RAD Ethernet OAM Solutions Win Commendation at EANTC Multi-Vendor Carrier Ethernet Inetroperability Test

October 24, 2006: RAD Data Communications was one of sixteen telecommunications equipment manufacturers to participate in a live, multi-vendor interoperability event organized by the European Advanced Networking Test Center (EANTC) at the Carrier Ethernet World Congress 2006 (CEWC), which was held in Madrid in September.

As part of the event, RAD's ETX-202 Ethernet network termination unit (E-NTU) was one of four CPEs (Customer Premises Equipment) in the world's first public multi-vendor IEEE 802.3ah test for OAM (Operations, Administration and Maintenance) Ethernet capabilities in the First Mile. In addition, RAD's RICi-8E1 NTU was evaluated, together with products from other participating vendors, for Ethernet-based VLAN connectivity messages as defined in the IEEE's emerging 802.1ag standard. In its final report, EANTC specifically noted that it was "impressed with the level and commitment to the success of the 802.1ag-based related tests." RAD's RICi-8E successfully demonstrated 802.1ag-based performance parameters for delay, delay variations and frame loss.

"End-to-end monitoring is the key for service providers that are looking to sell SLA-based Carrier Ethernet services," stated Amir Karo, Associate Vice President for Product Management and Business Development at RAD Data Communications. "In order to be able to provide such services, an Ethernet-NTU device must be installed at the customer's premises to implement all the latest standards and drafts dealing with Ethernet traffic engineering and monitoring," he explained. "RAD leads the market in pioneering Ethernet-NTUs by leveraging its expertise with TDM and ATM NTUs," he continued. "The interoperability test that took place in Madrid demonstrated RAD success in implementing these different industry standards for transporting Ethernet over any type of access line, including E1/T1, n x E1/T1 PDH, SDH, xDSL, fiber, and wireless."

The CEWC 2006 interoperability event verified multi-vendor Carrier Ethernet infrastructures offering business and residential services. Compared to the preceding event in 2005, this test was larger, explored major new MEF and IEEE standards for the first time, and implemented more advanced services in the test network. Equipment vendors verified real-world implementations of Carrier Ethernet standards and improved key interoperability aspects.

"Since our last multi-vendor Carrier Ethernet test event in 2005, vendors have worked to enhance and extend their solutions to a great extent," said Carsten Rossenhoevel, Managing Director of EANTC. "We were positively surprised to witness so many interoperable implementations of Ethernet in the First Mile (802.3ah), Ethernet link aggregation (802.3ad) for resilience, MPLS traffic engineering (DiffServ-TE) and even the pre-standard continuity checks as per CFM (802.1ag). EANTC will continue to assist vendors and service providers to further enhance Carrier Ethernet performance and interoperability."

In addition to RAD, the other participating companies were Actelis Networks, ADVA Optical Networking, Alcatel, Ciena, Circadiant Systems, Corrigent Systems, Huawei Technologies, Ixia, Juniper Networks, Lucent Technologies, Nortel, Redback Networks, Stratex Networks, Telco Systems - a BATM company, and Tellabs. In preparation for the Madrid showcase, all vendors took part in an earlier hot-staging event at EANTC's lab in Berlin.

CEWC is the official conference of the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF), and it was organized by IIR.

The European Advanced Networking Test Center offers vendor-neutral network test facilities for manufacturers, service providers, and enterprise customers. Primary business areas include interoperability, conformance, and performance testing for Ethernet in enterprise and service provider environments, Triple Play, MPLS/IP network technologies and applications. EANTC provides independent network-related services, consulting and seminars.