* Foundry targets large companies connecting to legacy WANs
Force10 Networks this week is expected to launch its first packet-over-SONET blade, aimed at large companies that need to connect to legacy WAN infrastructures but want to avoid deploying stand-alone SONET gear at the network edge.
Force10 Networks this week is expected to launch its first packet-over-SONET blade, aimed at large companies that need to connect to legacy WAN infrastructures but want to avoid deploying stand-alone SONET gear at the network edge.
Force10 says its PoS module can reduce the cost of optical-based network connectivity by as much as 50% vs. Juniper or Cisco routers, because the module quickly converts traffic from SONET to Ethernet frames and switches the traffic inside a lower-cost Ethernet chassis, vs. high-end routers such as Juniper’s T-Series or Cisco’s 12000 or CRS-1.
The PoS blade fits into Force10’s E1200 series switches, and comes in OC-3 (155Mbps), OC-12 (622Mbps) and OC-48 (2.4Gbps) speeds. Force10 says it has developed a SONET framer/deframer ASIC that unwraps incoming IP packets from SONET frames and converts them to Ethernet before switching the traffic through the switch backplane, whereas optical routers move traffic through the device as SONET. Being Ethernet-based also allows the E1200 to support Gigabit and 10G Ethernet interfaces at a lower cost than Cisco and Juniper routers that rely on Ethernet cards, the vendor says.
“There’s an argument about whether you really can use a switch in place of a router,” says Zeus Kerravala, analyst with Yankee Group. “Force10’s approach makes the price much lower; their device is built as 90% Ethernet with a little bit of optical built onto it, vs. the other way, where vendors build a mostly SONET device, with a little bit of Ethernet built in on the front end.”
While the Force10 PoS card supports standard SONET speeds and carrier-control protocols, such as Cisco’s High-Level Data Link Control, it lacks some carrier-class features, such as support for MPLS.
Force10 – which sold only Ethernet gear until this product launch – says it is anticipating a move from SONET to Ethernet in the wide area but decided to dip into SONET to support customers with legacy network needs.
“Many of our customers connect directly to Ethernet services” in Asia, says Andre Feldman, vice president of marketing for Force10. U.S. carriers and large enterprises also connect over Ethernet with dark fiber and through Ethernet services, he says. As many organizations relocate data centers to more remote areas – Force10 customer Google is opening a data center in rural Oregon – SONET links are the most available network pipes.
The PoS blade for the E1200 switch starts at $100,000.
