Service Provider Networks / MPLS /

Laurel releases provisioning system

By Jim Duffy
The Edge, 01/28/02

PITTSBURGH - Edge router start-up Laurel Networks last week unveiled software for provisioning IP and Multi-protocol Label Switching-based services in networks using the company's equipment.

The Laurel Provisioning System (LPS) runs on any high-performance server. It lets network operators configure Laurel's ST200 router, define services to be transported through MPLS tunnels and provision the services via point-and-click commands.

Laurel says LPS is one of the first in the industry to support provisioning of Layer 2 services - such as ATM, frame relay and Ethernet private line - through an MPLS-enabled IP backbone. While the core of service provider networks and revenue-generating services are expected to be IP/MPLS-based over time, providers still make their money from ATM and frame relay.

"It's a repurposing of the Layer 3 network to deliver Layer 2 services that providers are comfortable with, and that there's high margin in," says Dave Passmore, research director at The Burton Group. "[Interexchange carriers] are looking to eliminate overlay networks, but they need to continue to deliver profitable services at the edge."

The converse is a service provider such as AT&T that uses a Layer 2 frame relay or ATM infrastructure to provision MPLS-based IP services. AT&T would not be a target for LPS because the product is designed for Layer 3 IP backbones, not Layer 2 ATM or frame backbones that are IP/MPLS-enabled.

LPS includes client and server components. The Java-based server software runs on Windows 2000, Linux and Sun Solaris 8 platforms, and has three components: the LPS Server, Database Server and Accounting Server.

The LPS Server provides event handling, network discovery and provisioning. The Database Server stores device model, configuration and security information, and historical alarms.

The Accounting Server gathers processes and stores statistical information required to generate accounting, billing and service-level agreement (SLA) management information. SLA data such as resource utilization, reliability, latency and loss are stored here.

The client's Java-based graphical user interface (GUI) lets the service provider configure and manage the ST200 routers, and defines and provisions services. This GUI shows three views of the ST200 environment: an explorer view that shows an icon tree of ST200 domains or customers; a topological view of the network; and an alarm view that shows the status of the ST200 network in color codes, and keeps audit and error logs.

The service providers' enterprise customer has Web client access into the service network to monitor activity and performance against SLAs, and request upgrades or downgrades.

LPS also features a command-line interface for configuring the ST200 routers.

Depending on which server hardware platform it runs on, one LPS can support about 100 ST200 routers, says Steve Vogelsang, a Laurel vice president and co-founder. The server communicates with the routers via a Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) API, which supports large transactions for configuring or provisioning services on multiple ST200 routers, Vogelsang says.

The software also supports clustering, which lets it scale and provide redundancy, Vogelsang says. Multiple copies can run in sync on multiple servers for management of larger networks and for backup in case of failures.

For operation support system integration, LPS features Java and XML APIs, in addition to CORBA. It also supports SNMP as the interface to third-party element management systems, but does not use SNMP to manage the ST200 environment.

Analyst Passmore says Laurel has a competitive advantage in LPS over edge router companies Cisco, Juniper Networks and Unisphere Networks. However, that edge will be short-lived, and it may not be enough to sway carriers away from the more established vendors.

"But Laurel is the first to offer ease of provisioning of Layer 2 services over MPLS," he says.

LPS is available, as is Laurel's ST200 router. Laurel would not disclose pricing for LPS, nor customers for that and the ST200.