Ciena unveils next-gen packet optical core

Ciena (NASDAQ:CIEN) today introduced the long-awaited next generation of its core switching gear, which the vendor is positioning as a more contemporary answer to its decade-old CoreDirector product.

In addition to being about five times the CoreDirector’s capacity, the new 5400 family of reconfigurable switching systems is designed to better address core networks that include a range of packet and optical traffic. It is designed with a modular architecture that allows carriers to build their own preferred combination of optical cross-connect, carrier Ethernet switch and converged packet optical transport and switching device.

The 5400 can handle Sonet, Optical Transport Networking (OTN), Ethernet, MPLS and wavelengths. Carriers can give it whatever mix of those capabilities they want by adding their own particular order of modules to the system’s common elements: its mechanics, backplane, power supplies and control complex. And they can use it to bypass costly router ports with optical transport whenever possible.

Ciena contrasted its modular approach from that of a so-called “God box,” a product that performs a range of functions but none of them very well.

“In a lot of cases, including the CoreDirector today, you have a common switching element in place,” said Tom Mock, senior vice president of strategic planning. “[The 5400 has] the ability to add elements of packet and TDM switching as you need them. We can add line modules and switch fabric elements of any type as needed, from a capacity and functionality standpoint. You don’t end up having to have a fixed switching architecture in place.”

The 5400 also includes the per-port programmability that has been a popular feature of its 4200 multiservice metro transport platform and will make the new gear easier to operate with the 4200 with a common control operation. The data control plane and connection-oriented Ethernet aspects of the new gear were in part taken from Ciena’s WorldWide Packets acquisition.

“The modules get combined relatively penalty-free,” said John Marson, Ciena’s vice president of industry and strategic marketing. “Often times when modular things get compiled, there’s a tradeoff; you’re not able to load up switches to their full capacity, processors are consumed doing non-primary functions. This is a completely different approach.”

The 5400 comes two ways today: the 30-slot, single-rack 5430 (about the size of today’s CoreDirector), which has an initial capacity of about 3.5 terabits per second, and the 10-slot half-rack 5410, with a capacity of 1.2 terabits per second. The 5430 will be generally available early next year, and the 5410 will be available in the back half.

Separately today, Ciena announced new modules for its traditional CoreDirector that support OTN for more efficient use of optical networks. It allows carriers to switch traffic in 155-Mb/s increments, which Ciena said will help them to pack things like 1.5-Gb/s and 2.5-Gb/s high-definition video streams into their networks more fully.