The Cisco® ONS 15454 Multiservice Transport Platform sets the industry benchmark for dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) solutions by using proven Cisco Multiservice Provisioning Platform networking technologies to deliver simple, fast, and intelligent DWDM capabilities and lower capital and operating expenditures.
Transforming Metropolitan and Regional Networks
When Cisco introduced the Cisco ONS 15454 Multiservice Provisioning Platform (MSPP) for the metropolitan (metro) market in 1999, a clear demarcation was created between what is considered "traditional" optical transport equipment and what is now considered "next-generation." With its significant leap in technology and product migration, the Cisco ONS 15454 MSPP offered traditional time-division multiplexing (TDM) and SONET/SDH services ranging from DS-1/E1 to OC-192/STM-64, as well as Ethernet and IP services. The platform was scalable and was the fraction of the size of traditional bit-rate-specific equipment. In addition to providing greater capability and scalability from a platform that used less space and power, the Cisco ONS 15454 MSPP proved to be cost-effective, and it uniquely met the requirements for the new market segment. The Cisco ONS 15454 MSPP quickly established itself as the market leader.
Continuing with its tradition of innovation and leadership in metro optical networking, Cisco has introduced the Cisco ONS 15454 Multiservice Transport Platform (MSTP), which is transforming metro and regional DWDM networks. The Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP (Figure 1) allows a metro or regional/LH DWDM system to become as intelligent and flexible as the highly successful Cisco ONS 15454 MSPP, including wide service interface mix, service transparency, flexible topology, completely reconfigurable traffic pattern, and simplified operations.
Figure 1. Cisco ONS 15454 Multiservice Transport Platform - ANSI mechanics (left) and ETSI mechanics (right)
Wide Service Interface Mix
A metro network, being close to or on a customer's premises-unlike its long-haul counterpart-requires support for a great diversity of service interfaces. The service interfaces allow network providers to offer new tariffs and allow enterprise customers to natively transport a wide variety of services over a common transport network without unnecessary conversion stages and equipment. Additionally, a wide service mix simplifies the planning for services. The Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP, with its MSPP capabilities, supports a broad range of standards-based services in a single platform, including:
• Aggregated lower-rate TDM services from DS-1/E1 over 2.5-Gbps and 10-Gbps wavelengths
• SONET/SDH wavelength and aggregated services: OC-3/STM-1, OC-12/STM-4, OC-48/STM-16, and OC-192/STM-64
• Data services: private-line, switched and wavelength-based, including 10/100BASE-T, Gigabit Ethernet, 10 Gigabit Ethernet LAN physical layer, and 10 Gigabit Ethernet WAN physical layer
• Storage services: 1-Gbps, 2-Gbps and 4-Gbps Fibre Channel, 10-Gbps Fibre Channel, IBM Fiber Connection (FICON), and Enterprise Systems Connection (ESCON), ETR/CLO, ISC-1, ISC-3
• Video services: D1 and high-definition television (HDTV)
The Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP provides multiple provisionable interface protection options, which facilitate support for high-availability as well as unprotected service delivery to meet the varied service-level agreements (SLAs) for metro transport offerings.
Service Transparency
Critical to offering a wide service mix is a DWDM system's ability to offer the level of transparency required by the service. The Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP solution offers the choice of multiservice aggregation, wavelength aggregation, and wavelength transport, combined with integrated, intelligent DWDM transmission, in a single platform to optimize network costs for any mix of service types. Using digital-wrapper technology (defined in ITU-T G.709) enables transparency while still allowing enhanced wavelength management and providing extended optical reach with integrated Forward Error Correction (FEC) and Enhanced Forward Error Correction (E-FEC).
Unique to the market is also the possibility for the Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP to support direct interconnection with ITU interfaces from Layer 2, Layer 3, and storage area network (SAN) devices. All the intelligent optical transmission-related features and functions can be supported by the Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP with these types of wavelengths and services as well.
Topology Flexibility
Traditional first-generation metro DWDM solutions were optimized for point-to-point transmission. Metro and regional/LH DWDM networks require the possibility to support point-to-point as well as ring topologies with more complex traffic patterns, which may also extend across multiple networks. The Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP can be configured to support any metro or regional/LH DWDM topology (Figure 2), allowing a single solution to be provisioned for the network.
The ultimate topology flexibility is achieved through a fully reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer (ROADM). The Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP offers ROADM capability that allows zero to 40 channels of passthrough or add/drop, A-Z wavelength provisioning, and full real-time power monitoring of each individual wavelength.
Figure 2. Network Flexibility with Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP
In addition to flexibility in network topology, the Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP supports flexibility in reach to enable a common platform to meet requirements for metro access, metro core, and regional/LH networking (Figure 3). Coupling Cisco MSPP and MSTP capabilities, the Cisco ONS 15454 helps simplify network deployments by reducing the proliferation of single-application network elements.
Figure 3. Metropolitan and Regional Network Requirements
Simplified, Cost-Effective Operation
The Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP provides capital and operational efficiency by addressing the increasing demand for multiple services, greater transport capacity, networking flexibility, multiple distance options, and management simplicity in a single platform. With innovative technology, a metro-optimized Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP introduces intelligence to metro DWDM transmission while addressing the continued need for increased bandwidth.
The Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP uses the operational simplicity introduced in the Cisco ONS 15454 MSPP with user features such as multilayer graphical network, node, and card visibility; A-to-Z network-based wavelength service provisioning; and graphical software wizards to simplify and speed user operations for such tasks as initial ring turn-up, service provisioning, and network node and bandwidth upgrades. The Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP uses this architecture to introduce a level of operational simplicity unheard of in metro DWDM networks. Using IP in the optical service channel and MSPP-like software, the Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP supports the following:
• Scalable wavelengths (1-80) for superior cost-versus-growth trade-off, with in-service growth to 112 wavelengths
• Transport of 150-Mbps to 40-Gbps wavelength services, as well as aggregated TDM and data services, for maximum service flexibility
• Efficient GE and 10GE transport over DWDM with the Xponder service blades. Available in two version (20-GE client ports and 2-10Gbps trunk ports, or 2-10GE client ports and 2-10Gbps trunk ports), the Xponder provides unprecedented flexibility to map GE ports onto a 10Gbps Wavelength performing a variety of Layer-1 or Layer-2 functions. This new approach provides a more efficient use of available bandwidth and unprecedented GE over DWDM mapping and traffic policing flexibility.
• Multiservice Provisioning Platform (MSPP) on a blade combining add/drop multiplexer (ADM) and transponder functionality using multirate SFP (client) and XFP (trunk) configurable interfaces to consolidates many of the aggregation functions traditionally performed on MSPP platform with multiple service blades and common cards. With one blade, carriers are able to aggregate OC-3, OC-12, OC-48 and GE signals (on a user definable port-by-port basis) on to a single-wavelength trunk circuit
• Flexible transmission capability up to 1240 miles (2000 kilometers) through the use of advanced amplification and FEC or E-FEC technologies to support a wide range of networking applications
• Ready-to-use card architecture for complete flexibility in configuring DWDM network elements: terminal nodes, optical add/drop nodes, line amplifiers, and dispersion compensation within amplified or unamplified networks
• High shelf density for high-bandwidth (10-Gbps) wavelength services
• Fully reconfigurable degree-2 optical add/drop multiplexers (ROADMs) for superior network flexibility and reduced complexity
• Mesh and multiring topology support in the optical domain with the possibility to manage nodes facing up to eigth degrees
• Flexible add/drop capabilities, from 1- to full 112-channel granularity, supporting both band and channel optical add/drop multiplexers (OADMs)
• Software-provisionable, Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) and 10 Gigabit Small Form-Factor Pluggable Module (XFP) client and DWDM optics modules and full-band wavelength tunability for reduced inventory of spares
• Fully automatic node and network setup with the possibility to use the intuitive DWDM network design tool (Cisco TransportPlanner) to have a PC-aided design, installation, and commissioning for the network
• Multilevel service monitoring using SONET/SDH and digital-wrapper (G.709) technology with an integrated optical service channel for unparalleled service reliability
• Network topology autodiscovery
• Integrated Cisco Transport Controller for network-based, point-and-click setup and regulation for rapid node and network activation
• Software-controlled optical power management for fully automated network optical power control, especially during wavelength additions, site additions, and fast transient suppression in the case of a fiber cut
• Support by an advanced, cross-platform optical element management system, the Cisco Transport Manager, for unified network operations and interface to a network management system (NMS) and operations support system (OSS)
In addition to the integrated software features, the Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP is supported by a simple but powerful network design tool, the Cisco TransportPlanner. Cisco TransportPlanner is a user-friendly PC application for modeling Cisco DWDM networks; it optimizes the deployment based on the user's network parameters. In addition to network design, Cisco TransportPlanner also reduces operational expenditures by simplifying network deployments through the following:
• Simple drag-and-drop user operation
• Optimized services and units deployment in case of topology or traffic matrix changes for a deployed network (delta planning)
• Support for linear, ring, multiring and mesh network topologies
• Fully flexible network design with the possibility to optimize the use of the flexibility provided by ROADM (in the optical domain) and by the multirate cards (in the service and application domain)
• Automatic equipment selection
• Layered graphical views of network, wavelength services, and node views
• Detailed port-to-port fiber-cabling table
• Bill-of-material output
• Exportable configuration files, which can be uploaded to the Cisco Transport Controller craft tool, for automated node-provisioning setup and quick network activations
Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP Migration
With its multiservice capability, innovative optical technology, automatic optical power management, and MSPP-like ease of use, the Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP transforms how metro and regional/LH DWDM networks are built and managed. Combining multiple services and intelligent DWDM, the Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP significantly reduces both capital expenditures and operational expenses for today's metro and regional networks (Figure 4).
Figure 4. Metro Network with Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP
The Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP includes the following features:
Node Configurations
• Terminal
• Hub
• Line amplifier
• OADM
• Degre-2 ROADM
• Multidegree ROADM
Network Configurations
• Linear point-to-point
• Open ring, single hub
• Open ring, multiple-hub
• Closed ring, no hub
• Mesh and multiple-ring topologies
Advanced Intelligent Software Features
• Network topology autodiscovery
• Point-and-click node and network setup and regulation
• Automatic network optical power management and monitoring
• Single management interface (single IP address) for all the shelves in a node
• Network-level alarm correlation for a quick and easy troubleshooting (G.798-based)
• DCN extension to provide the possibility to use any available DCN access (including DCC and GCC bytes) for management of nodes
• Automatic Node turn-up for installation and deployment without the use of Cisco TransportPlanner parameters
