NOVEMBER 6, 2006 -- PMC-Sierra Inc. (search for PMC-Sierra) today introduced the PM5336 ARROW 2488, which it claims is a feature-rich, high-capacity, single-chip device that combines multi-rate SONET/SDH framers, non-blocking STS/AU and VT/TU cross-connects, and best-in-class backplane SERDES for next-generation compact and scalable chassis-based SONET/SDH platforms.
Carriers are driving the adoption of converged networks to more effectively manage both new Ethernet services and existing T1/E1 services over the established SONET/SDH infrastructure. To meet these requirements, OEMs must deliver highly integrated, scalable metro transport equipment with reduced power, cost, and complexity. The ARROW 2488 enables system OEMs to build carrier-grade optical access aggregation equipment with unprecedented footprint and power savings compared to available silicon offerings, say PMC-Sierra representatives. The PM5336 ARROW 2488 is the newest software-compatible addition to PMC-Sierra's CHESS III and CHESS Wideband family of SONET/SDH products.
According the company, the ARROW 2488:
• Optimizes compact OC-48/STM-16 multi-service provisioning platforms (MSPPs), while allowing scalability to multi-port OC-192/STM-64 applications;
• Addresses optical add/drop requirements for packet MSPPs and reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers (ROADMs);
• Integrates CHESS intellectual property, reducing development cycles for faster time to market through the reuse of CHESS software base;
• Reduces chip count by up to 80% compared with available alternatives, improving bill of materials costs and reducing real estate requirements; and
• Exceeds the requirement for 50-msec protection switching for up to 5,376 tributaries using a fully hardware-based APS algorithm (MAPS).
"We continue our investment in critical technologies that enable the carriers' migration to converged networks that are able to move IP traffic through SONET/SDH backbones," explains Dino Bekis, vice president of marketing and applications for PMC-Sierra's Communication Products Division. "As bandwidth demand increases rapidly due to roll out of quad-play service, SONET/SDH remains the carriers' choice to deliver performance and reliability in the metro network. We optimized the ARROW 2488 for OC-48/STM-16 applications, while allowing scalability to OC-192/STM-64, enabling SONET/SDH to remain the most competitive transport technology and allowing carriers to address network scalability with existing infrastructure," he says.
Leading metro transport equipment manufacturers are deploying PMC-Sierra's CHESS portfolio today in live networks, say company representatives.
"PMC-Sierra's ARROW 2488, together with the CHESS family, are integral components in our cost-optimized SONET/SDH systems," reports Jay Fahey, director of product development at Lucent Technologies. "PMC-Sierra has demonstrated that they understand our needs. By delivering a robust solution that allows us to leverage existing platform designs, PMC-Sierra is reducing our development cost and accelerating our time to market."
The ARROW 2488 provides system designers with a device that can be adopted across several applications and architectures, including a multi-port OC-48/STM-16 single-chip device for compact (pizza-box) MSPPs; high fan-in, multi-rate SONET/SDH front-end for line cards for MSPPs, packet MSPPs, and ROADMs; and centralized high-order and/or low-order cross-connect and pointer processor, with optional optical network interfaces, for chassis-based platforms.
The ARROW 2488 integrates multi-rate SONET/SDH framers and on-chip line side SERDES with full section, line, and high-order path processors. The device integrates a high-capacity, non-blocking, memory-based, high-order STS/AU cross-connect; low-order VT/TU path processors; and a non-blocking memory-based low-order cross-connect. The integrated VT/TU grooming enables low-order ring protection and allows the ARROW 2488 to aggregate both new Ethernet services as well as T1/E1/DS3/E3 services. The ARROW 2488 supports all network protection schemes, including UPSR/SNCP, BLSR/MS-SPRING, 1+1, and 1:n. Both the integrated low-order cross connect and high-order cross-connect support Message Assisted Protection Switching (MAPS), a mechanism that allows standards-based protection switching without software intervention, enabling full protection of highly channelized rings without the addition of a co-processor. The ARROW 2488 also provides extensive performance monitoring, intermediate path monitoring, and reporting capabilities on all virtual tributaries and SPE signals.
The ARROW 2488 provides a system-side interface consisting of ESSI serial links (2.488 Gbits/sec or 622 Mbits/sec) and a 2.5G Parallel Telecombus interface (32x77MHz) for the industry's most flexible inter-card or intra-card connectivity to cross-connects, framers, and mappers, says the company. All serial links utilize PMC-Sierra's Rate Agile Serial I/O (RASIO) high-speed serial backplane technology.
The PM5336 ARROW 2488 will be sampling in Q1 2007.
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