Ethernet over SDH/SONET

The exponential growth of corporate Internet traffic and inter-office applications using the Ethernet protocol, such as intranets, email, enterprise Voice over IP and videoconferencing, are creating significant challenges for service providers and operators of metropolitan and wide area networks. On the other hand, data networks are still not optimized to carry traditional telephony or real-time broadcast video applications efficiently. Furthermore, the recent slowdown in the telecommunications industry has impacted the build-out of converged data/voice access services, whether they be DSL or Gigabit Ethernet-based.

For the most part, carriers are still relying on their extensive deployment of SDH/SONET rings to transport traffic in the metropolitan area network (MAN). There are significant advantages to SDH/SONET: 99.999 uptime and availability; nearly universal reach within the metro and wide area; and optimal support for voice and mission-critical legacy data applications. As a result, many carriers are leveraging their SDH/SONET infrastructure to provide transparent LAN services and access to service providers’ networks.

Transparent LAN services

End users are interested in finding a simple, inexpensive solution to deliver corporate data and LAN traffic from various local and regional offices over a high speed network. They would prefer to have all the LANs operate as one, transparent to the service provider’s own facilities and without having to deal with the complexity or expense of wide area networking. Carriers, by the same token, are challenged to create this type of "wide area LAN service" using their current E1/T1, E3/T3 or STM-1/OC-3 fibre and coax infrastructure.

Access to service providers' networks

Internet service providers (ISPs) and application service providers (ASPs) must meet their corporate customers’ demands for better service and higher speed Internet access. Fierce competition in this field is forcing them to become more aggressive by introducing new data service packages and extending their coverage area. At the same time, to lower operating costs and improve profitability, ISPs and ASPs have to rely more and more on the access and backhaul facilities provided by other carriers, in many cases SDH/SONET, to transport their customer's data traffic between PoP's. This situation also holds true for large corporations supplying data services to their branches.

Carriers operating SONET/SDH infrastructure need to support these specialized data services, including their own internal requirements for connecting PoP's and data centres, without having to deploy a separate Ethernet transport network.

Ethernet-to-SDH/SONET conversion

The most economical and least complicated solution to the problem of running Ethernet traffic over an SDH/SONET transport network is through the deployment of compact interface converters. These devices offer simple, cost-effective connection between LANs and the access network, including leased line services. RAD offers a full range of 10/100BaseT Ethernet-to-SDH/SONET converters, from E1/T1 to E3/T3 and STM-1/OC-3.