New edge router packs multiservice support onto optical nets
 
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Start-up Amber Networks this week unveiled an edge router that directs multiple service feeds - T-3 time-division multiplexing, frame relay, ATM, IP and so on - onto core optical IP networks.
Amber's ASR2000 enables service providers to create an optical service edge. This product is intended to address a $75 billion services market, Amber says.
The ASR2000 enables service providers to make IP transport incorporating Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) a single vehicle for traffic originating as TDM private line, frame relay, ATM or IP. This enables service providers to "cap" their investments in legacy networks and to shift all service revenues to the optical Internet to recoup investments in this next-generation infrastructure, Amber says.
"Amber's multiservice support allows service providers to begin migrating their existing high-revenue services onto converged IP-based backbones," market tracker CurrentAnalysis stated in a recent report on the ASR2000. In that report, CurrentAnalysis characterized the ASR2000 as "market-leading" compared with the Cisco 10000 ESR, Nortel Networks' Versalar and edge routers from Ericsson and the Siemens-backed Unisphere venture.
The ASR2000's operating system, AmbOS, ensures full route state resiliency - without service interruption - for the most popular routing protocols, such as Border Gateway Protocol 4, Intermediate System to Intermediate System and Open Shortest Path First, Amber says. The product also features redundant hardware.
The ASR2000 processes 6.5 million packet/sec per node or 97.5 million packet/sec per rack. The router also terminates 672 T-1 ports per node or more than 10,000 T-1s per rack. And the ASR2000 supports nearly 250,000 logical PPP or Data Link Connection Identifier connections per rack, Amber says.
For all its features, Amber still faces formidable challenges because it's a start-up going up against well-heeled, deep-pocketed players with established channels and sales and marketing depth, CurrentAnalysis notes.
The ASR2000 costs $500 per T-1. It will be generally available in the fourth quarter. More information about Amber, in Santa Clara, can be found at www.ambernetworks.com.
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