BTI Systems offers Dynamic Optical Layer for metro networks

BTI Systems has introduced what it calls “Dynamic Optical Layer” capabilities for its existing BTI 7000 Series packet optical networking platforms and BTI 700 Series Carrier Ethernet platforms. The new capabilities, contained in a set of line cards, are designed to automate much of the process involved in provisioning and turning up new optical network services.

The Dynamic Optical Layer features are a response to customer requests to “take the physics” out of delivering new services, say BTI Systems’ Vice President of Marketing Glenn Thurston and Vice President of Solutions Development Robert Keys. The new capabilities take the form of a new ROADM-on-a-blade card and an equally new DWDM line amplifier card. New service provision then becomes a matter of putting the right kind of card in each node -- if the node is expected to add or drop wavelengths, it gets a ROADM card; otherwise, it gets an amplifer card, according to Keys – and then use the proNX Service Manager provisioning tool to input the type of service and the wavelength on which the service will ride. The BTI Systems platforms will do the rest, including auto-discovery and power balancing. The provisioning system will even suggest a wavelength, Keys says.

The platforms also provide per-channel performance monitoring.

The new capabilities represent BTI Systems’ first commercial deployment of gridless ROADM capabilities. This feature enables the Dynamic Optical Layer functions to handle data rates of 100 Gbps and higher, providing a high degree of future-proofing, the BTI Systems sources say. The company is using what it calls a “continuous spectrum based WSS [wavelength-selective switch]” to enable this feature.

The result is extremely rapid, cost-effective service turn up across 40 channels, Thurston and Keys say. The ability to meet this goal has been verified in customer deployments, they say.

"Network operators want to lower the cost and improve the flexibility of their networks to address unanticipated growth and opportunities,” said Andrew Schmitt, directing analyst, optical for Infonetics Research. “ROADM-based optical networks eliminate unnecessary electronics and can be remotely reconfigured, reducing both capex and opex. This is the fastest-growing segment of the optical market, and easier-to-deploy ROADM equipment such as BTI Systems' are well suited to increasing the size of the market this technology can reach."

Thurston and Keys say the new features will prove particularly useful in mobile backhaul, Ethernet services delivery, cloud service delivery, and packet optical transport network applications. The Dynamic Optical Layer cards are commercially available.