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networkZONE Products for the week of June 1, 2009
TPACK Says…
P-OCKET Family Of OTN Mappers Target Optical Transport Applications
(MSPPs, MetroWDM, P-OTN and Carrier Ethernet Transport)
P-OCKET is a complete family of OTN devices that enables the lowest possible software development costs for TPACK’s customers by re-using software across the complete range of bandwidths.
“TPACK’s FPGA-based approach allows it to address the changing standards and evolving customer requirements surrounding OTN internetworking equipment. Their intention to provide a total solution by addressing muxponder, framer, and cross connect with the same family should be viewed favorably by vendors seeking to minimize R&D investments,” said Andrew Schmitt, Directing Analyst, Optical, Infonetics.
The P-OCKET devices are suited for both new OTN cross connect systems as well as traditional Muxponder-based systems, and will support line rates from 2.5G (OTU1) to 100G (OTU4). P-OCKET supports efficient and transparent mapping of any client (packet or TDM) into OTN including GE into ODU0 and STM-1/4, OC-3/12 into sub-rate ODU1 containers.
All P-OCKET devices are based on TPACK’s SOFTSILICON concept offering both fast time to market, flexibility in design options, and commitment for supply. P-OCKET includes the only standard product for OTU1 on the market, and is likewise the first products on the market to support GE and sub 2.5G client mapping into OTN as well as OTN cross connect architectures at all line rates. Additionally, TPACK is the only vendor to offer a complete set of OTN products that covers all line and client rates.
“I am especially excited by our new P-OCKET family of OTN devices because carrier feedback points to a strong need for a new type of OTN based cross connect equipment that requires the functionality P-OCKET provides”, said Lars Pedersen, CTO TPACK.
EN-Genius Says…
TPACK’s P-OCKET family of FPGA-based Optical Transport Network (OTN) mapper/cross-connect devices are a welcome development that should help carrier equipment makers smooth the transition from SONET/SDH to IP-based transport services. There have been several transport standards that have attempted to displace SONET/SDH in the access/metro space (remember RPR?), but OTN’s ability to efficiently mix different types of protocols and speeds within the same wavelength should give even conservative service providers the compelling reasons for carriers to finally make the jump. Meanwhile, P-OCKET’s cross-connect capability adds to OTN’s flexibility by making it easy to break these sub-wavelength streams into individual connections. This, and its ability to support nearly any SerDes-based interface, lets equipment makers offer drop-in solutions that support existing services today and enable forklift-free upgrades to an all-IP infrastructure in the future.
These mappers support efficient and transparent mapping of any client service (packet or TDM) into ODU1 and sub-rate ODU1 containers. This includes GbE into ODU0 (Ethernet over OTN standard) as well as STM-1/4, and OC-3/12. TPACK says they can also support a proprietary adaptive ODU protocol that allows any mix of Ethernet, FibreChannel, video, SAN, or other traffic to be mixed and transported over an OTN link. Although currently proprietary TPACK says that there is an ongoing effort to get this capability approved as an extension of the OTN standard.
The TPO124’s 10 Gbit/s client-side interface has four configurable ports which can be attached to any combination of GbE, FibreChannel, or OC-3/12/48 feeds and directed to one of the chip’s three ODU mappers. Its line-side interface includes a pair of 2.5 Gbit/s OTU1 ports and a 10 Gbit/s OTU2 connection. The larger TPO314 has 40 Gbit/s worth of capacity which is fed by four 10 Gbit/client-side interfaces and a 40 Gbit/s OTU3/3e line-side connection. Its client-side mapping block can map GbE, FC, OC-3, OC-12, OC-48 or most other protocols into OTN containers. Both devices feature an ODU cross-connect block which lets you direct any legal-sized chunk of bandwidth from one stream into any other stream. Among other things, P-OCKET makes it easy to build an on-chip ADM which can multiplex down to the ODU0 (1.25 Gbit/s) or GbE0 (1 Gbit/s) level as defined by the OTN standard. If you want even finer granularity, TPak cross-connects support their pre-standards ODUA protocol which can slice traffic down to the 155 Mbit/s (OC3) level.
Both devices are implemented on Altera’s latest SerDes-equipped 40-nm FPGAs. The 10 Gbit/s TPO124 can be built on either their lower-cost Arria IIGX platform or their high-end Stratix GX4 series (both reviewed here February 2009). The TPO314 40G device can only run on the larger, faster Stratix series. The exact size of the device you’ll need depends on what elements of the mapper/cross-connect you choose to use in your particular application. At the time of this writing, only the Stratix GX4 series is available but the Arria IIGX is about to sample and TPACK expects to implement a functioning TPO124 on it shortly thereafter.
Power consumption for the full-up TPO124 device running on a Stratix platform has been measured at around 10 W. The 40G TPO314 is still too early in its development to provide a reliable power estimate.
For early applications, the quick time-to-market afforded by P-OCKET’s FPGA-based platform will be an important strategic advantage for designers involved with rolling out the first few generations of OTN equipment.. It’s still unclear whether the added cost of an FPGA solution will remain commercially-feasible as the OTN market matures but they certainly bridge the 18 – 24 month gap I’d expect before we see much merchant silicon arriving on the scene from the usual suspects (AMCC, Galazar, LSI, etc…), as well as from network processors such as Cavium and Xelerated.
Despite the price pressures of a maturing market, Altera’s hardcopy program, which allows an FPGA design to be quickly translated to a lower-cost metal-programmable ASIC, may allow P-OCKET to remain price-competitive in higher-volume applications that we’ll see as OTN technology becomes more widely deployed.
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