The 6500 packet-optical platform forms one of the major pillars of Ciena’s packet-optical transport solutions.  With more than 20,000 nodes deployed worldwide, the 6500 is one of the most recognized and successful optical transport products in the industry. 

Since its original introduction, the platform has been in a constant form of evolution, adding features and functionality as well as several new chassis configurations.   Last month, Ciena officially unveiled a new 2-slot version of the 6500, making it the little sibling to the platform’s existing 7-slot, 14-slot and 32-slot chassis options.

But the 2-slot version of the 6500 is more than just a different size box, it serves as an entirely new deployment scenario for this ultra-flexible optical platform – extending the reach of the 6500 right to the customer premise.

Big Features in a Small Package

The 2-slot 6500 packs a ton of functionality into a small package.  Just 2 standard rack units  (2RU) in size, the chassis is also wall mountable and comes in both DC and AC power versions to accommodate different site requirements.

The 2-slot 6500 gets its name from the 2 service slots that are compatible with a list of existing 6500 service cards than can handle traffic ranging from TDM to packet to wavelengths, at speeds from 125Mb/s to 10Gb/s.

Additionally, the box features a built-in shelf processor that integrates eight multi-rate optical SFP ports that support sub-2.5G client services such as GbE, OC-3/12/48, STM-1/4/16, and FC100/200.

OTN Extension

The most notable feature of the new 2-slot 6500 is its OTN capabilities.  Ciena’s Intelligent Infrastructure launch last month included the news that OTN functionality would be integrated into the 6500 series (see Ciena extends OTN across product lines).  This includes even the 2-slot 6500.  By using the same software load, management user interfaces and service interfaces as the rest of the 6500 family, the 2-slot 6500 is a truly seamless extension of the 6500 portfolio and a true extension of OTN to the customer premise.

Several OTN service cards are already available for the 2-slot 6500, with OTN capabilities also part of the integrated multi-rate optical ports in the shelf processor.

This OTN extension further to the edge of the network allows service providers to leverage OTN’s ability to more efficiently package multiple service types from the enterprise premise into a single wavelength.

Current supported cards. Support for other broadband cards will be
added as verification testing for these circuit packs is completed.

Have questions on the new 2-slot version of the Ciena 6500?  Post them here and we will do our best to answer them.