RAD Data Communications has announced that it is supplying Telefnica Deutschland GmbH. with the technology to connect its Ethernet-based infrastructure transparently over conventional dedicated circuits.

A German vendor of integrated data and telecommunication solutions for business users, Telefnica Deutschland is in the process of extending its nationwide broadband infrastructure for ISPs. With a full-coverage, nationwide MPLS-based backbone in place, Telefnica is in the process of setting up an unbundled local loop platform.

By the middle of next year, as many as 40 percent of households in Germany will be connected. Service providers will be able to offer broadband services like ADSL 2+ and multimedia services like Triple Play on this advanced, Ethernet-based DSL infrastructure.

By the end of next year, a total of some 1,600 IP DSLAMs will be interconnected on Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) lines to create ring-type metropolitan networks, mostly on dark fiber. However, dark fiber is not available at every IP DSLAM location. Telefnica Deutschland, therefore, will have to bridge this missing link by renting third-party carriers SDH lines to carry the Ethernet traffic.

In order to be equipped and ready to meet tomorrows requirements, the company went hunting for an affordable product that would not just work transparently, but also support multicast traffic on such an infrastructure. RADs RIC_155GE Ethernet-over-SDH converters were selected to connect the GbE interfaces over that SDH infrastructure.

When rolling out new services, rapid time-to-market is a crucial factor, notes Ramon Horkany, RIC-155GE Product Manager at RAD. In places where you dont have your own Ethernet or IP lines for DSLAM backhaul, and no dark fiber is available either, you can use widely available SDH networks instead, Horkany adds. Renting dedicated circuits is often more economical than setting up your own complete infrastructure, not least because current price trends are very much in your favor, he explains.

Ingo Stampe, Director Networks at Telefnica in Deutschland, agrees: Of all the solutions we tested, RADs RIC-155GE proved to be the most affordable when it came to running Gigabit Ethernet over SDH lines.

What also convinced Telefnica was the converters simplicity. The RIC-155GE is plug-and-play and SNMP-enabled, and installation, training, and maintenance all involve minimal effort. The converters can transport any Ethernet traffic, including multicast traffic, transparently on conventional SDH lines using the entire available bandwidth.

Telefnicas telephony customers currently serviced on Deutsche Telekom interconnection connections (so-called ICAs) are also to be hooked up to the new metropolitan networks via the IP DSLAMs. Given that ICA service crossover points are also situated at a number of IP DSLAM locations, these too are to be carried over the IP DSLAM infrastructure.

Calculations showed that it would not be worthwhile to set up an SDH metro network parallel to the GbE network at smaller crossover points equipped with just four to eight E1 interfaces. RAD was also able to offer a cost-effective solution for this as well. Its IPmux series of TDMoIP gateways can transport E1 lines and phone calls, including signaling data, transparently using a free GbE interface at the IP DSLAM. This means that additional capital investment in SDH lines can focus on major crossover points.