TDM private lines and Frame Relay (FR) or ATM virtual circuit services have been the lifeblood of enterprise customers needing to connect multiple locations or access the Internet. However, the unrelenting growth in IP-based application traffic is rendering these legacy services inadequate. TDM is too inflexible, Frame Relay does not have the bandwidth and ATM is too expensive. And since 98 percent of enterprise data traffic is on Ethernet in the Local Area Network (LAN), all of the legacy services complicate the network for both the customer and the service provider.

Challenges

Over the past decade, service providers introduced the first generation of Ethernet Wide Area Network (WAN) services. Generally, these were based on Ethernet ports integrated in SONET/SDH systems for point-to-point Transparent LAN Service, or best-effort multipoint Ethernet service based on enterprise-class Ethernet switches. These solutions served a niche, but they lack the flexibility and/or robust performance required to replace those legacy services.

Solution

Service providers need a standards-based Ethernet offering that can meet or exceed the reliability and security of SONET/SDH, the efficiency of FR, and the Quality of Service (QoS) capabilities of ATM. At the same time, it needs to scale by two orders of magnitude while providing a much lower cost per bit.

Ciena's offerings

Ciena’s performance-grade FlexSelect™ for Ethernet solution enables end-to-end Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF)-compliant Carrier Ethernet services including Ethernet Private Line (EPL), Ethernet Virtual Private Line (EVPL), Ethernet LAN (ELAN) and TDM Circuit Emulations Services (CES). The CN 3000™ Ethernet Access Series is deployed on customer premises as a managed Ethernet demarcation device. The CN 4200® FlexSelect Advanced Services Platform provides carrier-grade metro Ethernet aggregation and switching integrated with optical transport. The CN 5060™ Multiservice Carrier Ethernet Platform is a six-9s availability Carrier Ethernet switch/router providing advanced Ethernet service creation and a gateway into an IP/MPLS cloud for IP-VPN access and extending Virtual Private LAN Services (VPLS) and multiservice pseudowires from the metro across the backbone. The ON-Center® Network and Service Management Suite provides comprehensive Operations, Administration, Management and Provisioning for establishing and assuring the quality of Ethernet service connections across the network.

Benefits

• Advanced QoS enables Ethernet services that handle the most demanding applications including VoIP, storage extension and circuit emulation
• Connection-oriented Ethernet transport tunnels (e.g. PBB-TE, VLAN cross-connect) and connection admission control ensure deterministic performance and restoration of Ethernet services
• Supports a wide range of copper and fiber media as well as Ethernet-to-FR/ATM and SONET/SDH interworking to provide ubiquitous Ethernet service coverage
• Integration of metro Ethernet with enhanced G.709/OTN and ROADM provides unsurpassed service availability and bandwidth flexibility
• Detailed performance measurements and service level management ensure customers receive the service for which they contracted