Alcatel-Lucent has expanded its Carrier Ethernet portfolio with introduction of the 7210 Service Access Switch, a family of next generation, small footprint customer edge devices that extends Carrier Ethernet to the enterprise site.
The 7210 SAS, which is designed to be owned and managed by the service provider, could be deployed at the enterprise customer site or multi-tenant unit (MTU). With strong QoS capabilities, the 7210 SAS delivers fully managed Ethernet and IP virtual private network (VPN) services. Two versions of the 7210 SAS are being introduced. The 7210 SAS-E (available immediately) offers a combination of copper and fiber ports for delivering traditional Ethernet services. The 7210 SAS-M (available in Q3) will offer all fiber ports and serves as an MPLS node in addition to providing Ethernet demarcation.
In addition, the 7210 SAS leverages the Alcatel-Lucent Service Router Operating System (SR OS), which is now deployed in more than 30,000 switches and routers by 260 service providers in 100+ countries since 2004. By deploying a consistent OS from the network core all the way to the customer premise, Alcatel-Lucent can enable advanced SLA and OAM capabilities. In particular, the Carrier Ethernet OAM support now includes ITU-T Y.1731, which provides fault management and fault monitoring, performance management, jitter & delay, and standards-based SAA across the entire link.
Alcatel-Lucent is also introducing a Carrier Ethernet framework to meet the distinct network requirements of service providers based on their business and market objectives. The framework describes a three-tiered structure that responds to a wide variety of operators, from wholesale to retail, from MSOs to competitive carriers and incumbents. This includes:
- The transport layer helps reduce the cost of building and operating the network to carry high volumes of business and consumer traffic, enabling the migration from legacy circuit switching to Carrier Ethernet-based packet transport
- The services layer helps expand the reach and scale of consumer and business services, leveraging the Carrier Ethernet network for faster time to market and simplified management. This layer is boosted by the addition of the 7210 Service Access Switch
- The application enablement layer addresses operators’ desire to leverage their network assets to develop new sources of revenue. Using this layer, Alcatel-Lucent can help service providers to optimize specific applications such as IPTV over their networks and tap into additional revenue opportunities such as advertising.
The 7210 SAS is now in carrier trials worldwide, including installations for mobile backhaul.
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