September 7, 2005 Munich, Germany -- RAD Data Communications is supplying Telefónica Deutschland GmbH with the technology to connect its Ethernet-based infrastructure transparently over conventional dedicated circuits.
A German vendor of integrated data and telecommunication solutions for business users, Telefónica Deutschland is in the process of extending its nationwide broadband infrastructure for ISPs. With a full-coverage, nationwide MPLS-based backbone in place, Telefónica currently is setting up an unbundled local loop platform.
By the middle of next year, as many as 40% of households in Germany will be connected. Service providers will be able to offer broadband services like ADSL 2+ and multimedia services like triple play on this Ethernet-based DSL infrastructure. By the end of next year, a total of some 1,600 IP DSLAMs will be interconnected on Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) lines to create ring-type metropolitan networks, mostly on dark fiber.
However, dark fiber is not available at every IP DSLAM location. As a result, Telefónica Deutschland will have to bridge this missing link by renting third-party carriers' SDH lines to carry the Ethernet traffic.
Telefónica Deutschland needed a product that would not just work transparently, but also support multicast traffic on such an infrastructure. RAD's RIC_155GE Ethernet-over-SDH converters were selected to connect the GbE interfaces over that SDH infrastructure.
"When rolling out new services, rapid time-to-market is a crucial factor," notes Ramon Horkany, RIC-155GE Product Manager at RAD. "In places where you don't have your own Ethernet or IP lines for DSLAM backhaul and no dark fiber is available, you can use widely available SDH networks instead. Renting dedicated circuits is often more economical than setting up your own complete infrastructure, not least because current price trends are very much in your favor," he explains.
What also convinced Telefónica was the converters' simplicity. The RIC-155GE is plug-and-play and SNMP-enabled and installation, training, and maintenance all involve minimal effort, say RAD representatives. The converters can transport any Ethernet traffic, including multicast traffic, transparently on conventional SDH lines using the entire available bandwidth.
Telefónica's telephony customers--currently serviced on Deutsche Telekom interconnection connections (so-called ICAs)--are also to be hooked up to the new metro networks via the IP DSLAMs. Given that ICA service crossover points are also situated at a number of IP DSLAM locations, these too are to be carried over the IP DSLAM infrastructure.
Calculations showed that it would not be worthwhile to set up an SDH metro network parallel to the GbE network at smaller crossover points equipped with just four to eight E1 interfaces, reports Telefónica. RAD's IPmux series of TDMoIP gateways transport E1 lines and phone calls, including signaling data, transparently using a free GbE interface at the IP DSLAM. This means that additional capital investment in SDH lines can focus on major crossover points.