SAN JOSE, Calif. -- April 20, 1998 -- Cisco Systems, Inc. today unveiled a five-phase strategy for building data-optimized, service provider networks using optical internetworking technologies.
As part of its strategy, Cisco also announced today a new high-performance interface for the Cisco 12000 Gigabit Switch Router (GSR) and an intent to work with CIENA Corporation to enable Cisco's high-end switches and routers to be overlaid directly onto CIENA's optical networking solutions without the need for separate time-division multiplexing (TDM) equipment.
Cisco and CIENA have also joined with other leading industry participants to announce the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF), an open industry forum that will work to accelerate deployment of next-generation optical internetworking products and services.
Building the New World Network
Cisco's optical internetworking strategy addresses the need for a new, data-optimized approach to the delivery of public communications services. The importance of data, led by the explosive growth of the Internet and new, bandwidth-intensive applications, is generating profound changes in service provider networks. Service providers are now aggressively growing their packet and cell infrastructures as a means to deliver integrated network services and applications. In this new packet/cell infrastructure, voice becomes another data application with strict quality-of-service requirements.
Today's public networks are based on circuit switching and are built to meet the needs of today's voice communications. These hierarchical, TDM networks enable thousands of 64 kbps voice connections to be aggregated in a series of steps onto high-speed transmission facilities. In the optical internetworking world, much of this traditional equipment becomes unnecessary due to gains afforded by statistical multiplexing. By statistically multiplexing packets and cells over wavelengths in the optical network layer, switches and routers can provide increased bandwidth efficiency and eliminate substantial cost and complexity. The aggressive integration of data and optical network technologies along with the emerging voice-over-IP (VoIP) market is expected to rapidly accelerate the rollout of a new generation of communications infrastructures.
"Optical internetworking should drastically lower the cost of transmitting information. Such improvements will help release the pent-up demand for multimedia communication," said Nayel Shafei, Qwest Communications's executive vice president of product development.
Cisco's Five-Phase Optical Internetworking Strategy
Cisco's optical internetworking strategy is based on five phases over the course of a year that deliver the technologies needed to leverage current investments in synchronous optical network/synchronous digital hierarchy (SONET/SDH). The strategy will extend the optical internetworking model from the long-haul backbone all the way to the customer premise. Phase one of Cisco's optical internetworking strategy began with the introduction and deployment of high-capacity platforms on which service providers could establish and offer profitable data services. The Cisco 12000 series of Gigabit Switch Routers (GSRs) and the Cisco 8000 WAN platform leverage the enormous global investments in SONET/SDH infrastructure via compatible IP and ATM optical interfaces up to 2.5 Gbps. Cisco's 1997 acquisition of Skystone Systems Corporation gave the company access to high-speed SONET/SDH technology and established a center of competency for ongoing development of SONET/SDH-compatible and optical equipment.
Currently in phase two of the strategy, Cisco is delivering switches and routers that interface directly to the optical networking layer, avoiding the cost and bandwidth limitations associated with TDM. Cisco's work with CIENA will enable the deployment of optical internetworks based on Cisco's high-end switching and routing platforms and CIENA's dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) equipment.
Phase three of Cisco's optical internetworking strategy will integrate key SONET/SDH and optical capabilities into Cisco switching and routing platforms to reduce the cost of deploying fiber-based data networks where WDM is not required. The key technologies include long-reach capability to extend the distance over which switches and routers can be deployed, as well as intelligent protection schemes and optical management.
Phase four will expand optical internetworking into interoffice and metropolitan applications, creating a data-oriented foundation to scale high-value services to businesses, campuses and data centers. A key element of Phase four will be the introduction of data-optimized rings that combine the efficiencies of statistical multiplexing and the resiliency of SONET/SDH ring architectures.
Phase five of the strategy will extend optical internetworking to the edge of the service infrastructure and enable subscribers to access increased network capacity and cost advantages provided by optical networking.
"Optical and internetworking technologies are converging to allow service providers to build networks optimized for data services at a fraction of the cost of comparable TDM infrastructures," said Graeme Fraser, vice president of engineering and general manager for Cisco's Internet Service Provider Business Unit. "Cisco is committed to driving this new packet infrastructure to have the cost, feature set and reliability needed to enable it to be the infrastructure of the future."
Delivers First Clear-Channel 2.5Gbps Optical Interface
A key component of phase two of Cisco's optical internetworking strategy is the continued delivery of high-performance, high-capacity interfaces for the Cisco 12000 series of Gigabit Switch Routers. Cisco's new optical line card offers the world's first clear-channel OC-48c/STM16 interface, enabling the entire 2.5 Gbps bandwidth to be treated as a single high-speed pipe. This new interface is ushering in a paradigm shift from TDM-based architectures to optical multiplexing. In addition to driving dark fiber directly, this new interface will provide the basis for high-speed interconnection of the Cisco 12000 series with CIENA's Sentry long-haul DWDM product line. Both platforms are currently deployed by leading Internet service providers and long distance carriers.
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