Start-up TiMetra Networks has at long last revealed the reasons why Alcatel  acquired the company.

The 3-year-old company unveiled its line of edge routers two weeks ago at SuperComm in Atlanta. The SR-Series Service Routers are designed to enable multiple services over an IP/Multi-protocol Label Switch network, and guarantee service levels through exhaustive management routines.

These management capabilities are what differentiates TiMetra's SR-Series from competitive offerings from companies young and old, including Cisco, Juniper, Laurel Networks and Vivace Networks, analysts say.

TiMetra unveiled three models of the SR-Series: the 20G bit/sec SR-1, which occupies 1.5U of rack space; the 60G bit/sec SR-4, occupying 1/7 rack; and the 400G bit/sec SR-12, occupying 1/3 rack. All SR-Series routers utilize a common set of interface modules and small form-factor pluggable optics, which lets service providers mix-and-match media types and optical reach on a per-port basis.

The SR-Series supports Ethernet interfaces ranging from 10/100M to 10G bit/sec, and TDM-based interfaces from T-1/E-1 to OC-192/STM-64. The routers support densities of 600 Gigabit Ethernet or 960 OC-12/STM-4 ports per rack.

The SR-Series routers also feature a programmable chipset that TiMetra calls Flexpath. This is a 10G bit/sec processor set that enables service upgrades to be achieved in microcode, which eliminates the substantial costs of line-card replacements and truck rolls typically required with current routers.

Flexpath supports the deployment of Ethernet, frame relay and ATM Virtual Leased Lines, RFC 2547bis BGP/MPLS VPNs and Virtual Private LAN Services (see story on VPLS, page 33).

But the coup de grâce of the SR-Series is its operations, administration, management and provisioning (OAM&P) capability, analysts say. This lets providers verify, manage and troubleshoot IP/MPLS data services, which is uncommon in IP/MPLS service provisioning, the company says.

"It seems to be a sticking point with a lot of the service providers," says Roz Roseboro, an analyst at RHK. "And it seems to be the one thing that differentiates [TiMetra]."