With broadband, 5G, and cloudification of applications driving the biggest opportunity in decades, the question is “How will your network keep up?

If you're like most network providers, you have a strategy that involves separate networks for private line, 4G/5G, business and residential services. And most likely, separate edge aggregation devices for each. Legacy networks are static, inflexible, and unable to scale quickly enough to support new high-bandwidth and low-latency services without deploying additional hardware and software or building additional overlay networks to aggregate traffic for new and existing types of services.

Legacy networks hinder revenue growth opportunities, consume budget, and degrade your customers’ Quality of Experience (QoE), which can lead to the loss of existing and new customers.

For years, network operators have had to decide between dedicated or shared fiber last-mile access topologies, which meant having to deploy multiple vendors and multiple platforms for different types of services. But now, next-generation metro and edge routers and switches have simplified that decision, including with the latest advances in broadband, 5G, and the cloud.

Introducing Ciena’s 5131weatherproof router purpose-built for the needs of Multiple Systems Operators (MSOs), Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), and wholesalers to expand in the most challenging outdoor and uncontrolled environments—to bring xHaul technology and XGS-PON to the access space.

Network connections with 5131

With the 5131, the network edge is where you need it, enabled by closely placing the 5131 at or near the physical customer location. Built to accelerate success and increase flexibility, the 5131 universally aggregates both dedicated and shared fiber services.

Here are a few ways routing with integrated xHaul and PON is helping network providers:

  • Addresses the need for 1/10/25GbE and 100GbE wireline services and 10G PON access at the edge
  • Weatherproof design reduces deployment and infrastructure costs while accelerating deployment
  • Flexible efficient 1/10/25GbE and 10G PON service delivery
  • Increases network provider competitiveness by accelerating the ability to turn up services faster with Zero-Touch Provisioning
  • Drive new revenue streams with guaranteed low-latency services isolation, made possible with soft and hard (FlexEthernet) slicing

The Network Edge is Where You Need it

Picture of Ciena 5131 Ciena 5131

Ciena is adding powerful new hardware and software capabilities to our Routing and Switching portfolio to allow network providers, cable operators, and mobile operators to put more capacity even closer to where the demand for bandwidth lives. The ruggedized 5131 provides advanced synchronization, including a built-in GNSS receiver, OAM scaled to deliver guaranteed SLA differentiation, service isolation using FlexEthernet, and much, much more.

The 5131 offers efficient transport for IP routing, SR-MPLS, Carrier Ethernet, and is SRv6 ready using Ciena’s Adaptive IPTM approach, and the sleek weatherproof design reduces deployment and infrastructure costs while accelerating deployment aerially, on a pole or wall. The fully non-blocking 360Gb/s packet fabric, enables the high-speed connectivity network operators need to ensure superior end-customer experiences and to improve their competitiveness.

5131 Applications

The flexible ruggedized 5131 can be customized to a variety of applications, with dedicated or shared fiber, by simply choosing the pluggable optic. Ciena’s 5131 can reduce cabling complexities and overall infrastructure costs by not having to provide land acquisition or construction permitting.

As MNOs upgrade to 5G New Radio (NR) enhanced Common Packet Radio Interface (eCPRI) will be used to increase fronthaul efficiency to support higher bandwidth with fewer fibers than 3G/4G/LTE/CPRI fronthaul interfaces. Ciena’s 5131 supports Open-Radio Access Network (O-RAN) option 7 and option 8 RAN splits groups. Option 7.2 is optimal for 4G & 5G and split 8 address 2G and 3G radios. Going even further, both soft (SR-MPLS) and hard (FlexEthernet) are supported.

Open Internetworking Forum (OIF) FlexEthernet can be used to mitigate latency and jitter impacts on fronthaul traffic when combined with other traffic. Ciena’s 5131 future-proofs the edge – opening the fronthaul with O-RAN mapping and providing deterministic low-latency transport wave service with FlexEthernet. This use case is equally applicable to wholesalers selling multi-tenant open transport. The figure below shows examples of 1/10/25G wireless service delivery using Ciena’s 5131 xHaul router for “cell routing”. Using Ciena’s 5131 operators can extend 100G to the pole, strand, wall, and customer.

Ciena 5131 Outside Cell Site or Cell Router Service Delivery

Ciena 5131 Outside Cell Site or Cell Router Service Delivery

By removing constraints on edge scalability and increasing flexibility, the customizable 5131 will enable new revenue sources, helping network operators respond to increasing traffic demands on high-capacity routes and automates network operations to underpin aggregation, 4G/5G, and broadband access deployments.

To find out today how to customize your edge and ask us how Ciena helps OWN THE EDGE.