Ekinops, a leading optical transport vendor for service providers and enterprises, has introduced a multi-protocol/multi-rate ADM (add/drop multiplexing) capability that will dramatically reduce the cost of aggregating converged traffic in business Ethernet, triple-play, wireless backhaul, and broadband backhaul applications.

This solution allows for many different protocols (uncompressed video, Fibre Channel, Ethernet, SONET/SDH) and many different rates (ranging from as low as 10/100 or OC-3/STM-1) to be aggregated over a single 10G wavelength from multiple sites. In addition, this capability can utilize Ekinops' high-density single fiber capability to cut infrastructure costs in half.

This capability can be used in ring and linear configurations. In addition, the Ekinops solution requires far fewer service cards to achieve aggregation of multiple service types.

Alternative transport solutions require as much as an additional wavelength for each service type, but thanks to Ekinops' unique DynaMux© dynamic multiplexing capability, the Ekinops solution can accommodate a broad range of service types and rates, and do it all over a single wavelength to keep transport costs to a minimum. Alternative solutions without ADM capabilities require service cards to both add and drop traffic at remote sites. With the use of a multi-protocol/multi-rate drop and continue capability, Ekinops is able to reduce the hardware necessary to aggregate traffic at remote sites to a single service card.

"Carriers can save significantly on their infrastructure and capital costs by implementing our multi-protocol/multi-rate ADM," said Rob Adams, Vice President of Global Marketing and Product Line Management for Ekinops. "Through elimination of fiber, wavelengths, and service cards that would typically be needed for this type of aggregation, we estimate that our customers can save as much as two-thirds over the cost of doing this with alternative technologies, depending on the number of aggregation sites and service types."

Leveraging Ekinops' unique DynaMux capabilities, any mix of services can be integrated into any service type. This allows a provider to deploy the predominant service type where required, yet have the flexibility to pick up other service types as needed. This eliminates any need to pre-plan or predetermine the mix of traffic.

Most transport today relies on two fibers to transport services bi-directionally, assigning one fiber to each direction. Ekinops also allows for the option to transport in both directions over a single fiber. In addition to transporting as many as 160 10G services over two fibers, the Ekinops 360 offers the option of transporting up to 32 10G or lower-rate services over a single fiber bi-directionally today. At the end of this month, Ekinops is expanding this to as many as 64 bi-directional 10G services over a single fiber using its WaveBonding 40G/100G technology.

Ekinops' multi-protocol/multi-rate ADM solution has already been chosen to be deployed by a European service provider.

About Ekinops

Ekinops is a leading designer and supplier of optical transport equipment for service providers and enterprise networks. Our CWDM, DWDM and aggregation solutions are used by major carriers to build Metro, Regional and Long Haul networks. Ekinops' optical transport platform relies on an innovative, programmable architecture that substantially lowers the cost of building high speed optical networks. Using Ekinops' 360 carrier-grade products, operators can increase transport capacity over Fiber, CWDM, DWDM, SONET/SDH and IP networks. The company is headquartered in Lannion, France, with sales offices in Europe and the US and a representative office in Singapore. More information about Ekinops is available at www.ekinops.net