The ML-Series 10-port Multirate Ethernet card for the Cisco® ONS 15454 Multiservice Provisioning Platform (MSPP) enables the delivery of true carrier-class Carrier Ethernet services.
The Cisco ML-Series interface cards provide exceptional Ethernet switching capabilities for multiservice provisioning platforms (MSPPs). Cisco has coupled the market-leading optical capabilities of the Cisco ONS 15454 MSPP with proven Cisco IOS® Software to deliver profitable Carrier Ethernet solutions over a multiservice network architecture.
Product Overview
The Cisco ML-Series cards for the Cisco ONS 15454 MSPP (Figure 1) are industry-leading Ethernet switching modules for integration into a SONET/SDH optical transport platform. The cards extend the multiservice capabilities and flexibility offered by the Cisco ONS 15454 platform.
Figure 1. Cisco ML-Series 10-Port Ethernet Multirate Card for Cisco ONS 15454 MSPP
Through the integration of the industry's most widely deployed and tested Ethernet and IP technology, Cisco IOS Software, with the industry's most successful multiservice provisioning platform, the Cisco ONS 15454, service providers and enterprise customers are provided with a single integrated platform for delivering true carrier-class Metro Ethernet, TDM, and optical transport services and applications.
The Cisco ONS 15454 ML-Series 10-Port Multirate Ethernet Card (ML-MR-10) is the newest addition to the Cisco ML-Series card portfolio, and provides the flexibility to deploy multirate Ethernet services (10,100, 1000 Mbps) over a single card by supporting 10 Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP)-based multirate ports.
The Cisco ML-Series single-slot cards can be installed in any of the 12 multiservice interface slots in a Cisco ONS 15454 shelf assembly and can be mixed and matched within the assembly or network to provide flexible architectures to meet the user's application needs. Each card has virtual interfaces that are mapped to SONET/SDH optical interfaces for transport with other services between network elements over 155-Mbps to 10-Gbps optical line rates. Packet transport bandwidth over the chosen optical interface is provisionable, allowing efficient matching and scalability of ingress to transport traffic requirements, based upon oversubscription requirements.
The Cisco ML-MR-10 card supports standard-based IEEE 802.17b Resilient Packet Ring (RPR), which supports increased bandwidth usage over a SONET/SDH ring. 802.17b RPR features also include steering, shortest-path selection, advanced quality of service (QoS), fairness, and spatial reuse for bridging.
In addition to RPR, the Cisco ML-MR-10 card supports 26 Packet over SONET (PoS) ports that enable aggregation of 26 point-to-point Ethernet-over-SONET/SDH circuits.
The advanced set of QoS features on the Cisco ML-MR-10 card allows the network administrator to fine-tune the network and create and support a wide range of SLAs. Table 1 lists some of the features and benefits.
Ethernet Virtual Connection (EVC): The Cisco ML-MR-10 card adopts the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) Ethernet Services Framework using EVC Infrastructure/Ethernet Infrastructure (EI). Connectivity between User-Network Interfaces (UNIs) is specified by the Ethernet Virtual Connection (EVC). An EVC represents a conceptual "service pipe" within the service provider network. EVC architecture supported by Cisco IOS Software provides a common framework for service provisioning Carrier Ethernet devices. In Cisco ONS 15454 Software Release 8.5, the Cisco ML-MR-10 card supports Ethernet Virtual Private Line services over an RPR ring.
Table 1. Features and Benefits for QoS
The Cisco ML-MR-10 card offers important advantages in service provider network architectures, supporting new, profitable services as well as simplifying service activation. Table 2 outlines some of these capabilities.
Table 2. Features and Benefits for Service Provider Network Architectures
Applications
The Cisco ML-MR-10 card provides the flexibility to meet the demands of a wide variety of network applications found within many service providers' transport networks. The following figures show a few of the applications that can be cost-effectively deployed using the Cisco ONS 15454 with the ML-MR-10 cards.
Ethernet Service Delivery
The Cisco ONS 15454 with ML-MR-10 cards can be used for any service delivery based on the type of SFP module plugged into the Ethernet port. The platform supports 10/100/1000 BASE-T, 100BASE-FX/LX/BX, and 1000-BASE SX/LX/ZX. Customers can use the Cisco ML-MR-10 cards to offer a wide range of Ethernet services with Layer 2 switching, RPR, and advanced QoS capabilities.
Figure 2. Ethernet Service Delivery
Interoffice Facility Networks
All traditional local exchange carriers (LEC) have used SONET/SDH technology to interconnect their central offices. With the explosion of data-related services and the growth of termination equipment with integrated Ethernet interfaces and protocols, these carriers increasingly need to transport data traffic more efficiently. Using the Cisco ML-MR-10 cards to interconnect data traffic between the remote terminal equipment and the central core router provides transport bandwidth efficiency by statistically multiplexing and aggregating traffic for efficient router port use, reducing the quantity of core router interfaces. Management benefits are garnered through the integration of data switching into the optical platform, reducing the number of data-communication-network (DCN) ports. Figure 3 shows an interoffice facility (IOF) transport network.
