Cisco already dominates router and switch architectures within cable modem termination systems, and extending its brand to optical transport will allow the company to move from headend to optical termination units in the backbone. Rajiv Ramaswami, vice president and chief technical officer of Cisco's optical networking group, said Cisco originally drew MSO interest with relatively simple Ethernet-over-Sonet backhaul systems.

Now, cable companies want to evolve from analog video systems to true digital video on demand, melding their digital video delivery with multiple channels of Docsis data delivery along with packet telephony.

At last June's Supercomm conference, Cisco unveiled its transport platform by adding dense wave-division multiplexing (DWDM) interfaces to the original 15454 Sonet provisioning platform. The company is now organizing the system for cable networks by offering adjunct passive amplifier/filter banks, ONS 15216 family scaling from 2 to 32 DWDM channels and special ML-series add-in cards to allow IP transport to use the Multi-Protocol Label Switching standard for quality of service.

Ramaswami said there are many price and performance paths for "triple-play" (voice, data, video) transport over optical backbones. At the high end, 15454 MSTP systems can form an auto-adjusting DWDM backbone that carries Gigabit Ethernet, label-switched router IP traffic, Escon, ATM and Sonet or SDH. For low-cost implementations where most traffic already is packetized, Cisco will recommend a simpler connect between two optical add-drop muxers, transporting Gigabit Ethernet and IP/MPLS routed traffic across a simpler optical physical layer.

Still uncertain is the role to be played by Resilient Packet Ring technology (RPR) in cable networks. Cisco was among the early proponents of the 802.17 RPR standard, which provides a simpler physical infrastructure for packet traffic to meet the resiliency standards of Sonet rings.

Originally, RPR was seen primarily as a play for competitive carriers and other telephony specialists lacking a Sonet legacy. The collapse of competitive local carriers has spurred Cisco to promote RPR to cable operators.

"There is traction here, but it is still a minority of MSOs," said Enzo Signore, vice president of Cisco's cable products. He said any carrier who has "green field" fiber deployments, and does not plan on carrying native time-division multiplexed traffic can make a case for using RPR in backbone transport. But Cisco remains flexible about providing both RPR and Sonet/SDH options, Signore said. Cisco Systems Inc. is using the Multi-Service Transport Platform, an optical extension of its popular Cerent 15454 add-drop platform, in a bid to move beyond the cable TV headend.

Cisco already dominates router and switch architectures within cable modem termination systems, and extending its brand to optical transport will allow the company to move from headend to optical termination units in the backbone. Rajiv Ramaswami, vice president and chief technical officer of Cisco's optical networking group, said Cisco originally drew MSO interest with relatively simple Ethernet-over-Sonet backhaul systems.

Now, cable companies want to evolve from analog video systems to true digital video on demand, melding their digital video delivery with multiple channels of Docsis data delivery along with packet telephony.

At last June's Supercomm conference, Cisco unveiled its transport platform by adding dense wave-division multiplexing (DWDM) interfaces to the original 15454 Sonet provisioning platform. The company is now organizing the system for cable networks by offering adjunct passive amplifier/filter banks, ONS 15216 family scaling from 2 to 32 DWDM channels and special ML-series add-in cards to allow IP transport to use the Multi-Protocol Label Switching standard for quality of service.

Ramaswami said there are many price and performance paths for "triple-play" (voice, data, video) transport over optical backbones. At the high end, 15454 MSTP systems can form an auto-adjusting DWDM backbone that carries Gigabit Ethernet, label-switched router IP traffic, Escon, ATM and Sonet or SDH. For low-cost implementations where most traffic already is packetized, Cisco will recommend a simpler connect between two optical add-drop muxers, transporting Gigabit Ethernet and IP/MPLS routed traffic across a simpler optical physical layer.

Still uncertain is the role to be played by Resilient Packet Ring technology (RPR) in cable networks. Cisco was among the early proponents of the 802.17 RPR standard, which provides a simpler physical infrastructure for packet traffic to meet the resiliency standards of Sonet rings.

Originally, RPR was seen primarily as a play for competitive carriers and other telephony specialists lacking a Sonet legacy. The collapse of competitive local carriers has spurred Cisco to promote RPR to cable operators.

"There is traction here, but it is still a minority of MSOs," said Enzo Signore, vice president of Cisco's cable products. He said any carrier who has "green field" fiber deployments, and does not plan on carrying native time-division multiplexed traffic can make a case for using RPR in backbone transport. But Cisco remains flexible about providing both RPR and Sonet/SDH options, Signore said.

By: DocMemory
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