH for metropolitan- and wide-area networks. Where SONET/SDH traditionally was designed for efficient multiplexing and transport of TDM-oriented traffic, Ethernet now is considered by many as the global transport solution for packets.
But to be truly performance-grade and emerge as a viable replacement for SONET/SDH transport, Ethernet must interoperate easily with and/or replace existing functionality, and fit closely within existing OSS models.
Ciena’s FlexSelect Architecture makes Ethernet suitable for use in transport networks by building on, and going beyond, traditional Ethernet requirements. Performance-grade Carrier Ethernet delivers true convergence—from the access to the core—utilizing:
- Connection-oriented, Engineered Ethernet Transport Tunnels: Allow you to manage Ethernet as easily as circuits, making it more deterministic by disabling the connectionless features that render traditional Ethernet unpredictable.
- Robust Packet Transport Substrate: Integrates connection-oriented Ethernet with enhanced OTN, yielding bandwidth that is more flexible, reliable, cost-effective and manageable.
- Mesh-based, Multi-layer Control Plane: Automates node, connectivity and capacity discovery at Layers 0, 1, and 2 to enable fast, accurate service provisioning and restoration. It’s essential for accommodating the increased scale and service connectivity complexity expected.
- Multi-layer Service Level Management: Tracks the individual performance of thousands of Ethernet service connections from end-to-end across a network, allowing network operators to associate those connections with customer service level agreements.
