NORTEL, QWEST HOT ON AVICI'S TERABIT SWITCH
boardwatch.internet.com
Nortel announced May 5 that Qwest Communications agreed to test the new terabit
switch router (TSR). The product, announced the same day by Avici Systems, is
designed to allow carriers to deploy IP services over their existing fiber networks in a
cost-effective manner. On April 14, Nortel and Avici said they are collaborating to
develop the first carrier-grade terabit IP network.
Avici said it has designed a switch/routing platform that is highly fault-tolerant and highly
scaleable - from just a few hundred megabits to multiple terabits per second. By
allowing native IP traffic to travel on existing fiber-optic, Frame Relay or ATM
networks, the TSR offers carriers flexibility in protocols. The TSR can combine multiple
trunks into a large virtual trunk of up to 160 gigabits per fiber, even if the original trunks
are of different wavelengths or are traveling diverse routes. With scaleability from 2.5 to
160 gigabits per fiber, Nortel says its optical networks are already capable of
supporting the TSR with maximum fiber capacity at minimum cost per bit.
Qwest is using Nortel's optical networking, tandem switching, and intelligent networking
systems in its 16,285 mile network. In 1997, Qwest created the nation's first native IP
coast-to-coast, 10 gigabit-per-second network using Nortel optical networking
technology. If maximized for two terabit per second transmission over 24 fiber pairs, the
network is capable of delivering the entire literary contents of the Library of Congress
from coast-to-coast in 20 seconds, according to a press release.
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