Zhone Technologies Inc. today announced FiberSLAM, the access system to integrate C/DWDM, gigabit Ethernet and TDM into a 1RU environmentally hardened platform.
“We know high-bandwidth services at the edge are coming online,” said Zhone’s head of optical networking gear, Chris Garcia, noting IPTV and HDTV and business Ethernet services. “The question is how do you feed the access network?”
Garcia said wavelengths are the ultimate bandwidth carrier, but they are not economically feasible to deploy at the customer level. FiberSLAM makes it possible.
Designed for carrier remote terminal, cell tower or customer premises (managed demarcation) installations, FiberSLAM brings ultra high-speed optics closer to the subscriber.
FiberSLAM is based on Zhone’s Single Line Multi-Service (SLMS) architecture, which gives service providers a way to migrate from TDM (E1/T1 and DS3) to all-Ethernet networks.
"With a 1RU form factor, Zhone is one of the first companies to support WDM provisioning from the RT," said Jason Marcheck, principal analyst, optical infrastructure, at Current Analysis. “As triple-play services continue to evolve to require more bandwidth to the subscriber premise, the ability to carry a mix of traffic over WDM channels will become increasingly important in the access network. Given Zhone's strength as a broadband access company, the FiberSLAM platform is well positioned as an extension of the company's core competencies."
FiberSLAM is available in two versions – the 101 and the 105. The former provides a single-channel system and the latter five dedicated channels for wave services. The price differential between them is about $3,000 to $4,000, Garcia said. Waves can be added on a pay-as-you-go basis.
The box replaces traditional WDM system, which includes a chassis, optical filters, power supplies, management cards, protection and transponders. “We lowered capex by integrating it,” said Garcia.
However, to find a functionally comparable system, providers would have to look to more costly MSPPs with WDM added. Even then, such elements rarely have DWDM and are not hardened for edge deployment, he added.
Zhone Technologies Inc. www.zhone.com