Cisco NCS 2000 Flex Spectrum Single Module ROADM Line Cards Data Sheet

Operators face the challenge of deploying a scalable and agile optical network while reducing footprint and cost. The Cisco NCS 2000 Flex Spectrum Single Module ROADM Line Cards integrate the programmability and scale of Cisco nLight ROADM with flexible amplification in an exceptionally compact single-slot form factor.

Product Overview

Cisco NCS 2000 Flex Spectrum Single Module ROADM Line Cards combine twin wavelength selective switches (WSS) with pre- and booster amplifiers in a single-slot line card.

20-port and 9-port versions of the card are available to meet varying scalability requirements. The 20-port line card (Figure 1) features a switchable gain pre-amplifier, allowing optimal operation across two different gain ranges. One card can therefore operate across fiber spans of nearly any length, simplifying ordering, sparing, and deployment. A second variant of the 20-port line card provides connectivity verification of attached add/drop and express patch-panel components, helping ensure error-free node turn-up. The 20-port line card functional diagram is shown in Figure 2.

The 9-port version of the line card is offered in three variants corresponding to three different pre-amplifier gain ranges. It also offers an optimized two-degree configuration by including a broadcast express port (TX) and a high isolation select (RX) port (Figure 3). This design reduces loss and filtering penalties.

Both the 20-port and 9-port line cards support the cascading of multiple cards to increase port count.

Features and Benefits

Programmability and Agility

Cisco NCS 2000 Flex Spectrum Single Module ROADM Line Cards create an agile DWDM layer forming the foundation for converged transport architectures, delivering features that allow programmability and agility in provisioning and recovery operations. Wavelength add/drop and routing are entirely software-driven, which eliminates manual operations, helps decrease operating expenses (OpEx), and reduces provisioning and recovery times.

The following agile DWDM innovations are supported by the Cisco NCS 2000 Flex Spectrum Single Module ROADM Line Cards:

●   Colorless: Colorless ROADM ports are not frequency-specific. This simplifies provisioning and allows dynamic restoration, because the frequency of an ingress channel can be retuned by software without requiring its fiber to be relocated.

●   Contentionless: Contentionless add/drop refers to the ability of an N-degree ROADM node to accommodate N wavelengths of the same frequency from a single add/drop device.

●   Omnidirectional: Omnidirectional ROADM ports are not associated to specific ROADM degree, therefore a wavelength reroute does not require a physical fiber move, and can thus be executed entirely by software.

●   Flex spectrum: The amount of spectrum allocated to a wavelength can be flexibly provisioned to allow for multicarrier superchannels or single wavelengths exceeding today’s 50-GHz channel spacing.

Together, colorless, contentionless, omnidirectional, and flex spectrum (CCOFS) functionalities bring programmability to the optical layer, allowing direct and complete control by packet-layer devices and centralized network orchestrators.

Scale and Flexibility

The large numbers of ports on the Cisco NCS 2000 Flex Spectrum Single Module ROADM Line Cards are made possible by the twin-WSS route and select architecture featured by Cisco nLight ROADMs (Figure 4). Channels are isolated by both the ingress and egress WSS, improving performance. By routing, instead of broadcasting, express channels, insertion loss is reduced, preserving optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR). The Cisco nLight architecture therefore allows multi-degree ROADM nodes, plus CCOFS add/drop, at large scale.

Cisco nLight ROADM ports can be used for any combination of the following:

●   Express connections to other degrees in a multi-degree ROADM node

●   Add/drop connections to Cisco NCS 2000 Passive Auxiliary Modules

●   Add/drop connections to Cisco NCS 2000 Contentionless Add/Drop Line Cards

●   Direct add/drop of individual wavelengths

Nodes with a modest number of degrees can still benefit from a large quantity of ROADM ports. Increasing add/drop channel count by using multiple ROADM ports reduces the fan-out requirements of the add/drop layer. This lowers cost, reduces loss, and improves performance.

Table 1 summarizes the features and benefits of Cisco NCS 2000 Single Module ROADM Line Cards. Specific feature support is hardware and software dependent.

Table 1.       Features and Benefits

Licensing

The Cisco NCS 2000 Flex Spectrum Single Module ROADM Line Cards are available with optional pay-as-you-grow licensing. This allows network operators to deploy highly scalable hardware while reducing upfront costs. Licensed variants of the 20-port and 9-port line cards are available with four and three ports activated, respectively. Available ports can be used for express or add/drop connectivity, and they support ninety-six 50 GHz-spaced channels. Port expansion licenses are available in increments of two or four ports, and another license activates flex spectrum capability.

Product Specifications

Tables 2 lists the optical specifications for the Cisco NCS 2000 Flex Spectrum Single Module ROADM Line Cards. Table 3 lists the pre-amplifier specifications, and Table 4 provides the booster amplifier specifications.

Table 2.       Optical Specifications for the Cisco NCS 2000 Flex Spectrum Single Module ROADM Line Cards

Table 3.       Pre-Amplifier Specifications for the Cisco NCS 2000 Flex Spectrum Single Module ROADM Line Cards

Table 4.       Booster Amplifier Specifications for the Cisco NCS 2000 Flex Spectrum Single Module ROADM Line Cards

Table 5.       Physical Specifications for the Flex Spectrum Single Module ROADM Line Cards (All Variants)

Regulatory Compliance

Table 6 summarizes regulatory standard compliance and agency approvals.

Table 6.       Regulatory Compliance

Ordering Information

To place an order, visit the Cisco Commerce homepage and refer to Table 7. To download software, visit the
Cisco Software Center.

Table 7.       Ordering Information

Warranty

The following warranty terms apply to the Cisco 20-Port NCS 2000 Flex Spectrum Single Module ROADM Line Cards as well as services you may use during the warranty period. Your formal warranty statement appears in the Cisco Information Packet that accompanies your Cisco product.

●   Hardware warranty duration: Five years

●   Software warranty duration: One year

●   Hardware replacement, repair, or refund procedure: Cisco or our service center will use commercially reasonable efforts to ship a replacement part for delivery within 15 working days after receipt of the defective product at the Cisco site. Actual delivery times of replacement products may vary depending on customer location

Product warranty terms and other information applicable to Cisco products are available at: http://www.cisco.com/go/warranty.

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