MRV Offers Enhanced OptiSwitch 900 Carrier Ethernet Demarcation Device

MRV Communications announced enhancements to its OptiSwitch 900 demarcation device family that it said improve operation, administration and maintenance (OAM) functionality, delivering nanosecond service level agreement (SLA) accuracy measurements and end-to-end OAM for a range of L2VPN and IP-VPN networks.

MRV is a networking company with a full line of packet-optical transport (POTS), carrier Ethernet, 40G networking and out-of-band networking products.

The new hardware-based OAM capability enables native SLA reporting per service and per class of service to measure application performance and detection of service degradation by service provider at defined SLA threshold alarms. This critical enhancement enables remote real-time monitoring, reducing the need for costly onsite diagnostic personnel.

A new traffic generator tool embedded in the OS900 can be used remotely for end-to-end throughput testing and SLA planning at wire-speed up to Gigabit Ethernet speeds based on ITU-T Y.1731 and RFC2544 methodology.

In addition, the OS900 provides complete carrier-class Ethernet demarcation services, offering full compliance with Metro Ethernet Forum specifications for User Network Interface (UNI) type 2 and External Network-to-Network Interface (E-NNI).

The SLA management tools provide carriers with high-precision measurement at nanosecond accuracy, which is vital in next-generation service deployments. Additional functions include verification of SLAs against actual performance (in-service and out-of-service) and connectivity fault detection, fault verification and fault isolation. These advanced SLA monitoring tools assist the carrier to resolve end-to-end network operations remotely without visiting customer premises, meaning greater operational efficiency and cost savings.

"In the current economic climate, where carriers are facing smaller OPEX budgets, one of the best ways to reduce costs and minimize truck rolls is to improve the automation of network management at the endpoints. These new OS900 features provide them with the OAM they need to improve their view of the network at the edge," said Noam Lotan, president and CEO of MRV Communications. "The hardware-based SLA accuracy itself will be an essential characteristic for delivering next-generation IP services."

The OS900 is compliant with the Metro Ethernet Forum ("MEF") standards, including MEF 14 and MEF 9 certifications for compliance with all three services defined for Carrier Ethernet, including Ethernet Private Line ("EPL"), Ethernet Virtual Private Line ("EVPL") and Ethernet LAN ("E-LAN").

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