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NewsGlobe: Today's News
Nortel stirs up the PBT pot
Adds meat to its MERS 8600 Ethernet product line
by Sean Buckley
No two technologies have sparked more debate in the past year than
PBT (provider backbone transport) and its emerging IEEE standard
brother provider backbone bridging-transport engineering (PBB-TE).
Set on giving Ethernet the same predictability and resiliency of
traditional circuit-switched SONET-based networks, PBT can carve out
dedicated paths to carry data streams over the best network route.
What’s more, PBT/PBB-TE looks and feels like traditional circuit-switched
SONET—an attribute bringing some comfort to incumbent carriers that
have an installed base of legacy circuit-switched gear in their respective
networks.
Not surprisingly, Nortel, a leader in the PBT marketing and technology
brigade, has enhanced its flagship Metro Ethernet Routing Switch (MERS)
8600—its platform for PBT—with a host of new capabilities.
In conjunction with the enhanced product release, Nortel has also added
seven new members to its Carrier Ethernet Ecosystem that includes
players from diverse industry segments, including silicon (Broadcom and
Bay Microsystems), network access (Ceterus and Zhone), network
optimization (Ethos Networks and InfoVista), and test and measurement
(JDSU).
Expanding the possibilities
To capitalize on and extend PBT’s utility in the carrier network, the
enhanced MERS 8600 incorporates a new set of network processors and
module options to accommodate both large and small CO and/or remote
office deployments.
Rounding out the MERS portfolio are a new line of 1800 Ethernet Service
Units (ESUs) that can be deployed in conjunction with the 8600.
Configured in ring or straight-line architectures, the 1860 ESU CPE/CLE
devices offer service providers three interface options: 24 100BaseBX
port; a 24 100Base SFP; and finally the 1860v to support VDSL.
Meanwhile, the 1880 ESU product set can aggregate GigE traffic from
DSLAM gear onto 10 GigE trunks.
Joining fellow PBT supporter Hammerhead Systems, Nortel has also
introduced new software supporting point-to-multipoint VPN services, or
what’s known in the Metro Ethernet Forum’s (MEF) standard lexicon as E-
Tree services. (See
Hammerhead bridges the PBT divide)
E-Tree has been heralded as a good fit for IPTV and video services
overall because these services send signals from a central point (video
headend) to subscribers scattered across multiple locations.
Southern Light, a Mobile, Al.-based CAP (competitive access provider)
whose customer base includes large broadcasters, has found that PBT
provides extended protection for video transport.
“Whenever we have a critical customer for Ethernet services, we default
to Ethernet over SONET vs. our standard Gig-E Layer 2 transport,” said
Eric Daniels, COO of Southern Light, which has deployed the Nortel MERS
8600 nodes with PBT capabilities in its network. “PBT makes these
concerns go away, and it performs beautifully with broadcast quality
video transport.”
From concept to reality
Although they still have a way to go to be proven as a mainstream
Ethernet transport method, Nortel’s PBT solution and the emerging
PBT/PBB-TE standards aren’t falling on deaf ears.
Independent research shows that interest in PBT is growing.
While responses did vary, new research from both Synergy Research and
CIMI Corp. confirmed that service providers continue to inquire about
what PBT and PBB-TE can do for them.
Synergy Research reported that even though views on PBT and PBB-TE
in the 37 major service providers it polled varied, two incumbents plan to
deploy it this year, while six are evaluating the technology.
Meanwhile, a recent CIMI Corp. poll of carriers showed that 10 out of 10
service providers are now interested in PBB-TE. This was up from just
three out of 10 last year.
Since announcing BT would deploy its PBT gear last January, Nortel, to
its credit, has made continued progress in racking up customer wins for
PBT.
Outside of BT, a growing base of independent (e.g., Frontier, DCN,
Highland Telephone Cooperative) and competitive service providers (e.g.,
Southern Light, Group-e) are finding utility with Nortel’s PBT solution.
(See Dakota Carrier Network’s PBT play)
Southern Light, whose major customers include broadcasters and cable
operators, says deploying PBT has helped it overcome Ethernet’s initial
reliability issues.
“We have been seeking a product that can provide better QoS and help
us protect our carrier customers better from fiber cuts, spanning tree
induced outages, and all the other pain points of traditional Layer 2
Ethernet transport,” Daniels said. “We have a long painful history with
spanning tree outages affecting our VoIP LEC customers on Layer 2
networks.”
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