Ciena antes up Ethernet for packet optical game

New Ethernet modules for the 4200 give Ciena more packet optical prowess

Ciena is beefing up the Ethernet capabilities on its CN 4200 multiservice transport platform by adding Layer 2 Ethernet aggregation and switching, ratcheting up Ciena’s strength in the packet optical networking space.

Two new modules for the 4200, generally available by the end of March, will offer either 10 ports at 10/100/1000 Mb/s (the “G10”) or one port at 10 Gb/s (the “G10X”).

The 4200 previously handled Ethernet at Layer 1, merely transporting it like all other optical traffic without switching or statistically multiplexing it.
“By adding Layer 2 switching, you eliminate the need for a stand-alone Ethernet switch,” said Dave Parks, Ciena’s senior product marketing manager. “It’s a big operational savings. It also helps you make more efficient use of transport resources, with fewer wavelengths to deploy and manage.”

The new modules transmit Ethernet over OTN or Optical Transport Networking, a technology based on the G.709 standard that has so far been more popular in Europe than in the U.S. “OTN is good at carrying Ethernet--much better than Sonet/SDH,” Parks said. “We think OTN is very important. It gives you lot of scalability. You can run DWDM on the network and support lots of wavelengths. It also gives you management capabilities and a greater degree of reliability.”

The move gives Ciena a more competitive play in the burgeoning packet optical networking market, in which optical transport gear combines legacy and packet-based functions to help carriers migrate to next-generation technologies. Ciena’s addition of Layer 2 Ethernet functions echoes one announced in August by Tellabs, which added native Ethernet switching and aggregation to the 7100 reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer already deployed by Verizon Communications and, reportedly, Qwest Communications.

Fujitsu Network Communications, which unveiled its own packet optical gear last summer, is reported to have joined Tellabs recently as a new packet optical supplier to Verizon, beating out Alcatel-Lucent and Nortel Networks.