[Zaffire Rolls Out Optical Platform for Metro and Regional Networks]
fiberopticsonline.com.
3/16/00 Chatsworth, CA-based Zaffire Inc. (formerly New Access Communications) has developed a dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) optical solution designed for deployment in metro and regional-area networks. Products built using the company's advanced optical services network architecture will give service providers a new level of transport control over existing and emerging packet, circuit, and lambda services.
The architecture uses patent-pending Fractional Wavelength technology in conjunction with multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) to maximize control over bandwidth and quality of service (QoS). The system is designed to reduce capital and maintenance costs by a factor of ten while giving service providers a new level of flexibility to price and deliver differentiated service offerings. This packet-level granularity optimizes the network for IP services while maintaining QoS for all traffic types. The system consolidates multiple traffic streams from diverse network elements onto a minimum number of fiber optic-based wavelengths.
Zaffire's transport control architecture uses standards-based MPLS to enable the metro/regional optical network to scale while maintaining QoS. The Fractional Wavelength technology multiplexes diverse traffic types within a single wavelength of light, enabling service providers to maximize bandwidth efficiency onto existing installed fiber optic channels. At the same time, traffic can be packed across wavelengths and appear as a single trunk to the network.
As a result, service providers can easily provision services and efficiently transport multi-protocol traffic (IP, ATM, Frame Relay, Gigabit Ethernet, Voice, and TDM). With a combination of in-house developed optical technology, specialized ASICs, and software technologies, the Zaffire solution integrates the intelligence to participate in both the electrical and the optical domains on a dynamic basis.
The architecture is designed specifically for metro/regional services. Rapid growth in last-mile access services, such as DSL, will bring 50 to 100 times more traffic onto metro area networks, requiring high scalability without the constraints of voice-centric TDM-based transport solutions.
By consolidating broadband services with the network's transport layers, the Zaffire architecture eliminates multiple network elements, including complex and costly digital cross-connects and SONET add-drop multiplexers (ADMs), which drastically reduces operations costs.
Products based on Zaffire's Advanced Optical Services Architecture are expected to be available in the second quarter of this year. |
