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 Optical Transport Intelligence onto a Single Powerful, Flexible Device
Taking optical transport equipment to a new level of flexibility and cost-effectiveness, Ekinops introduced the T-Chip®, which encompasses all transport functionality in a single device and shatters the concept of transport as a commodity.
The T-Chip®, in development for several years, is being introduced for Ekinops' flagship product platform, the Ekinops 360, and its broad line of application modules. The Ekinops 360 is the carrier-class optical transport platform for metro, regional, and long-haul CWDM and DWDM networks, able to aggregate or transport any Ethernet, Fibre Channel, SONET, or SDH client protocol from 100 Mbps to 100 Gbps.
With the T-Chip®, Ekinops offers a device that can be programmed for virtually any type of functionality. Because the company has embedded all the intelligence for handling all existing protocols into the T-Chip®, interactivity and interoperability between the protocols is simplified. This, combined with both fully programmable line and client protocols, enables Ekinops to produce unprecedented protocol gateways like the already available LAN PHY to WAN PHY capability.
In addition, the T-Chip® enables Ekinops to port features from one platform to another, and any newly developed feature becomes automatically available to all the transport platforms via line card changes or in-field software upgrades. Finally, the T-Chip® allows Ekinops to deliver new protocol support ahead of industry chip sets, such as the soon-to-be-announced video transport solution.
"Carriers want and need technology that enables them to provide services today but also positions them to move rapidly to new generations of services tomorrow, and the T-Chip® provides just that," said Didier Bredy, CEO of Ekinops. "By incorporating the T-Chip® into our equipment, we can deliver that equipment more quickly and cost-effectively to our carrier and enterprise customers, assuring them of the ultimate in upgradeability as it becomes necessary."
The first Ekinops product to be shipped with the T-Chip® has been the video module. "Thanks to the T-Chip®, Ekinops was able to develop that module and have it ready to ship within four months from its inception," said Rob Adams, vice president of marketing for Ekinops.
"By removing the complexity of multiple chip sets, it enables us not only to design, manufacture, and deliver equipment to customers more quickly, but we can respond almost instantly to changing field requirements," Adams said. "Additionally, this concentration of capabilities in a single chip has reduced the power requirements of our equipment significantly. That is a tremendously important issue to our customers as they seek to make their networks more environmentally friendly."
In its own tests, Ekinops has seen the T-Chip® reduce power consumption by as much as 40 percent compared with existing equipment.
The T-Chip® also provides "future protection" for Ekinops customers, because virtually any technology that carriers or enterprises want to migrate to can be provided quickly via the T-Chip®, and in many cases, will come via a simple firmware upgrade.
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