Cyan introduced a multi-terabit packet and G.709 optical transport network (OTN) switch fabric for its Z-Series packet-optical metro transport platform. The new card enables router bypass in metro software-defined networks (SDNs) while supporting both Ethernet and OTN.
Cyan said its approach makes sense because the vast majority of metro traffic is transit, with static connections that do not require higher layer routing. Therefore, using routers across the metro only adds complexity and cost. Cyan’s multi-layer uses a SDN control plane for planning, operations and validation.
The switching fabric scales to over 4 million pps of throughput performance. The platform design allows for up to 200 Gbps per slot, enabling a range of 10G, 1G and ODUflex services. Cyan’s Z77 platform offers 14 slots for 2.8 Tbps of capacity.
“Routers play an important role in the network, but the majority of services do not require routing and can be offloaded to reduce costs and simplify operations. Our Z-Series platforms and SDN software are helping more than 100 service providers around the world achieve these goals in a variety of applications,” said Michael Hatfield, president at Cyan.
