The packet-over-optics vendor space continues to expand, with the industry birthing new companies and products faster than a rabbit makes bunnies.
One of the latest newcomers to emerge in this arena is Village Networks Inc. (www.villagenetworks.com). The company has operated "in stealth mode" for the past two years, but today announces its existence and product plan to the world. In January 2000, Village Networks received $10 million in its first round of financing from a group of investors led by East Coast venture capital firm Geocapital Partners (www.geocapital.com). The company just closed its second round of financing, worth $40 million. The second round was led by Spectrum Equity Investors (www.spectrumequity.com).
Village Networks' Optical Packet Node product for the metro network will be launched later this year, probably in November. Dr. Kai Eng, founder, president and CEO of Village Networks and a 20-year veteran of Bell Labs, says that while other companies are partnering to combine IP and optical technology, its optical packet node product will combine both technologies in a single device.
While he would not provide specifics on the device or how it will work, he did say other differentiators include the device's ability to support "unbreakable services"; an efficient any-bandwidth packing algorithm; and new benefits in operations, administration, maintenance and provisioning (OAM & P).
Unbreakable services means that when a fiber is cut the service provider can restore a user's service, and without requiring overbuilding of the network. It does so by rerouting the specific flow onto another path. The key here is the fact that the Optical Packet Node allows the service provider to see traffic as individual flows. The company calls its ability to identify and isolate each flow -- which it says will allow carriers to offer differentiated services and not just commoditized transport - its Optical Flow Networking technology.
The any-bandwidth feature simply means that carriers can more efficiently transport traffic with this system vs. a traditional SONET optical system. SONET allows only preset bandwidth payloads into which IP packet payloads don't usually snugly fit, so there's a lot of bandwidth waste. The Optical Packet Node also offers new efficiencies in that it eliminates multiple layers of protocols- such as SONET, ATM and frame relay - thus eliminating wasted bandwidth on overhead and eliminating the hassle of managing all those different levels of equipment and network logic.
Other benefits on the network management front offered by Optical Packet Node, according to Eng, include the product's single management system and that system's ability to support one-click provisioning. Specifically, that means a service provider can provision connections instantly because it has complete visibility into all traffic and services.
Another IP/optical vendor called Luminous Networks Inc. (www.luminousnetworks.com) makes its PacketWave optical access switch generally available this month.
The product employs "resilient packet ring" technology, says Jay Shuler, vice president of marketing at Luminous. Resilient packet ring -- a technology an IEEE study group (802.7) is working -- essentially adds the values of SONET to gigabit Ethernet, Shuler explains. Those values include 50 millisecond survivable rings, toll-quality service, and other SONET-like OAM & P.
Despite those SONET-like features, Luminous specifically avoided using SONET and ATM in its box because it adds unnecessary cost and complexity, says Shuler. Again, one of the problems with SONET and ATM is the heavy overhead tax. Plus, putting data into SONET, which was created for voice traffic, is like putting a square peg into a round hole. So PacketWave puts gigabit Ethernet directly over wave division multiplexing connects "so we're using all of the pipe all of the time in both directions on the ring," says Shuler.
Shuler reiterates the industry mantra about collapsing multiple network elements into single boxes. "We're collapsing the network because we're eliminating layers," he says. Telcos have hundreds of people managing SONET and hundreds managing ATM. If you're a greenfield carrier adopting Luminous technology, says Shuler, "you can hire one group of people managing the IP layer and you're done."
Meanwhile, Aura Networks is moving into the optical Ethernet market. Coriolis Networks, an optical networking startup focusing on revenue generation, ease of migration and service delivery in metropolitan networks, is launching its premier product on October 23. Doug Green, former vice president of marketing at Chromatis Inc. (the optical networking startup recently acquired by Lucent Technologies Inc.), has moved to the access market with new start-up Ocular Networks - a developer of next-generation optical networking solutions for metropolitan access networks. And startup Crescent Networks (www.crescentnets.com) Sept. 18 announced its architecture to allow carriers to provide collaborative IP services over optical networks; the products themselves will be announced at an undisclosed future date.
Other newcomers in the optical space that will surely address the IP-optics connection are three companies being supported by Iris Group, essentially an incubator announced late in September that has the goal of providing end-to-end optical networking solutions by bringing together a group of startup vendors. Charter members of the Iris Group include Metera Networks Inc. of Richardson, Texas, which is developing access/metro-area optical systems; Latus Lightworks Inc., also of Richardson, which expects to sell optical backbone systems; and Coree Networks Inc. of Tinton Falls, N.J., which is working on core optical networking products. The group, made up of companies that are legally separate entities with distinct corporate and financial structures, expects to expand in the future with additional startups. Iris Labs of Plano, Texas, meanwhile, will define the architecture and network management strategy for the group and provide the Iris startups with operational -- legal, accounting, human resources, etc. - expertise. Members will pay licensing fees to Iris Labs for the architecture intellectual property. Iris Labs will also sell network management software directly and through its members.
"The first wave [in WDM was] getting the basic WDM systems to work. Then came Monterey with the second wave -- to find a way to manage WDM pipes," says Michael Zadikian, chairman and CEO of Iris Labs Inc. (www.irislabs.com). "Now we're looking at optical infrastructures and the application of that bandwidth in a more integrated manner so you don't look at network at pipes and then applications, but you look at the network as intelligent data services."
