CYAN's Optical Packet Solution Addresses Broadband Onslaught

It’s well understood that broadband operators are struggling to find a sustainable way to support the ever-expanding onslaught of rich media on their networks.

 

While growth would seem to be a good thing, the fact that IP traffic is doubling (or better) about every 18 months is not a plus given broadband subscription prices aren’t following the demand curve. To help service providers address this monumental challenge, startup Cyan Optics (News - Alert) is selling an optical packet solution aimed at scaling network capacity at what Frank Wiener says are radically lower costs.

 

Petaluma, Calif.-based Cyan, which comes out of stealth mode today, has already seen its products deployed in more than 20 service provider networks, says Wiener, the company’s vice president of marketing and business development. He adds that to date these deals have been with tier 2 and 3 telephone and cable companies, but that Cyan – whose leadership hails from such companies as AFC, Calix, Cerent and Turin Networks (News - Alert) – is in discussions with the tier 1 providers as well.

 

Wiener says Cyan’s product line, which he calls the first purpose-built packet optical transport solution, includes two multilayer Z-Series transport platforms (the Z77 and the Z33) paired with an end-to-end network management capability.

 

Cyan, explains Wiener, included in its products a highly modular, full-blown WDM switch (that is tunable for wavelength-selectable switching), Ethernet aggregation and grooming, and SONET/SDH add/drop mux functionality. But because these capabilities are blade-based, he says, they are available either as complete solutions or as point products that can compete in price and functionality with standalone products.

 

The Z-series is not just about different interfaces and support for multiple technologies, says Wiener, it’s also aimed at helping service providers manage their networks in a more holistic way. The Cyan network management solution, he says, manages all layers of the network and provides carriers with a three-dimensional presentation of the network they can use to navigate management at any level – down to what services are running over a particular link, all the components involved in that scenario, and what technologies are involved.

 

This management capability is one of the most compelling aspects of the Cyan solution, according to Wiener, who adds that it can help service providers realize new cost savings by doing things such as offloading from core networks traffic that doesn’t require Layer 3 handling.

 

The Z77, which has multilayer cross-connect functionality and is optimized for use at the hub, offers more than 2.5 terabits of capacity in a 13-rack unit. The Z33 is a 5-rack, 6-slot unit optimized for the edge and delivers up to two degrees of ROAM functionality and 100gpbs per slot.

 

Cyan investors include Juniper Networks (News - Alert), Azure Capital Partners, Grade Venture, Kinetic Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners and Telecom Development Fund.