The Cisco® ONS 15454 Multiservice Transport Platform sets the industry benchmark for dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) solutions delivering simple, fast, and intelligent DWDM capabilities and lowering capital and operating expenditures
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 as well as Ethernet and IP services. The platform was scalable and was the fraction of the size of traditional bit-rate-specific equipment. 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, Cisco has introduced the Cisco ONS 15454 Multiservice Transport Platform (MSTP), which is transforming DWDM networks. The Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP (Figure 1) allows a 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 (left) and ETSI (right) mechanics
Key Features and Benefits
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, Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP introduces intelligence to DWDM transmission thus allowing the optimization of Next Generation Networks across multiple layers and removing costly Optical-Electrical-Optical (O-E-O) devices for network segmentation or regeneration.
The Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP provides features like multilayer graphical network, node, and card visibility; A-to-Z network-based service provisioning; and graphical software wizards to simplify and speed user operations for such tasks as initial network turn-up, service provisioning, and network, node and bandwidth upgrades. The Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP leverages on the embedded software architecture and Control Plane to introduce a level of operational simplicity unheard of in DWDM networks.
The Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP delivers a rich set of features allowing Customers worldwide to support requirements and needs of Next Generation transport networks:
• Scalable C-band wavelength count (1-80) for superior cost-versus-growth trade-off, with in-service growth to 112 wavelengths through the joint use of C-band and L-band on the same fiber pair
• Transport of 150-Mbps to 40-Gbps wavelength services, as well as aggregated TDM, Ethernet and Storage data services, for maximum service flexibility and bandwidth optimization
• 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 Ethernet services directly onto a Wavelength while 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. Possibility to enable the use of G.709 encapsulation and FEC/E-FEC functionalities on the 10GE LAN-PHY wavelength guarantees optimized performances and reach; typical SONET/SDH-like OAM&P to fully support the management functions of previous SONET/SDH-type interfaces while interfacing directly to the DWDM layer; a patented protection scheme able to react to failures in less then 50milliseconds.
• Multi-Service Provisioning Platform (MSPP) On A Blade combining 10G ADM and transport functionalities 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/STM-1, OC-12/STM-4, OC-48/STM-16 and GE signals (on a user definable port-by-port basis) on to a single-wavelength trunk circuit. Possibility to enable the use of G.709 encapsulation and FEC/E-FEC functionalities on the OC-192/STM-64 wavelength guarantees optimized performances and reach, and complete OAM&P capabilities.
• Flexible transmission capability up to 2,000 miles (more then 3,200 kilometers) through the use of advanced Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA) amplification, joint Raman and EDFA 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, degree-2 and multi-degree Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop (ROADM) nodes, line amplifiers, and dispersion compensation within amplified or unamplified networks
• High shelf density for high-bandwidth (10-Gbps and 40-Gbps) wavelength services
• Fully reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers (ROADMs) for superior network flexibility and reduced complexity
• Mesh and multi-ring topology support in the optical domain with the possibility to manage nodes facing up to eight degrees. These capabilities allow Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP users to provide wavelength services and to define virtual private DWDM networks, where a common transport infrastructure can be shared across multiple users or services
• Directionless support for ROADM nodes to allow service creation and restoration in a fully automated way (SW provisioning). This unique capability of the Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP platform is a key enabler for IP-over-DWDM applications where DWDM colored signals from Routers, Switches or SAN platforms can be directly transported and managed in the DWDM network
• 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, commissioning, and evolution for the network
• Multilevel service monitoring using SONET/SDH and digital-wrapper (G.709) technology to provide complete monitoring and reporting of Performance and Quality parameters for Ethernet, SAN, Video and TDM services
• Integrated Optical Service Channel (OSC) for unparalleled service reliability and platform manageability
• Network topology autodiscovery supported directly at the Network Element (NE) level and allowing Element Manager System (EMS)-like functionalities directly through the platform embedded software
• Network-level and Node-level Alarm Correlation performed directly by the embedded NE software to allow a simpler and faster reaction to fault situations by providing just the root-cause of the problem to the management interface
• Integrated Cisco Transport Controller (CTC) for network-based, point-and-click system and services setup and management
• Virtual Transponder operation for Routers (like Cisco CRS-1 Carrier Routing System) equipped with DWDM physical line interface module (PLIM), allowing end-to-end service provisioning between Routers through the complete DWDM network directly from CTC
• 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 network management system (NMS), the Cisco Transport Manager (CTM), for unified network operations and interface to an operations support system (OSS).
