December 17, 2007

ECI Telecom Announces Intelligent Control Capability for Optical Transport Networks

By Anuradha Shukla, TMCnet Contributing Editor

ECI Telecom (News - Alert) has launched Automatically Switched Optical Network (ASON) capabilities for its XDM Multi-Service Provisioning Platform (MSPP) family of products, from metro access to core networks.

According to ECI, the advanced control plane architecture offers new protection schemes to assure service continuation. In combination with the GMPLS common signaling and routing protocol, the ITU ASON architecture enables the introduction of an extra layer of virtual management plane for differentiated service support based on Class of Service.

Sterling Perrin, senior analyst at Heavy Reading, said that service providers must safeguard their networks against failures, providing the highest levels of protection and resiliency. He explained that in some markets, such as India and Russia, fiber cuts are prevalent and can cause major disruptions in service.

Perrin believes that adding intelligent control planes to MSPP/MSTP products – as ECI has announced with the XDM – is an interesting trend they are beginning to see in optical networking. ASON and GMPLS can support enables dynamic mesh restoration and rerouting of traffic within 50 milliseconds in case of failure, with minimal disruption of services.

ECI points out that differential services can be implemented in existing and new transport networks by adding a control plane card to the XDM platform and using the company’s unified LightSoft end-to-end network management system. Full auto discovery package, new protection schemes and automatic prioritized restoration enable successful dealing with multiple network failures.

Executive Vice President and General Manager of ECI Telecom's Network Solutions (News - Alert) Division Eyal Shaked said in a statement that the addition of ASON capabilities enables their customers to offer higher QoS with service continuation in spite of network failures, thereby reducing CAPEX and OPEX (News - Alert) through efficient planning and operation of optical networks.

“ECI is dedicated to continually enhance our customers' networks and support their transition towards next-generation services,” he added.

ECI Telecom delivers innovative communications platforms to carriers and service providers worldwide.

Anuradha Shukla is a contributing editor for TMCnet, covering call centers, CRM and information technology. To see more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

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(source: http://internetcommunications.tmcnet.com/topics/broadband-mobile/articles/16593-eci-telecom-announces-intelligent-control-capability-optical-transport.htm)