FEBRUARY 26, 2008 -Â- The membership of the Optical Internetworking Forum (search for OIF) has ratified the group's UNI (User-Network Interface) 2.0 implementation agreement, enabling users to signal for enhanced transport services from an optical network service provider.
Improvements made to UNI 2.0 were gleaned from the OIF's Worldwide Interoperability
Demonstration. UNI 2.0 complies with the ITU-T ASON architecture and supports all UNI 1.0 signaling with additional protocol extensions for the following new UNI 2.0 features:
- Support for Ethernet clients, providing both Ethernet Private Line (EPL) and Ethernet Virtual Private Line services.
- Dynamic bandwidth modification without service disruption.
- G.709 connection services for ODU and OTU switching layers.
- Low-order SONET/SDH connection services.
For network users, these improvements deliver more responsive and flexible services and right-sized bandwidth for their traffic needs. UNI 2.0 "allows Ethernet attached clients to request and modify EPL, and EVPL services that are defined in MEF (Metro Ethernet Forum) specifications," says Stephen Shew of Nortel Networks.
"The OIF continues to test the interoperability of UNI with close collaboration between equipment vendors and carriers," says Jim Jones of Alcatel-Lucent and OIF's vice president of marketing. "OIF members then incorporate the results of those tests into the IA, providing the industry with ready-to-use, mature specifications."