Nortel Advances Ethernet for Coming Wave of Video Services
Share:
Unveils Metro Ethernet Innovations for Video, 3G Wireless and Business Services
TORONTO, June 6 / / - Following its recent announcement of a new business targeted at Metro Ethernet Networks, Nortel(x) (NYSE/TSX: NT) today introduced innovations to meet the growing demand for high-bandwidth video and data services in service provider metropolitan networks. Nortel's innovations enable service providers to confidently use Ethernet - once a technology used only for PC connectivity in the LAN - as the means for delivering mission critical high-bandwidth services like IPTV, mobile video, and business services.
"Nortel is delivering on its recently announced Metro Ethernet Networks focus, offering innovative solutions that are designed to give Ethernet the determinism, scale, management and service convergence capabilities that are needed to address the growing video transport market," said Philippe Morin, president, Metro Ethernet Networks, Nortel. "As new video services become more pervasive, Metro Ethernet gives service providers the capability to satisfy the dramatically increasing requirements for bandwidth and strict performance in metropolitan networks while still maintaining the cost-effectiveness and simplicity that makes Ethernet attractive."
"The growth of video services, from high-definition broadcast to video on demand, across cable, DSL, fiber, and mobile networks, is driving unprecedented demand for bandwidth and Ethernet transport equipment across metro area networks," said Jeff Heynen, directing analyst, Broadband and IPTV, Infonetics Research. "Ethernet is being increasingly relied on for video traffic because of its cost effectiveness, ability to scale and its flexible QoS models for the increasing variety of video service offerings."
Nortel's Metro Ethernet Networks portfolio is focused on making Ethernet more capable for service provider deployments where deterministic service delivery with guaranteed quality of service and carrier-grade reliability is required. Nortel's solutions also give Ethernet the ability to scale to millions of users while ensuring the network is easy to operate and manage with a comprehensive set of management tools. Specifically:
o Nortel is incorporating the deterministic, carrier-grade connection
management characteristics of SONET/ SDH into Ethernet with its
innovative Provider Backbone Transport (PBT) technology. PBT is now
available on the Metro Ethernet Routing Switch (MERS) 8600, with
development underway to integrate PBT into the Optical Multiservice
Edge (OME) 6500 and other Ethernet-ready platforms. Nortel developed
PBT as a reliable, simple, scalable and cost-effective technology
enabling Ethernet-based Metro Networks to work seamlessly with service
providers' existing MPLS core networks.
o Nortel was a driving force in bringing massive scalability (up to
millions of service instances per metro) to Ethernet through the
standardization of Provider Backbone Bridging (IEEE 802.1ah or
Mac-in-Mac). An early implementation of PBB has been available on
Nortel's Metro Ethernet portfolio for several years, and a fully
standardized version will be delivered later this year as the standard
is ratified.
o Nortel is enabling service convergence on its Metro Ethernet solutions
with the availability of integrated, standards-compliant resilient
packet ring (RPR) technology into its flagship OME 6500 optical
platform. RPR capabilities on the OME 6500 support multiple Ethernet
rings of up to 10Gbps and the ability to provision up to eight classes
of service on a per customer and per application basis. This helps
ensure real-time traffic like video is prioritized, and enables
service providers to offer differentiated service level agreements to
their business services customers.
o Nortel is supporting the development of new Ethernet operations,
administration and maintenance (OAM) standards to dramatically enhance
the manageability of Ethernet. These standards are being implemented
across our Metro Ethernet portfolio to deliver comprehensive fault
detection, notification, isolation and troubleshooting mechanisms, in
addition to standardized performance monitoring tools.
o In addition, Nortel has developed several new Ethernet enhancements
that improve the scalability and performance of its Metro Ethernet
portfolio. This includes a new 10 GE Ultra card on the Nortel Optical
Metro 5200 that enables the transport of 10 Gigabit Ethernet up to
175km without the need for regeneration or dispersion compensation, a
59% improvement over previous capabilities.
Nortel is committed to building on its market leadership in the growing Metro Ethernet market through continued investment in the business and support of open standardization, certification and interoperability testing efforts. Six products in Nortel's Metro Ethernet Networks portfolio have been awarded Ethernet certifications by the Metro Ethernet Forum. Nortel is an industry leader in delivering carrier-grade Ethernet over optical networks, and has shipped 175,000 optical Ethernet ports worldwide. Nortel was the first vendor to commercially deploy RPR-based technology in 1999, and has since shipped over 44,000 RPR ports to customers around the world. Nortel was No. 1 globally in total optical revenues for the first quarter of 2006 according to The Dell'Oro Group.
About Nortel
Nortel is a recognized leader in delivering communications capabilities that enhance the human experience, ignite and power global commerce, and secure and protect the world's most critical information. Our next-generation technologies, for both service providers and enterprises, span access and core networks, support multimedia and business-critical applications, and help eliminate today's barriers to efficiency, speed and performance by simplifying networks and connecting people with information. Nortel does business in more than 150 countries. For more information, visit Nortel on the Web at www.nortel.com. For the latest Nortel news, visit nortel.com/news.
(x) Nortel, the Nortel logo and the Globemark are trademarks of Nortel Networks.
Source: Nortel
CONTACT: Bo Gowan, (972) 685-8278, bogowan@nortel.com; Patricia Vernon, (905) 863-1035, patricve@nortel.com; Ben Roome, +44-1628-43-3113, benroome@nortel.com