In addition to the integrated software features, the Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP is supported by an easy-to-use but powerful network design tool, the Cisco TransportPlanner. Cisco TransportPlanner is a user-friendly, Java-based application (fully developed and tested by Cisco) for modeling and optimizing DWDM networks 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 for network and services definition
• Optimized services and units allocation in case of network topology or traffic matrix changes for an already deployed network (delta planning)
• Support for linear, ring, multi-ring 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 layout
• Detailed port-to-port fiber-cabling table
• Bill-of-material output
• Network and Node layout
• Exportable configuration file, which can be used for automated node-provisioning and quick network activations
Wide Service Interface Mix
Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP supports a wide set of interface and service types, which can be fully transparently transported through complex mesh or very simple point-to-point networks. 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 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, DV6000 and high-definition television (HDTV)
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 and Optical Transport Network (OTN) technologies (defined in ITU-T G.709) enables transparency, allows enhanced wavelength management and provides extended optical reach thanks to the 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 DWDM interfaces from Layer 2, Layer 3, and storage area network (SAN) devices. This element integration eliminates the need for costly and complex OEO conversions at the boundaries of the network or where the traffic simply needs to pass through a site without having to terminate on a router (for IP processing) or on a SAN device. In cases where termination is necessary, the Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP hands off the optical wavelength, keeping it in the optical domain without the need to perform an electrical conversion in order to hand off the traffic to the Layer 2, Layer 3, and SAN devices, where the electrical conversion is used only for service processing.
All the intelligent optical transmission-related features and functions can be supported by the Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP with these types of "alien" wavelengths and services as well.
Protection Options
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 DWDM transport offerings.
Both 1+1 and Shared protection schemes based on the principles of ITU-T Recommendations can be supported. The following types of 1+1 protection schemes can be supported:
• Path Protection
In this case it is possible to offer complete redundancy of the optical path at the network level but no protection is offered for the unit which is originating the Working and the Protect DWDM signal and deciding among the two DWDM signals on the receive side.
This type of protection can be supported on individual wavelengths by 2.5Gbps Transponder and Muxponder units (leveraging on their Protected version); by the GE and the 10GE XPonder units (operating in Layer2 mode); by the MSPP-On-A-Blade unit; by the OTU2 XPonder unit; and by the Protection Switching Module (PSM), when used in conjunction with unprotected Transponder or Muxponder units, or with an Alien DWDM signal. PSM unit can be used to provide protection for the Multiplexed signal.
• Path & Equipment Protection
In this case it is possible to offer complete redundancy of the optical path at the network level and of the units which are originating the Working and the Protect DWDM signals and deciding among the two DWDM signals on the receive side.
This type of protection can be supported by 2.5Gbps Transponder and Muxponder units (leveraging on their Unprotected version); by 10Gbps Transponder and Muxponder units; by the GE and the 10GE XPonder units (operating in Layer1 and Layer2 mode); by the OTU2 XPonder unit.
• Multiplex Section Protection
In this case it is possible to leverage on the PSM unit to provide protection for the aggregated signal.
Shared protection can be supported by the GE and the 10GE XPonder units leveraging on the revolutionary GR3 Ethernet protection (Cisco patented G.709 Rapid Resilient Ring Ethernet Protection mechanism), when operating in Layer2 mode. By integrating G.709 messaging with a Ethernet VLAN management mechanism, GR3 protection provides SONET/SDH-like switching times and reliability. A recovery time of less then 50ms can be achieved mapping Ethernet directly over DWDM.
Different units can support different protection options and feature different capabilities which are deeper described in the unit datasheet.
Topology Flexibility
One recent core network trend is the consolidation of multiple Layer 2/3 networks into a single IP/Multiprotocol Label Switching (IP/MPLS) infrastructure. In spite of this Layer 2/3 convergence, however, the underlying transport layer (Layer 1) of many service provider core networks has continued to use SONET/SDH. This has remained largely the case in many service provider networks globally today, creating OpEx and CapEx concerns for service providers as well as the challenges of profitability and return on investment. Some network inefficiencies result from the way core transport networks are built out today to support the IP or Service layer over the SONET/SDH layer, supported by an underlying DWDM infrastructure. The OEO conversions and the associated electrical processing driven by the layered network architecture result in an additional cost in terms of space, because many racks of shelves may be required in a service provider POP, as well as additional power and cooling that is necessary because of the active electronics components that they contain.
The Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP can be configured to support any metro, regional or core DWDM topology, allowing a single solution to be used for the overall network, independently from the topology and reach. The ultimate topology flexibility is achieved through a set of fully reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer (ROADM). Multi-degree ROADMs (2 through 8 degrees of freedom) allow wavelengths to remain in the optical domain while being passed from one ring or network segment to another, further eliminating the need for OEO conversions and leveraging the ability of core routers to initiate DWDM-compatible wavelengths (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Cisco Next Generation network strategy
The Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP offers ROADM capability that allows zero to 40 channels of pass-through or add/drop, A-Z wavelength provisioning, and full real-time power monitoring of each individual wavelength. Keeping traffic purely in the optical domain as much as possible has the added advantage of "future-proofing" a transport network. Pure optical transmission is inherently more tolerant to bit-rate variations where moves to higher rates and new protocols may still be required in the future, and hence more robust because photonic processing is intrinsically insensitive to protocol changes, unlike typical electrical processing elements.
Product Specifications
With its multiservice capability, innovative optical technology, automatic optical power management, and MSPP-like ease of use, the Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP transforms how 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.
Node Configurations
• Terminal
• Hub
• Line amplifier
• OADM
• Degree-2 ROADM
• Multi-degree ROADM
Network Configurations
• Linear point-to-point
• Ring (multiple-hub or no hub)
• Multi-Ring
• Mesh
Advanced Intelligent Software Features
• Network topology auto-discovery
• Point-and-click node and network setup and regulation
• Automatic network-level 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
