FWIW
>>Enron Invests in Avici, Plans Terabit Router Deployment
1/6/00 By: Erik Kreifeldt
Following through on its routers-and-optics network strategy, Enron Communications Inc. (Houston) is investing in Avici Systems (North Billerica, MA) and making plans to deploy the start-up's Terabit Switch/Routers upon successful testing of the equipment. Avici plans to provide Enron 40 Gb/s Internet protocol backbones with the equipment using a new "composite trunking" technology.
Enron expects to exceed the benchmark 10 Gb/s data rate of rival networks by leveraging its existing OC-48 assets. The carrier has built a network of 2.5 Gb/s routers from Cisco Systems (San Jose, CA) and dense wavelength division multiplexing equipment from Ciena Corp. (Linthicum, MD).
Early this year, Enron plans to extend its network to reach Europe, Japan, Asia, and South America with metropolitan points of presence and local distribution partners. Composite trunking in its router platform is the first in a series of technology initiatives that Avici plans to reveal over the next few months.
The technology will enable carriers to operate networks significantly faster than existing technologies while leveraging their installed base of fiber assets, according to Avici. The company also claims that the composite trunking operates in open network environments (as opposed to integrating with a single vendor's equipment in a closed system), and configures rapidly while accommodating various network services. Avici claims to have the only working terabit switch/router in the market today and boasts a self-healing switch fabric.<<
fiberopticsonline.com{EE3AD5F5-C2CB-11D3-9A82-00A0C9C83AFB}&Bucket=HomeLatestHeadlines
And:
>>Intelligent Optics and Terabit Routers Come of Age with Enron Activity
1/7/00 Enron's evaluation of terabit routers and intelligent optical switches confirms a trend toward service provider interest in both platforms in core networks.
By: Erik Kreifeldt
With a network of DWDM and gigabit routers in place, Enron Communications (Houston) is evaluating options for deploying terabit routers and intelligent optical switches between its existing DWDM and router network. Proponents agree that the network architecture is catching the interest of service providers.
Enron is taking delivery of the Avici Systems (North Billerica, MA) Terabit Switch/Router (TSR) equipment early in this first quarter, and hopes to complete evaluations by the start of the third quarter (see Enron Invests in Avici, Plans Terabit Router Deployment).
"We don't have any exclusive relationships with anybody," points out Stanley Hanks, Enron's vice president of research and technology. In addition to the current generation of terabit router offerings, Enron is also investigating equipment platforms that won't be ready until next year, he adds, so as to influence the development of next-generation gear.
"We've been working to understand the requirements in the terabit space for a while," says Hanks. "A lot of people have been saying that OC-48 trunks should be adequate for a long time. We're bucking that trend by going with more [bandwidth] sooner than later."
"This is one of the first terabit systems to come to market," says Chris Nicoll, director of optical and carrier services at research firm Current Analysis. "We're finally at the point where service providers are comfortable with these systems, after having them in their labs for a few months, and they're ready to start putting them in their network."
Interoperability
Assuming Enron settles on a terabit router vendor, the carrier will configure the terabit routers at the core of its network, Hanks explains, and relegate the installed Cisco GSRs to the edge to distribute traffic in cities. Avici has already done interoperability work with Cisco. Citing six trials in the works, Avici director of marketing Peter Chadwick notes that each potential deployment requires interoperability with other vendors.
The TSR's packet forwarding capability and port density are unique among terabit router offerings, according to Hanks. Avici claims the highest port density in the market with the TSR, which supports 40 OC-48s in a seven-foot equipment bay.
Even when the platform scales up in capacity to fill a number of bays, it still behaves like a single network element, Hanks notes. Single-element scalability is attractive, he explains, because the complexity of managing a network goes up with the square of the number of network elements.
Composite trunking
Hanks also cites Avici's composite trunking as a unique and attractive feature. "It lets you treat multiple ports on the router as if were a single port. You end up forwarding traffic across all the trunks instead of any one," he says. The effect occurs at layer three, and treats all the signals as one IP address.
"Because we treat them all as a single IP address, it simplifies the routing topology," Chadwick says. The technology also facilitates service restoration in the event of a fiber cut. Instead of having to reconfigure the routing table with addresses from, say, 16 routers, only one address needs to be reconfigured.
"Composite trunking makes it easier for the customer to take advantage of WDM," Chadwick says. In the 40 Gb/s example, a customer could fill 16 OC-48 ports of a DWDM system with signals from one IP address.
A terabit router rich with operations, maintenance, and provisioning capability pays for itself over the lifetime of the device by minimizing these efforts by technicians, suggests Current Analysis' Nicoll. "I think we're getting to a point beyond 'my box is bigger than your box' in the core router space," he observes. "You've got to have control and management functions built into the system to make it attractive to service providers."
Optical switching
Enron's network migration may also continue at the optical layer. Enron uses DWDM systems from Ciena Corp. (Linthicum, MD). Ciena has conducted interoperability work with terabit router platforms, notes Ciena director of marketing Denny Bilter.
"I personally believe that there will be a crossover point where what you'll want is clear optical paths between routers," Hanks says. "You'll need a sophisticated switch technology between routers. We're looking into things in that space from a number of vendors."
Chadwick concurs that routers will work well with intelligent optical switches. "The router is still the device at the edge that sees the service. Based on that, it instructs the cross-connect on what it needs. Then the optical core calls up a new circuit," he explains. The critical factor is to reduce the optical provisioning time from that of today's networks, he says. Some carriers will do that with intelligent optical switches, others will let the routers do all the work, he concludes.
Bilter agrees that intelligent optical switches and terabit routers will work well together. He predicts that the intelligent optical switch market will heat up mid-year.<<
fiberopticsonline.com{92F9BA27-C50C-11D3-9A82-00A0C9C83AFB}&Bucket=HomeFeaturedArticles
|
