Infinera offers multi-failure restoration with FastSMP for the DTN-X

Infinera (NASDAQ: INFN) has unveiled a capability for its DTN-X platform that enables the packet optical transport system to protect against multiple simultaneous failures in a fiber-optic network. The new FastSMP feature is a hardware-accelerated deterministic mesh protection mechanism that leverages emerging ITU-T specifications.

While the new feature is hardware accelerated, existing users of the DTN-X will be able to add the feature to their systems with a software upgrade later this year. That’s because the necessary FastSMP processors have been integrated within the DTN-X since its inception in anticipation that the OTN-friendly ITU-T specifications for Shared Mesh Protection on which FastSMP is based eventually would mature enough to make the offering feasible. Now that the specifications, G.SMP G.808.3 and G.ODUSMP, have reached the “last call” stage, that time has arrived, Infinera believes.

FastSMP uses the capabilities of the DTN-X’s GMPLS control plane to offer its multi-event mesh protection within the sub-50 ms that have become the gold standard within the telecommunications industry. The approach also offers significant cost and resource savings over 1+1 protection schemes, the company asserts, thanks to the ability to intelligently share protection resources. Meanwhile, it improves on MPLS Fast Re-Route (FRR) by offering sub-50-ms protection in a wider variety of scenarios and without involving comparatively expensive packet-layer resources.

“Current approaches to network resiliency are inadequate to meet the rapidly evolving network performance and cost requirements of service providers,” said Michael Kennedy, principal analyst at ACG Research, via an Infinera press release. “SMP utilizes the best attributes of 1+1 protection and MPLS FRR for operators to offer a range of new services with multi-tiered protection levels. We found up to 33% lower total cost of ownership for SMP as compared with 1+1 protection.”

The feature already has helped Infinera win new business. “Pacnet’s unique position is its ability to offer true long-haul submarine mesh architecture on its core network within the APAC region,” said Andy Lumsden, CTO at Infinera’s most recently announced customer; Pacnet owns and operates the EAC and C2C submarine fiber-optic cable networks. “Our selection of the DTN-X has provided new levels of scale for our network, allowing us to accommodate customer traffic and deliver high-capacity services faster than our competitors. The combination of the Infinera DTN-X platform and its hardware-accelerated FastSMP approach will provide Pacnet with a combination of resiliency, capacity, and flexibility needed to meet the highest demands of our customers.”

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