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Metro Ethernet

Metropolitan Network providers are more and more looking to Ethernet as a transport and service medium.  The primary reason for this is that the vast majority of their customers’ data begins and ends its life as Ethernet packets.  As a result, no expensive protocol conversions are required, no matching of packet to cell, no matching of statistically multiplexed data to fixed-bandwidth circuits.  However, since Incumbent services (typically frame relay, T1/E1, etc.) are well entrenched, Metro Ethernet providers need to offer advanced services and a compelling business proposition to lure customers.  Typical customers for Metro Ethernet services include small and medium businesses and large Enterprises.  Also common are other Service Providers (usually local ISP’s) that have multiple points-of-presence (POPs) which they need to interconnect.  The primary requirements for all these customers are very similar, low-cost, high-bandwidth services with security and quality-of-service.  Recently, a new service, Virtual Private LAN Services (VPLS), has also become a requirement for multi-site customers.  This service allows customers to build a local-area network (LAN) using the Metro Ethernet network for transport services, but without requiring any complex configuration in exchange.  To provide solutions for these varied customer needs, the Metro Ethernet network must be flexible and granular, and must scale well in performance and cost.

MRV’s provides a full Metro Ethernet solution, including all aspects of transport, management and connectivity.  The OptiSwitch™ product line includes a fully flexible and granular Ethernet switching and routing solution from a few ports of 10Mbps Ethernet all the way to hundreds of Gigabits of wire-speed IP routing.  The OptiSwitch™ Ethernet Circuit technology provides complete control over security and bandwidth allocation.  Making use of both IEEE 802.1q VLAN as well as MPLS standards, the OptiSwitch™ can be used to construct a full VPLS network providing service to any size customer.  The OptiSwitch™ family provides a full range of customer connectivity options including copper and fiber-optic.  Using MRV’s Ethernet-over-VDSL solution, customers can even be connected through the standard telephone wires with up to 15Mbps at distances approaching 8,000 feet.

For the backbone fiber-optic transport network, MRV’s FiberDriver™ product line provides a full range of fiber-optic connectivity, including repeaters and converters as well as Wave-Division Multiplexing (WDM) products to make the most use out of the existing fiber.  FiberDriver solutions can be used to create a Metro network that spans hundreds of kilometers, and provides a completely managed network infrastructure.  MRV’s WDM solutions can extend fiber-optic capacity many times by combining up to 48 streams of data on the same fiber-optic cable.  Additionally, with the FiberDriver™ fiber-optic transport products, the provider can offer other services besides Ethernet if necessary, including SONET/ATM and SAN services (via FiberChannel, ESCON or FICON).

In some cases, it is difficult or impractical to run fiber-optic cabling from building to building, and digging trenches can cause long delays.  When this is the case, the MRV TereScope™ line of Free-Space Optics (FSO) products provides a quick and easy solution for delivering huge bandwidth quickly, at very attractive prices, between buildings.  With only line-of-site as a requirement, FSO technology creates a high-speed network interconnect (up to Gigabit Ethernet speeds), providing exactly the same service as physical fiber-optic cabling but without the cable.  FSO technology can be used either to connect POP-to-POP or can be used as a customer service delivery method, by placing a TereScope directly at the customer location.

In spread-out Metropolitan networks, the network management process can be complicated and cumbersome.  MRV provides the MegaVision Web™ Network Management System, together with the In-Reach™ and LX Remote Presence Management solutions.  Using MegaVision and In-Reach, the task of operations support is centralized and simplified.  Remote Presence technology allows the administrator to securely access any part of the network either in-band (through the network itself) or out-of-band (through the telephony network) for management purposes.  MRV’s solution even includes the ability to manage the power connections of remote network infrastructure equipment, so that an administrator can force an unresponsive machine to power-cycle without ever leaving the office.


To find out more about MRV Metro Ethernet solutions, contact your MRV sales representative, at sales@mrv.com.
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