ALCATEL 1603 SMX SONET Multi-Application Network Element
Alcatel builds next generation networks, delivering integrated end-to-end voice and data networking solutions to established and new carriers, as well as enterprises and consumers worldwide. With 110,000 employees Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries. For information, see www.alcatel.com
Introduction The explosion of streaming audio, video, file-sharing, wireless applications and plain old telephone traffic, has led to a shift in the necessary bandwidth requirements of metropolitan rings. In the past, a T1 line was often all the bandwidth a medium-sized business could use, and OC-3 rings for transport were all the rage. A homeowner didn t dream of a T1 or even a modem capable of 56k throughput. Times have changed. Greater demand for bandwidth in residences, campuses and business parks has made it necessary to increase capacity at the edge of the network. This in turn is driving service providers to add capacity in their rings, increase the size of their transport connections to the edge, and preserve many of the service interfaces their customers currently use. Adding capacity to a network traditionally requires large amounts of precious floor space, complicated maintenance, provisioning, and major capital investment. Aisles of racks filled with legacy equipment inefficiently deliver bandwidth at a higher cost and with less flexibility. Multiple pieces of equipment require additional personnel to manage, additional environmental control, and additional facilities to operate. Costs such as these decrease operating efficiency and position a service provider as less competitive. Lean and mean are the watchwords of today s service providers. They require more return on all of their investment and seek a greater return on equipment in less time than in previous years. They want their metro optical equipment to be capable of high-speed optical rates, with a variety of service interfaces for greater flexibility. They also want the proven reliability and standardization of carrier class equipment at the price and footprint of enterprise equipment. Alcatel understands these needs of the service provider and has developed a SONET solution, the Alcatel 1603 SMX. 1
Alcatel 1603 SMX Flexible Architecture Service Provider Flexibility Flexibility in deployment Flexibility in service interfaces Flexibility in expanding and upgrading metro optical networks The Alcatel 1603 SMX can be deployed in controlled environments such as a central office, or it can be deployed in remote locations such as curbside pedestals or cabinets. Deployment flexibility is important, but flexibility in service interfaces is crucial to revenue generation. Providing customers an expanded range of choices can give a service provider a needed advantage in the marketplace. That advantage can be reinforced through thoughtful and controlled expansion of the network. The Alcatel 1603 SMX has been designed to minimize the hassle and stranded bandwidth associated with some metro network elements. Plug-ins such as the combination DS-3/-1 set the standard for software configurable modules. By combining the two on one card, the service provider can offer either service from the same card simply through provisioning. Upgrading software using such features as Remote Download and FTP Download, translate to lower operational costs, fewer site visits, and increased reliability. High-Speed Transport and Flexibility The Alcatel 1603 SMX brings high-speed optical transport capability to the metro market. Ring rates of up to OC-48 are available for high-speed transport within the metro market. It also has high-speed optics available in OC-3, OC-12, and OC-48. Precision 200GHz spaced optical modules capable of direct interface with Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) modules are available in the OC-48 configuration. The Alcatel 1603 SMX can operate in Terminal, Linear Add/ Multiplexing (ADM), Unidirectional Path Switched Ring (UPSR) or 2-fiber Bi-directional Line-Switched Ring (BLSR) modes. The Alcatel 1603 SMX can also serve as a hub for optical traffic, handing the high-speed traffic to a backbone network element for long-haul transport. The Alcatel 1603 SMX can also "taper" routes, giving a customer the ability to upgrade a segment of a ring to a higher optic rate, while preserving the lower rate around the remainder of the ring. This gives a customer more control over their network growth. 2
