May 08, 2007

Turin adds Ethernet-over-copper aggregation

By Loring Wirbel

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Turin Networks Inc., which cut its teeth in Sonet add-drop systems, is moving into Ethernet-over-copper edge aggregation, offering Layer 3 capabilities in a market dominated by digital subscriber line (DSL) bonding specialists like Hatteras Networks. With Traverse PacketEdge 1200, Turin will address carriers that are still migrating from leased T1 digital services.

Turin is hardly unfamiliar with the network edge. Its TraverseEdge family uses Sonet line cards for aggregating slower services over Sonet, and its Traverse family integrates Ethernet and time-division traffic from a single shelf. But Traverse PacketEdge brings the company directly into copper-based metro links using virtual private networks (VPNs), where the Metro Ethernet Forum has driven service profiles.

Ralph Santitoro, director of product line management at Turin, thinks the company's architecture will prove more efficient than bonded DSL copper pairs at aggregating sub-10-Mbit Ethernet traffic. The system can aggregate frame relay traffic, as well as Ethernet and Internet Protocol, and can handle Layer 2 VPNs defined as both E-line and E-LAN service. Copper loops do not need to be conditioned before their bonding in a Traverse PacketEdge network.

The 1200 is packaged in a 2RU chassis and supports Differential Services (DiffServ)-style quality-of-service. It meets both 802.1Q and 802.1ad Ethernet trunking standards defined by the IEEE.