May 16, 2006 Fremont, CA -- Avanex Corp. has announced the availability of a line of optical protection switch (OPS) plug-in modules for its PowerNode platform. The OPS modules are used for fiber link, equipment, or client side protection and have switching speeds of 10 msec, which allows sub-SONET/SDH optical protection. The OPS product portfolio is designed for both system OEM and carrier customers.
Service-level agreements (SLAs) are increasingly demanding, with severe penalties for loss of service. In the event of facility failure or fiber breakage, service providers have implemented optical protection switching in addition to traditional SONET/SDH restoration. Avanex's OPS modules monitor the optical power on the incoming fibers. Upon detection of faults, the OPS module toggles the bypass switch to activate the protection path within 10 msec.
"The Avanex OPS offers optical protection using Avanex's proprietary and reliable optical switch technology," said Giovanni Barbarossa, chief technology officer of Avanex. "OPS solutions are offered at module, line card, and network-ready levels, and are now being tested or deployed by multiple tier-one customers."
Avanex offers the OPS through its PowerNode Flexible Optical Layer platform. Using standard SNMP or TL1 interfaces, the OPS can be directly deployed and managed as a standalone network element within an optical network node. The OPS offerings are modular and designed as plug-and-play modules for Avanex's PowerNode platform and provide single- or dual-path optical protection for SONET/SDH and CWDM/DWDM applications.