Figure 3. IOF Transport Network
Metro Data Services Network
A metropolitan network that supports a wide range of service capabilities allows the service provider to offer a tariff mix to meet customer needs. The Cisco ONS 15454 provides the foundation for building an advanced multiservice network over an extremely reliable SONET/SDH infrastructure. The Cisco ML-MR-10 card supports two efficient architectures with RPR rings (refer to Figure 4) and point-to-point port aggregation (see Figure 5). Data services delivery, through EVCs, is supported by the Cisco ML-MR-10 card through the use of 802.1Q in the .1Q VLAN protocol, VLAN translation, input rate limiting, and advanced QoS features, including queue bandwidth control and traffic priority marking. These flexible features allow the service provider to build, control, and guarantee the delivery of the SLAs offered for each service type. To help service provider technicians manage and use the network, the Cisco ML-MR-10 card offers integrated Cisco IOS Software, the industry's best-known Layer 2 and Layer 3 technology, reducing training time and cost.
Figure 4. Metro Data Services Network with RPR Rings
Figure 5. Metro Data Service Network with Point-to-Point Ethernet-over-SONET/SDH Circuit Aggregation
Cable Television Data Transport
Cable television operators are experiencing rapid growth of subscribers to their data services. The Cisco ONS 15454 with ML-MR-10 cards provides a solution to efficiently transport the increasing data on cable television networks. The Cisco solution allows the cable operator to aggregate data traffic, using the Cisco ML-MR-10 cards, from multiple secondary headends and statistically multiplex it onto shared transport bandwidth for handoff to a core router at the master headend (Figure 5). Cable modem traffic is bursty, and the sharing of bandwidth allows better use of optical transport resources compared to dedicated point-to-point connections. The advanced QoS capabilities of the Cisco ML-MR-10 cards allow the cable network engineer to design the network to support the committed information rate (CIR) necessary for the types of services being offered, such as Web browsing, VoIP, and video on demand (VoD). The Cisco ML-MR-10 cards allow the user to build traffic queues and associate priority and bandwidth with each queue type, to meet the transport demands of each service. The Cisco ONS 15454 platform supports in-service bandwidth upgrades and allows the transport network to scale from 155 Mbps to 320 Gbps using dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM), thereby easily accommodating growth.
Figure 6. Cable Television Data Networking
The Cisco Advantage
The Cisco ONS 15454 MSPP solution offers significant advantages over traditional optical network elements combined with external Layer 2 and Layer 3 devices. These advantages are summarized as follows.
Integrated Multiservice Capabilities
The Cisco ONS 15454 MSPP solution supports traditional TDM-based, private-line services (for example, DS-1/E1, DS-3/E3, and OC-n/STM-n) along with advanced Ethernet-based services, simplifying service provider migration to new data tariffs and interface flexibility for enterprise users.
Flexible Architectures
The Cisco ONS 15454 platform supports 2- or 4-fiber bidirectional line switched ring (BLSR) or multiplex section-shared protection ring (MS-SPR), unidirectional path switched ring (UPSR) or multiplex section protection (MSP), linear automatic protection switching (APS) or subnetwork connection (SNC), and path-protected mesh networking (PPMN) architectures. The Cisco ML-MR-10 card can be deployed over any of these architectures and protection schemes, allowing the service provider to build a network that meets the customer's SLA requirements. The platform facilitates in-service optical bandwidth expansion using card upgrades, allowing customers to expand their networks to match demand without major equipment replacement, and allowing network expenditures to better match revenue and bandwidth requirements.
Efficient Network Management
Management is simplified through a common DCN network connection and user access for Ethernet and optical functions.
Unified Software Load
One software load supports transport and data capabilities, eliminating unnecessary guesswork from ordering, installation, and upgrades.
Familiar, Proven Cisco IOS Software Technology
The Cisco ML-MR-10 card incorporates Cisco IOS Software technology, the leading Ethernet and IP delivery vehicle. Most data networking professionals are well trained on Cisco IOS Software, reducing the need for additional training and improving service deployment timelines.
The Cisco ONS 15454, the industry-leading metro optical transport platform, delivers supercharged SONET/SDH transport, integrated optical networking, outstanding multiservice interfaces, and competitive economic benefits.
Features and Specifications of Cisco ML-MR-10 Card
Compact Design
• Single-width card-slot design for increased shelf flexibility and scalability
• Up to 10 Cisco ML-MR-10 cards per shelf assembly
Data Architecture Options
• 802.17b standard RPR
• Port aggregation over hub-and-spoke architecture with point-to-point circuits
Fully Redundant Network and Services
• Client-side redundancy with link aggregation (Cisco EtherChannel® technology or 802.3ad)
• Card redundancy with 1:1 protection
• Network redundancy with 802.17b RPR rings
• Network redundancy for point-to-point circuits with LCAS or SONET/SDH protection
Optical Transport Options
• UPSR or subnetwork connection protection (SNCP)
• Two-fiber and four-fiber BLSR or MS-SPR
• APS or MSP (1 + 1 unidirectional or bidirectional)
• Path-protected mesh network (PPMN)
• Unprotected (0 + 1)
Network Architecture Flexibility
• Ring
• Multiple rings
• Linear add-drop multiplexer
• Terminal
Regulatory Compliance
Table 3 summarizes regulatory compliance for the Cisco ONS 15454 MSPP solution.
Table 3. Regulatory Compliance
System Requirements
Table 4 lists system requirements for the Cisco ONS 15454 MSPP solution.
Table 4. System Requirements
Specifications
Table 5 lists the specifications for the Cisco ML-MR-10 card.
Table 5. Specifications for Cisco ML-MR-10 Cards
Ordering Information
Table 6 lists ordering information for the Cisco ONS 15454 MSPP solution.
Table 6. Ordering Information