networkZONE Products for the week of May 2, 2005
PMC-Sierra Says…
A Deluxe Muxe - PMC-Sierra's Transmux and Mapping
Solution Cuts The Cost of Voice and Data Services|
High Density TEMAP 168 Enables Carriers to Deploy the Lowest
Cost-Per-Port Voice and Data Links in Existing and Next-Generation Transport
Equipment
PMC-Sierra, Inc. has introduced the PM8318 TEMAP 168, the industry's
highest density, trans-multiplexing (transmux) and PDH mapper solution.
With the TEMAP 168, PMC-Sierra continues to expand its leadership in the
transport equipment market, offering a highly integrated, low power solution
that requires half the board space of other available competitive offerings.
The device also integrates essential performance monitoring and messaging
functions to reduce overall equipment operating costs by eliminating the
need for separate test access and monitoring hardware. "Due to the
explosive growth in new voice and data connections, transmux has emerged
as a key transport service to support interworking between legacy and next-generation
networks," said Dino Bekis, vice president of marketing for PMC-Sierra's
Communications Products Division. "TEMAP 168 is PMC-Sierra's third
generation TEMAP device, bringing unsurpassed integration and functionality
tailored to the transport market. This addition to our broad metro transport
product portfolio enables equipment vendors and carriers to minimize time
to market and improve operating and capital expenses in today's competitive
environment."
TEMAP 168 Integrates Test Access to Reduce Operating Costs
The TEMAP 168 supports standards compliant in-service performance monitoring
and test access functionality for T1/E1, including the Facility Data Link
protocol. Essential in any of today's T1/E1 transport systems, hardware-based
performance monitoring and messaging functions in the TEMAP 168 greatly
simplify transport equipment and overall network architectures by eliminating
the need for separate test access and monitoring hardware.
By removing the need for an overlay test access infrastructure, and providing integrated test access functionality, the TEMAP 168 enables carriers to easily and efficiently manage Service Level Agreements and demarcation points remotely within the network, eliminating costly truck rolls.
Scalable, Cost-effective Transmux Services
Trans-multiplexing is the interworking between legacy and next-generation
networks by bridging T1/E1 traffic mapped into legacy DS-3s to T1/E1 traffic
mapped into standard SONET/SDH containers. The TEMAP 168 offers a highly
integrated, flexible solution capable of supporting clear channel DS-3 and
DS-3 transmux mapping on a single card, bringing substantial development
cost savings to equipment vendors. Standard serial interfaces allow simple
scaling of TEMAP 168 applications to OC-48/STM-16 or higher. The device
integrates 168/126 T1/E1 bidirectional-PMON capable transceivers, six DS3/E3
bidirectional PMON-capable transceivers, and six M13 multiplexers.
Simple, Cost-effective Board Design and LIU Interfacing
As silicon geometries decrease and enable higher system densities, clock
and data port interfaces can increase device pin counts, power consumption,
and system cost. To eliminate these interface density constraints, the TEMAP
168 utilizes the Scalable Bandwidth Interconnect Transport (SBI TR) bus,
an extension of the industry standard SBI bus. With a full suite of LIU
solutions supporting the SBI TR bus, including the PM4329 HDLIU, a 32 port
T1/E1 device, TEMAP 168 is capable of achieving up to twice the physical
density with lower capital and operating costs than any other solution on
the market.
The device integrates standard serial backplane interfaces for seamless interworking with PMC-Sierra's extensive Metro Transport CHESS Family of devices.
A new white paper on "T1/E1 Performance Monitoring" and a related
paper on "Evolving Efficient Interconnects for High Density LIUs"
are available.
analogZONE Says . . .
PMC has invested heavily in the metro transport market to try to dominate it by amassing a portfolio that enables a complete MSPP (multi-service provisioning platform). While not as highly integrated as some of the "monster silicon" coming out of places like Agere, their mix-and-match building blocks allow you to get the exact blend of feeds, functions, and services you need for your application. In this case, their TEMAP 168 device provides a trans-multiplexing ("transmux" )function to bridge between legacy DS-1/DS-3 connections, and newer T1-based SONET/SDH services. While not as sexy as, say, some of their Ethernet-over SONET products, the TMAP 168 solves some important issues that carriers will face as they try to use their existing infrastructure to provide modern data access services.
PMC
rightly points out that while the future of telecom lies in all-packet networks,
there is a huge legacy base of traditional PDH-based DS-3 circuits used
for backhaul and trunking functions. In these traditional core networks,
T1/E1s are fed to a PDH transmux which aggregates and re-frames them to
the DS-3 format for backhaul to a high-capacity cross-connect before they're
put onto a SONET network (see Fig.
1).
Carriers can adopt a more efficient solution that lets T1 access connections remain in their native format by mapping them directly into SONET VTs and TUs and doing the grooming/cross-connect before the data is backhauled (a function called "DCS offloading"). This scheme allows for a more efficient backhaul with less bandwidth wasted in extra encapsulation and overhead. Performing the digital cross-connect closer to the edge also allows backhaul pipes to be packed more densely because of the control and higher granularity it affords.
PMC's new TEMAP 168 supports the mapping and cross-connect
functions needed in this new generation of "data aware" MSPP boxes
that groom traffic at the edge rather than being sent to the central DCS.
The line-side interface accepts up to six DS-3/E3 connections which are
framed, mapped, and cross-connected before being fed to a redundant 622
Mbit/s serial backplane system-side interface links that allow it to talk
with any other chip in the CHESS family (see Fig. 2).
You also get a bi-directional FDL T1 source and terminate function that enables the device to insert and extract messaging for performance monitoring without extra equipment. Combined with PMC-supplied software, a user can invoke test access functions which can look deep into each T-1 circuit from a central location without resorting to the parallel test equipment in current systems. Besides making it possible for your access equipment to sniff its own lines and report its findings back to the CO, you can also manage Service Level Agreements and demarcation points remotely within the network. PMC is probably correct that the chips will find a secondary market in test access products.
The TEMAP 168 should also find applications in high density line cards for DCS offload and SONET framing T1/E1 services. You can feed the mapper up to 84 T1 connections directly, by substituting PMC's T1 HDLIUs for the DS-3 LIUs. In these applications, T1/E1 line cards benefit because the shared SBI-TR bus used to connect the LIU keeps pin count constant as port count grows. This allows you to build high density concentrations of T1 lines in compact equipment form factors that are becoming so popular today. Their relatively low 3 W power dissipation will also help designers manage tight thermal constraints in high-density designs.
The PM8318 TEMAP 168 is sampling in a 23 x 23 mm FCBGA. It will be priced at $385 in 1000-piece lots.
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