Wireless Backhaul

Accedian Networks, a provider of Packet Performance Assurance solutions for telecom, cable and wireless operators, has announced that regional high bandwidth services provider, Zayo Bandwidth (News - Alert), has selected and deployed Accedian Networks’ ESAP.

The Ethernet Service Assurance Platform (ESAP) is designed to monitor Quality of Service (QoS) and assure Service Level Agreements (SLAs). Zayo will use the solution to support these activities in its high performance Ethernet wireless backhaul network in the Northeastern U.S.

The Zayo Bandwidth network spans 95 markets in 12 states with more than 17,000 route miles of fiber. The company provides carrier-grade Ethernet wireless backhaul for emerging, packet-based 3G and 4G wireless networks.

With the EtherNID packet assurance demarcation units from Accedian and the functionality of the ESAP platform, Zayo’s Ethernet backhaul service will be able to meet the strict SLAs required by 3G, WiMAX and LTE (News - Alert) wireless networks currently in deployment nationwide.

The solution from Accedian Networks provides service assurance for point-to-point, multi-point and mesh network configurations that allows wireless backhaul providers to guarantee service performance between each base station and the Mobile Switching Center (MSC (News - Alert)).

The unique in-service test functionality of the solution provides continues monitoring of all critical SLA parameters such as one-way latency, jitter, committed throughput and service availability without affecting critical, real-time applications such as VoIP and mobile video.

“Accedian Networks’ platform helps us to deliver SLA-backed wireless backhaul services by providing Ethernet performance monitoring and management visibility directly to each cell-site.” commented Troy Kau, Vice President of Engineering at Zayo Bandwidth, in a Wednesday statement.

“The EtherNIDs versatility as a both an in-line measurement probe and intelligent demarcation device allows us to fully instrument our network, establish end-to-end Ethernet OAM, and, in relevant applications, provide fiber extension to cell sites in a cost-effective manner.”

“Our solutions are optimized for the SLA assurance demands of high-performance 3G and 4G wireless backhaul networks.” explained Patrick Ostiguy, founding President & CEO of Accedian Networks, in Wednesday’s statement. “Our unique, carrier-grade, silicon-based design allows our units to process all packets passing through them at full wire-speed, enabling a wide array of service creation and assurance functionality including service mapping, bandwidth policing, traffic filtering, and in-service RFC-2544 throughput testing – all without affecting the service itself.”

Monitoring of quality service delivery is important for all carriers and service providers as they continue to face intense competition. Customers will increasingly turn to those providers with the bet quality as price is rarely a competitive factor. As such, solutions such as the ESAP will continue to be in high demand and following this path, Accedian should enjoy significant growth.

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Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMC (News - Alert) and has also written for eastbiz.com. To see more of her articles, please visit Susan J. Campbell’s columnist page.

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