Efficient Grooming and Transport -1 level bandwidth management across the 48-1 payload DS-1 Grooming and drop Full TSI for hairpinning at the VT level Switching Fabric Packet (IP) Crossconnect VT Crossconnect VT Crossconnect ATM Crossconnect TSI TS1 (1/3c/12c/48c) Crossconnect (1/3c/12c/48c) Crossconnect High Speed Interface High Speed Interface When cross-connecting traffic from the ring to the access network, high-speed transport and flexible access can only result from a sophisticated matrix. While some may have the luxury of proclaiming that bandwidth is cheaprackspace, craft personnel and power are not. High Speed Interface High Speed Interface TSI TS1 Group 1 Group 1 TS1 TS1 Group 2 Group 2 Group 3 Group 3 Group 3 Group 3 Gigabit Expansion Bus (subtended SMX shelves, managed as one NE) The 112 VT matrix within the Alcatel 1603 SMX provides grooming within the 48-1 payload. For a service provider, this means the difference between dropping a DS-1 from an -1 without dedicating that -1 to any particular drop group, or nailing up an entire -1 to drop a single DS-1. In the first case, the remaining 27 VTs in that -1 can pass through to their destination. This is the most efficient way of routing traffic. In the second case, you have to burn bandwidth to achieve similar results. By dropping DS-1s efficiently, Alcatel 1603 SMX reduces the necessary footprint and infrastructure required for this service. The Alcatel 1603 SMX matrix is capable of providing 112 DS-1s, 48 DS-3/-1s, 16 OC-3s, or 4 OC-12s, or any combination totaling 48-1s from a single shelf. When configured with OC- 48 high-speed optics, a standard sevenfoot telco rack can support up to four fully loaded SMX shelves in electrical mode totaling 448 DS-1s or 192 DS3s. If the Alcatel 1603 SMX is used as an optical only application, a seven-foot rack can support up to five SMX shelves (80 OC-3s, 20 OC-12s.) Alcatel 1603 SMX System Architecture 3
Metro Trans-Access The Alcatel 1603 SMX is an ideal solution for service providers who need high-speed transport and access flexibility within the metro network. New markets such as Multi-Tenant Units (MTU) and Multi-User Dwellings (MUD) require high-speed equipment be placed near the edge or on the customer premises. These markets require high-speed transport, but need the flexibility to provide interfaces at the DS-1 level and greater. The Alcatel 1603 SMX provides electrical and optical drops within the same shelf, and can be placed in a closet. The Alcatel 1603 SMX is the only optical network element with temperature-hardened optics. These optics, up to and including OC-48, can operate within a temperature range of 40 to +65 degrees C allowing for deployment in areas outside traditional boundaries. Backbone Hub OC-48 SMX SMX SMX OC-48 SMX POS POS OC-12 OC-3 DS-3 DS-1 Typical Metro Application 4
Metro Transport While new edge applications have contributed to the need for metro transport closer to the traffic source, the sheer volume of traffic exchanged between central offices warrants an inexpensive, highly efficient method for transporting traffic. The Alcatel 1603 SMX is the ideal solution for providers who require high speed, reliable connections between their points-ofpresence (POPs). The Alcatel 1603 SMX can aggregate various types of traffic entering the office directly from devices such as Digital Loop Carriers (DLCs), Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexers (DSLAMs), and voice circuits. Traffic is transported at lower cost and with greater reliability than a traditional meshed, fully electrical network. SMX OC-48 Building 1 OC-3 Building 2 DS-3s 100 Mb Ethernet Bandwidth Services The Alcatel 1603 SMX provides the interfaces necessary to deliver multirate services to the metro market. Rather than deploy various devices to perform different functions, or backhaul single-rate traffic to a central office, the Alcatel 1603 SMX fills the function of several devices within a single shelf. The Alcatel 1603 SMX moves this functionality closer to the edge of the network, reducing the need for costly facilities and extraneous equipment. SMX Outdoor Cabinet ASAM Lite Span DSL aggregation and TDM transport in one product The Alcatel 1603 SMX provides the following drop-group interfaces: Rate Quantity per Shelf 10/100 Base-T 16 DS1 112 DS3/ -1 48 OC-3/-3c 16 OC-12/-12c 16 Aggregation and Transport 5
Alcatel 1603 SMX Reliability and Survivability Certification and Compliance Flexibility and affordability are great attributes, but you shouldn t have to sacrifice reliability and interoperability to get them. The Alcatel 1603 SMX is designed as carrier class SONET-based metro access equipment and was designed to the standards / specifications developed in conjunction with other vendors in the optical networking industry. These specifications include Telcordia s GR- 253, GR-418, GR-63, standard OSI model, and NEBS level 3. By designing equipment to these specifications and testing equipment to that level, Alcatel ensured the carrier class 1603SMX would be interoperable with other vendors optical equipment. A carrier class product should have a level of defined reliability and survivability such that a carrier would feel confident deploying it in their network. These reliability and survivability requirements and objectives are contained within Telcordia s GR-418 Generic Reliability Assurance Requirements for Fiber Optic Transport Systems and GR-63, Network