JUNE 19, 2008 -- Alcatel-Lucent (search for Alcatel-Lucent) says it is the first to integrate Provider Backbone Bridging (PBB; search for PBB) and Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS; search for VPLS) technologies, which the company claims increases the scale and reach of Carrier Ethernet VPN services. These new capabilities offered on Alcatel-Lucent's IP/MPLS service router portfolio are designed to help service providers differentiate themselves and meet the predicted exponential growth for Carrier Ethernet services.
The integrated PBB/VPLS offerings combine the scalability benefits of PBB and the resiliency, traffic engineering, and convergence benefits of VPLS and MPLS, enabling carriers to leverage their existing metro Ethernet infrastructure while expanding their service reach to national and international markets. Combined with the recent announcement of terabit performance upgrades for the 7450 Ethernet Service Switch (ESS) and 7750 Service Router (SR), these innovations offer service providers substantial investment protection and ensure lower capital and operating costs, according to the company.
"Alcatel-Lucent's integrated PBB and VPLS solution will enable us to enhance network and service scalability -- both in terms of reach and MAC addressing -- supporting the expansion of our multipoint Carrier Ethernet VPN service offerings for inter-metro and national coverage," says Sicco Wiersma, manager, innovation networks at KPN.
Alcatel-Lucent -- in conjunction with KPN as well as other vendors and service providers -- has taken an active role in standardizing Ethernet VPN services: for example, collaborating on IETF draft-balus-l2vpn-vpls-802.1ah-02.txt, which defines VPLS Extensions for Provider Backbone Bridging.
Other capabilities introduced on the IP/MPLS service router portfolio include broad support for IEEE Carrier Ethernet Operation Assurance and Management (OA&M) standards, which provide service assurance and reduce troubleshooting time. In addition, Alcatel-Lucent 5620 Service Aware Manager (SAM) and 5650 Control Plane Access Manager (CPAM) enhancements provide extensive network and service provisioning and assurance features for deploying and managing Layer 2 and Layer 3 (L2/L3) VPN services in a uniform manner.
"Demand for Carrier Ethernet services is increasing rapidly together with the market for Carrier Ethernet switch routers (CESR), which has grown from $179 million in 2004 to $1.9 billion in 2007. By introducing the industry's first integrated PBB and VPLS solution on its service routing portfolio, Alcatel-Lucent is at the forefront of Carrier Ethernet 2.0 capabilities, enabling operators to scale their Carrier Ethernet services efficiently and meet enterprise business requirements. Alcatel-Lucent is also reinforcing its leadership in operations, administration, maintenance and provisioning (OAM&P) with the newly announced assurance capabilities," says Stan Hubbard, senior analyst, Heavy Reading.
The company has also introduced support for DSL-based IP VPNs, leveraging support for Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet (PPPoE) and eliminating the need for a separate broadband remote access server (BRAS) when using DSL to deliver VPN services to small or medium-sized business customers.
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