Service Provider Networks / Optical /

Polaris Networks wheels out its first product

By Tim Greene
Network World, 09/09/02

SAN JOSE - Polaris Networks this week will introduce its next-generation digital cross-connect system and software that it says will reduce the provisioning time for popular T-1 circuits.

Called the Optical Metro Switch (OMX), the Polaris box will support automated provisioning via its IntelliOp management software. Polaris says its gear will reduce the time it takes to provision these circuits from weeks or months to days by liminating manual steps.

The software includes a network planner that lets engineers model changes to the network and analyze how they will affect performance before implementing them. If a business customer needs to add a major connection, the service provider can discover the impact and make appropriate alterations before trying to turn up the circuit.

IntelliOp also supports software upgrades without turning off the machines, so carriers can install software revisions without interrupting customer service. OMX is smaller than traditional gear and has a switching fabric that will support ATM, IP, Gigabit Ethernet, SONET and TDM. When it ships later this year, it will support only TDM and Synchronous Transfer Mode transport, but also will support other protocols by the end of 2003, Polaris says.

The device can act as a bridge between older and newer equipment in carrier nets by virtue of supporting multiple protocols.

Traditional cross-connects do not have the ability to switch these other traffic types. Instead they rely on gear around them to do so. By performing the functions of these other pieces of equipment, such as SONET add-drop multiplexers and ATM concentrators, the OMX can reduce the amount of gear in provider networks. This approach decreases the capital outlay to build a network, and fewer devices to manage means lower operating costs, the company says.

The device can groom circuits as small as a T-1 and place them on the appropriate trunks. T-1s are among the most popular circuit sizes bought by businesses. Continued demand for these circuits drives the need for cross-connects in carrier networks. The device supports OC-192 SONET trunks, but later the company will introduce DS-3 and OC-3 trunks.

The new device will compete in some aspects against other new gear from Ciena and former Cerent gear that was bought by Cisco in 1999. It also competes against cross-connects, the Titan 5500 from Tellabs and the Alcatel 1631. Whereas these devices take up 27 racks to support 1,024 ports of STS-1, an OMX supports that same number in a half rack. One OMX chassis has a switching capacity of 240G bit/sec, and connecting chassis together into one logical switch can boost that to 2 terabit/sec.

Multiple OMX chassis are connected via dedicated interconnection ports that don't eat up trunk ports. When linking multiple chassis', the switch cards are installed in dedicated chassis' known as switch matrix chassis', and the trunk cards are placed in chassis' known as switch-interface chassis'.

OMXs can be placed in ring configurations on existing optical ring networks and function as a SONET add-drop multiplexer or in meshed configurations. The company is working to get Operations Systems Modifications for the Integration of Network Elements certification for the switch, which will mean it is interoperable with the operations support systems used by major U.S. local carriers. Polaris also is trying to get New Equipment Building System 3 certification for the OMX that shows it meets the physical standards required by most carriers.

Polaris was founded in June 2000 by Ray Kao, who earlier founded TransMedia (bought by Cisco).

The company has $77 million in backing from Redpoint, Venrock & Associates, Advanced Technology Ventures and StoRM.