networkZONE Products for the week of May 27, 2002
Agilent Technologies Says . . .
VC Isn't a Dirty Word Anymore - Agilent' OC-48 framer/mapper
uses Virtual Concatenation to make the most of Gigabit SONET/SDH services
Agilent Technologies Inc. has introduced the Agilent HDMP-3002
Gigabit Ethernet over SONET (EoS) mapper chip. The single-chip solution
is the industry's first EoS mapper chip to integrate SerDes, clock data
recovery and OC-3 to OC-48 framers, three features required to efficiently
format data for SONET/SDH networks. The new chip is expected to save network
equipment manufacturers design and test time, board space, power consumption
and system costs.
The Agilent HDMP-3002 is the second member of Agilent's multi-protocol IC (MPIC) family. MPICs take protocol independent traffic and map it into SONET/SDH, providing a simple solution for loading enterprise data traffic onto a SONET/SDH metro infrastructure.
"We are applying our IC expertise and strength in enterprise and SONET/SDH networking to deliver a family of industry-leading multi-protocol ICs to network equipment manufacturers," said Philip Gadd, IC marketing manager for Agilent's ASSP Products Division. "Agilent's new EoS mapper chip significantly reduces the cost of transporting enterprise data over the legacy SONET/SDH infrastructure, satisfying the needs of corporate users and service providers."
The Agilent HDMP-3002 provides full-duplex mapping of Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet frames encapsulated into STS-48/12/3 SONET/SDH payload using the generic framing procedures (GFP), frame delineated HDLC (per RFC 1662/2615), or the link access procedure-SDH (LAPS) protocol. The device can connect up to four gigabit Ethernet feeds into one STS-48/STM-16 (2.488 Gb/s), four STS-12/STM-4 (622 Mb/s), or four STS-3/STM-1 (155 Mb/s) channels. Its virtual concatenation feature allows service providers to dial up "bandwidth on demand" for customers, allocating bandwidth data streams as small as STS-1 (51.8 Mb/s) granularity. Virtual concatenation eliminates the bandwidth inefficiency and long provisioning delays of legacy SONET/SDH transport networks.
The Agilent HDMP-3002 is part of Agilent's METRAK family of fiber optic transceivers and ICs aimed at metropolitan network applications. It is designed for use in multi-service provisioning platforms (MSPPs), edge routers and line cards for SONET add drop multiplexers (ADM) within the LAN and metropolitan access (edge) network. The edge network is where the carrier-owned WAN meets the corporate?owned LAN. Agilent's EoS mapper provides access to SONET/SDH overhead collection, allowing carriers to manage their networks. It also offers the performance monitoring carriers require without the need for costly layer-3 processing.
Agilent's EoS mapper is a highly integrated, layer-2, single-chip solution
that is implemented in a low-power 0.18 micron CMOS process with a 1.8 V
core, 2.5 V and 3.3 V I/Os. The device is supplied in a 664-pin ceramic
ball grid array (CBGA) package and supports the OC-48/STM-16 (2.5 Gb/s)
standard.
analogZONE Says . . .
Several chipmakers have gotten religion about Ethernet-over-Sonet (EoS), and Agilent was one of the first to have quickly grasped the importance of using the new protocols such as GFP and LAPS to make more efficient use of SONET connections for transporting Ethernet. Back in January, they introduced their OC-3 version of the OC-48 part they are releasing here, and it now seems that they are reaping the fruits of foresight.
EoS is a great way to economically re-use the existing SONET infrastructure while we wait breathlessly for the all-IP revolution that may or may not ever arrive. The virtual concatenation (VC) of STS-1 supported by GFP and LAPS allows Gigabit Ethernet to be packed into SONET without wasting a bunch of time slots, giving users' equipment the ability to add/drop to STS 1 granularity without having to terminate whole OC-48 line.
Agillent's HDMP-3002 can use the GFP/LAPS protocol to pack 2 Gigabit Ethernet streams, plus 2 fast Ethernet connections onto a single OC-48 line. If you want smaller channels, it can divide an OC-48 into 46 STS-1 virtual channels out of a possible 48. The HDMP-3002 also supports the earlier frame-delineated HDLC protocol that puts Ethernet over SONET/SDH using PPP and HDLC. The frame also supports X85 and, the Chinese equivalent to PoS frame-based packet transport. Besides Ethernet, it can also transparently map FICON, ESCON, and DVB video or FibreChannel onto SONET/SDH.
Many major box makers are adding EoS ports into their switching products because it allows customers to add fast metro access using a single line card or plug-in without upgrading the entire box. Providing pre-framed, pre-mapped traffic allows for a direct feed to on-site or remote ADM without any additional equipment.
There are several other vendors which are making PoS framers, including Bay Micro, PMC-Sierra, TranSwitch, and recently, Multilink. Agilent distinguishes itself by being the only part that has on-chip CDR and SERDES capability for OC-48 applications. The HDMP-3002 is primarily intended for Ethernet-to-SONET applications (but it does handle ESCON, FibreChannel and others) and does not have the framer bypass that would allow it to easily interface to switch fabric. This makes it great for access, but not core applications. Agilent informs me that it will be rolling out a follow-on chip that does. Meanwhile, The PMC Arrow is designed for switch fabric applications, but does not have a framer on-chip. I'm sure that this situation will not last long, but for the moment, the Agilent framer/Mapper seems to be the only chip offering this level of integration at the OC-48 level.
With (mostly) functional alpha silicon already running in select customer's evaluation systems, it looks like Agilent has delivered on its promises and earned a commendably low Vapor Index Rating.
The HDMP-3002 is sampling to select manufacturers
and is priced at $475 in 1000-piece lots.
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