Tellabs, this week at SUPERCOMM, is unveiling a handful of new products that reflect carrier activity and interest in converging data services and bringing carrier-class Ethernet services into the mix.
The four main themes Tellabs is presenting at the show are the evolution to data in the vendor’s portfolio, Ethernet transport, Ethernet service creation and next-generation optical networking, says Stuart Benington, director of portfolio marketing.
The data evolution theme ties in with Tellabs existing 8800 multiservice router, an IP/MPLS device that can be used at the edge or the core of a network to be used in IP routing, ATM switching or Ethernet switching applications. Tellabs at the show is also introducing the 8840, a smaller footprint version of the 8860 multiservice edge product.
The company’s Ethernet transport theme, meanwhile, addresses how carriers can take Ethernet services and carry them over SONET or TDM infrastructure. As part of this message, Tellabs at SUPERCOMM is coming out with a new release of its 5500 digital cross-connect. This new version includes a native gigabit Ethernet interface and supports Ethernet services aggregation and grooming. Also new at the show is the Tellabs 8815 multiservice access node. This device, which can sit at the customer premises or on the carrier edge, delivers Ethernet over TDM. Traffic from the 8815 devices can be aggregated by Tellabs’ 8800 router.
Since service providers want to offer the same quality of service guarantees for Ethernet services that they offer for legacy services like frame relay, Tellabs is emphasizing Ethernet service creation at the show with its 8800 as well as the 8600, which is a new product that Tellabs at SUPERCOMM is introducing to the North American market. The 8600 IP/MPLS multiservice node, which goes up to 42gigabits, is a smaller size and capacity device compared to the 8800, which offers up to 320gigabit capacity. Key to the new 8600 is its new single ASIC-based architecture that enables carriers to put MPLS and Ethernet as far to the edge as possible in an affordable manner, says Benington. And the network management system for the 8600 allows for end-to-end provisioning and network management and can guarantee end-to-end service levels.
Tellabs will also focus on what it calls “third-generation optical networking” at the show. Benington says that SONET and WDM layers going forward will converge even more, with SONET add/drop multiplexer functionality being integrated into wavelength equipment as one example. Another important advance in optical networking going forward, he adds, will be the ability for service providers to remotely tune and provision wavelengths without reengineering their networks.
