SUPERCOMM ABUNDANT WITH ETHERNET GEAR

Any doubts that carriers won't have choices with local Ethernet equipment should be quickly dispelled this week when a host of access gear vendors, including Turin Networks, Nayna Networks and Wave7 Optics, debut Ethernet-based gear at Supercomm.

Among the Ethernet access products making their debut at the show is the TraverseEdge 100, a two-rack-unit 2.5 Gb/s Sonet ADM and Ethernet access device from Turin Networks. The “pizza box” device can sit in the central office, multidwelling unit or outside plant cabinet.

Turin's aim with the platform is to provide carrier-class Ethernet over Sonet without the added expense typically incurred from protecting Ethernet. Turin's system maps traffic into Sonet tunnels at the customer premises to ensure class of service throughout the access network, and the TraverseEdge is a Layer 2 switch, not a router.

“More and more people are saying, ‘Gee, you can actually build complete Layer 2 networks with Ethernet over Sonet; you don't need a router,’” said Turin CEO and founder John Webley. “More and more, we're seeing people go routerless. Because — guess what — the router's expensive. And the transport box has gotten incredibly cheap.” By designing the platform with its own in-house silicon switching fabric, Turin was able to lower the price of its gear to less than $7000.

Wave7 Optics announced last week another Ethernet access approach that will be on display at Supercomm — one the vendor calls “advanced fiber to the curb.” A new higher density version of Wave7's Last Mile Gateway purports to have lower installation costs than typical FTTC, allowing carriers to spread bandwidth across multiple users (dividing, say, 500 Mb/s among four or eight subscribers) while still being able to offer them a mix of premium services. The LMG-888 has eight Fast Ethernet ports, eight POTS ports and eight RF video connections for triple-play services.

And because data rates for each service are managed independently in 64 kb/s increments, carriers can offer high-bandwidth IP video service while keeping a cap on a customers' lower-speed Internet access.

World Wide Packets also announced its own new device last week, an access portal and an access concentrator that can be used to provide virtual private LAN service using MPLS.

Supercomm will also mark the debut of the ExpressSTREAM XG gateways from Nayna Networks, a family of four customer premises boxes suited to a range of approaches: one for Ethernet-based passive optical networks, one for 10/100/1000 Mb/s services, one for RF cable TV and satellite feeds up to 2.1 GHz, and one for point-to-point uplinks. All four are available with either 100 Mb/s or 1 Gb/s throughput. A Bulgarian service provider has already deployed the new gateways. Nayna's system is based on the nascent 802.3ah standard for Ethernet access, and it is differentiating itself in part with its anticipation of and support for high-definition television as a component of triple-play services. The company plans to introduce a DSL product later this year and is looking for a partner to market its gear in the U.S. Supercomm will no doubt give the vendor a chance to find one.