ATM related. Could be one of those companies that isn't talked about in acquisition discussions:
Omnia Communications Raises the Bar For Virtual Path Ring Technology
October 29, 1998 11:13 AM
MARLBOROUGH, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 29, 1998--
Omnia to Ship Virtual Path Ring Solution Built Entirely on Open ATM Forum Standards for Metropolitan Area Networking
Omnia Communications, a new provider of carrier access equipment; today announced its support for standards based internetworking to aid carriers in migration to data-aware infrastructures. In September Omnia announced the AXR 500 Add/Drop multiplexer, a device that allows carriers to deploy low-cost, advanced data services and legacy voice services from a single scalable platform.
Using the AXR 500 in the metropolitan area allows carriers to deploy new services and ensure interoperability with their existing core networks since it uses no proprietary protocols, encapsulation. Most of the emerging Virtual Path Ring solutions require the carrier to commit to proprietary signaling, encapsulations and little or no Quality of Service (QoS). Once committed to one of these proprietary solutions, which do not adhere to industry standards, carriers are confined to a single vendor and cannot select from among all best-of-breed suppliers.
"The introduction of the AXR 500 enables us to phase out the practice of vendors locking in carriers with proprietary architectures and 'standards in progress'," said Chad Dunn, Product Marketing Manager for Omnia Communications. "Carriers need open solutions that allow them to effectively compete in the telecom services market."
The AXR 500 is the first carrier-class platform to implement ATM Forum signaling and QoS in a ring topology. Carriers typically deploy fiber in a ring topology due to the economic benefit of running fiber from building to building rather than in a star topology. What's more, the resiliency that is offered in a ring topology allows carriers to offer their standard 'five nines' availability, meaning that the network is up and available 99.999 percent of the time. Omnia has built the AXR 500 platform from the groundwork laid by Bellcore GR-2837 "Virtual Path Functionality in SONET Rings." Bellcore defined the 2837 standard in order to allow the ATM infrastructures in carrier core networks to be extended into the metropolitan area, but unless these metro area networks implement the same signaling and QoS standards as carrier core switches, it offers little value. Since the AXR supports these same ATM Forum standards, it can act as a logical extension of the core network and not as a discrete proprietary network.
"By using ATM Forum standard signaling and QoS, we can maintain service levels and continuity from the metro area end to end through the carrier core network," said Jeffrey Weiss, Chief Technology Officer of Omnia Communications. "The benefit to the ultimate end user (carrier customers) is advanced data services like 100Mb/s Internet access, at a fraction of the cost of current services. For existing SONET ring accounts, Omnia even offers a low-cost, integrated Wave Division Multiplexer which allows us to overlay any existing ring regardless of its speed or protocol."
The AXR is capable of transporting data traffic around the ring and through the carrier using Switch Virtual Circuits that can be dynamically established based on need. Many other solutions are based on permanent virtual circuits which must be manually created and only afford the most basic levels of quality. The use of per-flow queuing allows the AXR to maintain QoS on a per customer and per application basis. This allows an unparalleled ability to manage Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
The AXR 500 supports the following protocols for ATM interoperability
--ATM Forum compliant UNI Signaling versions 3.0, 3.1 and 4.0
--ATM Forum compliant QoS (Constant Bit Rate (CBR), Variable Bit
Rate (VBR real time and non-real time), UBR)
--Per virtual circuit rate shaping
--Early and Partial Packet Discard * Circuit Emulation Service
(CES 2.0)
--LAN Emulation version 2.0 Client and Services
--RFC 2225 Classical IP and ARP over ATM
Omnia Communications, Inc.'s mission is to pioneer next- generation access solutions for optical networks. Based in Marlborough, Massachusetts, Omnia was founded in 1997 with a vision to advance the state-of-the-art in metropolitan area networking to address the convergence of voice and data on today's carrier networks. Omnia's first product, the AXR 500 Multiplexer, is a highly- integrated access platform that enables carriers to simultaneously: mix voice and data traffic on their fiber optic networks efficiently, offer advanced value added services, and reduce their costs of deployment and management. A privately held company, Omnia's management team consists of networking professionals from Cascade Communications ASND , Telco Systems TELC , Fore Systems FORE , VideoServer VSVR , PictureTel PCTL and Lucent LU . Omnia can be reached at (508) 229-8444, via fax at (508) 229-7766 or on the Web at omnia.com
Omnia and AXR 500 are trademarks of Omnia Communications, Inc.. All other trademarks, service marks and company names are the property of their respective owners.
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