September 1, 2011

Simplifying Metro Service Delivery ‘Dynamic’ally

As service providers increase metro network capacity to support more video, over-the-top content and Metro Ethernet, they are challenged by design complexity. BTI Systems’ new approach to optical service delivery for metro networks includes a Dynamic Optical Layer engineered to help simplify the process of adding wavelengths in metropolitan and aggregation networks.

"How do you deploy high-capacity wavelengths into the network at the click of a mouse? That's today's big physics problem," says Glenn Thurston, BTI's vice president/Marketing. He says the new Dynamic Optical Layer includes the latest reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexing (ROADM) technology and does all the calculating across the network.

Commercially available this week, the Dynamic Optical Layer combines ROADM reach extension, and end-to-end service and path-centric management capabilities via a simple upgrade to its BTI 7000 Series packet optical networking portfolio. The Dynamic Optical Layer includes ROADM-on-a-Blade (ROB) modules for flexible, point-and-click wavelength routing, DWDM Line Amplifier (DLA) modules for reach extension plus an Intelligent Control System that autonomously monitors and adjusts optical characteristics.

Cable operators are utilizing ROADM for connecting their regional headends with each other and with the Internet backbone. (For more, see Optical Outlook: The ROADM to Bandwidth).

According to Thurston, when a provider wants to add a wavelength, the standard operating procedure is to "send people in trucks to make sure the network stays in spec. It's a lot of manual labor with optical engineers measuring."

Adds Robert Keys, vice president/Solutions Development at BTI, "Typically, in fixed optical infrastructure, you have to choose an available wavelength. When you add one wavelength, you affect all wavelengths. You have to choose the correct XFP to plug into. You've got to monitor every so often. Going forward with this platform, you tell it to provision a service from A to B; the platform suggests which wavelength to use. When you plug into XFP, all the additional steps are done autonomously."

-Linda Hardesty