Equipment Building Specifications (NEBS) documents. With regard to network reliability, the Alcatel 1603 SMX not only meets the already stringent requirements of GR-418; it exceeds its more stringent objectives. There are three levels of NEBS certification with level 3 being the most stringent. NEBS is Telcordia s measure of hardware survivability and suitability for carrier deployment. While the structure of survivability testing is dictated by the specification, the configuration of the product to be tested is not. Some vendors utilize the minimum hardware configuration during testing to reduce the number of possible points of failure. In contrast to this, Alcatel 1603 SMX passed NEBS level 3 testing with a full complement of plug-in modules. The Alcatel 1603 SMX also passed the special burn test required for entry into many RBOC/ILEC networks. 6
Management and Maintenance The Alcatel 1301 NMX application runs on an ordinary PC using the Windows operating system. It incorporates features such as FTP, remote software download, and fast database backup through the use of a binary snapshot. These features give the Alcatel 1603 SMX an advantage in the categories of maintenance and management. The Alcatel 1603 SMX has been incorporated into the Alcatel 1353 GEM element management product portfolio. The Alcatel 1353 GEM is an easy-to-use graphical user interface that simplifies operations with features such as remote provisioning, configuration wizards, graphical equipment view, and on-line help. The Alcatel 1353 GEM is built upon the existing ALMAP software portfolio deployed in Alcatel management systems around the world. The Alcatel 1353 GEM provides customers the global management capabilities they need while maintaining a consistent look and feel across all products around the globe. 7
Alcatel 1353 GEM provides: Fault Management for real time information on the network status Configuration Management for initialization, modification, and remote setup of equipment Standards-based performance monitoring to set up, collect, log and display performance information of the managed network elements Security management to protect data integrity and prevent unauthorized user access Alcatel s experience and understanding of optical networking and transmission systems led to the development of specific operational features on the Alcatel 1603 SMX. Auto In-Service and Edge Management Gateway are features unique to the Alcatel 1603 SMX. These features help the service provider reduce costs and better allocate scarce resources. While testing is being performed on the customer side, the Auto In-Service feature mutes alarms normally generated by having a circuit in-service from the provider. With this feature, the service provider can set a time frame (up to 72 hours) in which the customer can perform necessary testing. At the end of that time frame, the alarm register is cleared, the circuit is put into service and the management system will begin receiving any further alarms. The Alcatel 1603 SMX has a another unique feature known as Edge Management Gateway (EMG). EMG creates a tunnel through the Data Communications Channel (DCC) to transport Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) commands from an SNMP management terminal. EMG eliminates the need for additional equipment associated with SNMP managed devices. It provides "free bandwidth" to manage SNMP devices around the ring. EMG is a patented feature available only on the Alcatel 1603 SMX. Existing markets require much of the same flexibility as emerging markets, but for an existing market, forklift upgrades and service downtime are not options. The Alcatel 1603 SMX can be upgraded in the field, from any highspeed rate to any other high-speed rate without losing service. Upgrading the software on the Alcatel 1603 SMX can be done remotely. Using the remote download and FTP download feature on the SMX, a single Alcatel 1301 NMX user can remotely upgrade multiple nodes within a network, thereby eliminating the need to have personnel on-site to perform a software upgrade. The Alcatel 1603 SMX provides a carrier-class solution for the rapidly changing demands of growing metro access networks. Its small footprint and flexible interfaces introduce agility not seen before by network operators. With features like its low power consumption and various remote control options, service providers can operate more efficiently and with reduced costs. The Alcatel 1603 SMX is backed by Alcatel s long standing reputation for building end-to-end, carrier-class solutions. Call us, or visit us today at www.alcatel.com. 8
www.alcatel.com Alcatel and the Alcatel logo are registered trademarks of Alcatel. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Alcatel assumes no responsibility for the accuracy of the information presented, which is subject to change without notice. 2001 Alcatel. All rights reserved. 10821 523-0619905-002A3J 3/2002,Printed in USA