Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A) announced that its new Ethernet over SONET (EoS) mapper is the first to comply with both the link access procedure-SDH (LAPS) global standard and the generic framing procedures (GFP) draft standard. The generic framing procedures (GFP) draft standard is in review with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and is scheduled to be approved before the end of 2001.
Part of a joint development project with the Wuhan Post and Telecommunications Institute in Wuhan, China, this technology enables networking and telecom devices to offer both LAN and WAN ports. EoS technology is expected to simplify and reduce the cost of maintaining corporate networks that span several geographic sites.
The Agilent HDMP-3001 single-chip EoS mapper enables direct LAN-to-LAN communication over existing SONET/SDH networks. It is targeted at Ethernet switches, standalone data service unit/channel service unit (DSU/CSU) systems, and SONET add drop multiplexers (ADM) within the LAN and metropolitan access (edge) network. The edge network is where the carrier-owned wide area network (WAN) meets the corporate-owned LAN.
The new Agilent chip uses a technology called Ethernet over SONET/SDH to map Ethernet frames, based on the ITU X.86 and T1X1.5 GFP standard drafts, into SONET/SDH payload. EoS effectively transforms a portion of the SONET network into an invisible tunnel between LANs to provide "transparent LAN service." This is the first joint development project in China for Agilent's Semiconductor Products Group and follows a standard created by Dr. Yu Shaohua of the Wuhan Research Institute.
The Agilent EoS mapper is expected to begin sampling to select customers in Q3 2001 and supports the OC-3/STM-1 (155 Mb/s) standard. A second EoS mapper is expected to sample in early 2002, supporting the OC-48/STM-16 (2.5 Gb/s) standard.
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