Fujitsu adds VCAT and GFP capabilities to the FLASHWAVE 4500 MSPP
June 2, 2004 Richardson, TX -- Fujitsu Network Communications Inc. today introduced several additions to its FLASHWAVE 4500 Multiservice Provisioning Platform (MSPP) that further extend its ability to transport Ethernet services more efficiently across a SONET-based infrastructure. The new service transport capabilities include support for Virtual Concatenation (VCAT) and Generic Framing Procedure (GFP) to enable efficient transport of 10 Mbits/sec, 100 Mbits/sec, and Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) services.
Support for Four Fiber-Bidirectional Line Switched Ring (4F-BLSR) applications at an OC-192 rate provides additional capacity and a highly robust protection option for service providers. All of these improvements can be ordered immediately.
"Fujitsu and our carrier customers share a common goal of creating an Ethernet service that is as easy to deploy as private line services, such as DS1 and DS3," reports George Chase, group president and chief operating officer for Fujitsu Network Communications. "The enhancements we've made to the FLASHWAVE 4500 platform deliver the power to make that possible, in a manner that's highly bandwidth efficient, operationally simple, and well-suited for today's complex networks."
The FLASHWAVE 4500 platform allows service providers to transport Ethernet circuits across their existing SONET networks while using a fraction of the bandwidth previously required, say company representatives. Competing solutions require circuits to be mapped into standard increments that were established before Ethernet transport was prevalent. For example, the FLASHWAVE 4500 platform uses VCAT to allow a full line rate GbE circuit to be mapped efficiently into 21 STS-1 timeslots of 51.8 Mbits/sec each. Platforms without VCAT map the same circuit into 12 timeslots (an STS-12c) by rate-limiting it to 622 Mbits/sec, or 24 timeslots (an STS-24c) that consume 1.244 Gbits/sec of bandwidth, when only 1.08 Gbits/sec is needed.
VCAT further improves efficiency because timeslots do not need to be contiguous; this provides flexibility for adding high-speed data circuits to busy networks that have experienced a high degree of churn. For example, a full wire speed GbE circuit previously requiring 24 STS timeslots in one group (an STS-24c) can now be mapped into seven groups of three STS timeslots (an STS-3c-7v)--no matter where the spare bandwidth resides, explain Fujitsu representatives. In addition to provisioning flexibility, service providers can gain additional capacity for other revenue-generating services and improved equipment density, while maintaining the same Ethernet line rate and managed Quality of Service (QoS).
GFP has emerged as an industry standard for the encapsulation of data protocols. It provides increased robustness for Ethernet services by providing fault information, including Client Signal Failure (CSF) notifications, through its management overhead.
Ethernet alarming and Performance Monitoring (PM) abilities have also been enhanced in this release to make Ethernet services even easier to deploy and manage, says the company. New features allow FLASHWAVE 4500 nodes to monitor the status of LAN and WAN links and determine if user-selectable PM thresholds have been reached. In the event of unacceptable performance or complete Loss of Signal (LOS), the system can generate an alert or alarm similar to a SONET Alarm Indication Signal (AIS) to notify the carrier and end customer (as desired).
The addition of OC-192 4F-BLSR capabilities on the FLASHWAVE 4500 platform allows carriers to build high capacity ring networks that can survive multiple simultaneous fiber cuts, say company representatives. If there is a single cut in the network, the system will generate a span switch to bypass the problematic span without disrupting the rest of the ring. A subsequent fiber cut will cause the system to induce a ring switch to keep traffic moving. Restoration of 4F-BLSR networks equipped with the FLASHWAVE 4500 platform is made easier because the traffic on each span can be restored independently.