Carrier Ethernet Demarcation Device

RAD's ETX-201 Carrier Ethernet demarcation device is installed at the customer premises to transport Ethernet traffic over fiber access.

 

Part of RAD’s unique EtherAccess® portfolio, the ETX-201 Carrier Ethernet demarcation device employs a service-targeted design to enable EPL (Ethernet private line) and EPLAN/transparent LAN services with standard Carrier Ethernet attributes. These include Ethernet OAM features for proactive quality-of-service (QoS) and SLA (service level agreement) monitoring over the entire service path, as well as remote management of differentiated services with traffic classification and prioritization – all starting at the service hand-off points.

• Increases carrier control and reduces capital expenditures (CapEx) with an all-in-one intelligent demarcation device

• Allows balanced migration to PSNs and economical utilization of legacy equipment

• Facilitates end-to-end control up to customer premises and enforcement of SLAs

• Enables QoS for differentiated services fitting individual customer needs

• Advanced monitoring and diagnostic tools reduce maintenance costs and operating expenses

• Supports carrier level services with protected availability and resiliency

ETX-201 Carrier Ethernet demarcation device is part of RAD’s EtherAccess suite of sophisticated products, offering Ethernet access functionality and versatility that are unmatched in the market. Developed to allow providers to extend their customer reach over fiber, ETX-201 supports applications such as inter-office LAN connectivity, dedicated Internet access and virtual private networks (VPNs) across packet-switched networks and next generation SDH/SONET backbones. This enables service providers to utilize existing infrastructure in delivering new Ethernet services, thereby reducing their service costs and improving customer retention.

 

ETX-201 features Gigabit Ethernet SFP network ports and Fast Ethernet UTP user ports, allowing seamless Ethernet access with fiber to copper media conversion.

Owned and operated by the service provider, the ETX-201 Carrier Ethernet demarcation device is installed at subscriber locations to extend the provider’s control reach to the service hand-off points. Furthermore, smart Ethernet demarcation enables carrier-grade service management and SLA-based performance guarantees, by applying QoS capabilities and automated, proactive service monitoring over the entire service path. The ETX-201 supports MEF-9 and MEF-14 Ethernet private line and transparent LAN services with rate limitation according to pre-defined bandwidth profiles.

Different services can be remotely provisioned to the customer and assigned different bandwidth rates and traffic prioritization schemes. The various user services can be mapped according to several parameters, including ingress port number, VLAN priority ToS and DiffServ bits. Providing traffic prioritization right from the customer’s premises ensures end-to-end service control and allows higher priority to be allocated to premium services during periods of congestion.

Using VLAN stacking (also known as double-tagging or Q-in-Q), the service provider can assign different service VLANs to different customers’ traffic, thereby guaranteeing separation between each customer’s traffic within the service provider network.

Ethernet OAM is a cornerstone in the transformation of Ethernet into a carrier-class technology, enabling Ethernet service providers to proactively monitor and manage their service, thus minimizing their operational expenses and ensuring that the customer receives the service parameters that have been contracted. The ETX-201 network termination unit (NTU) provides two types of Ethernet OAM:

Ethernet link OAM, based on IEEE 802.3-2005 (formerly 802.3ah), is applied to a single link between a customer location and a network. It supports link performance monitoring and remote fault indication, including remote loopback and dying gasp.

 

Ethernet service OAM, based on IEEE 802.1ag and ITU-T Y.1731, monitors an Ethernet service over any path, whether a single link or end-to-end. Ethernet service OAM supports connectivity checks, loopback and link trace testing.

The ETX-201 provides two redundancy modes to ensure high-level service resiliency, including 802.3ad link aggregation (1+1), and 1:1 dual homing, allowing the ETX-201 to be connected to two different upstream devices

The ETX-201 features flexible management capabilities, including local management via an ASCII terminal (RS-232). In addition, remote management can be performed either inband or out-of-band, using the network or user ports, while maintaining separation between management and user traffic via the use of VLANs. Advanced FCAPS (Fault, Configuration, Accounting, Performance, Security) and diagnostic tools are provided by RADview-EMS, RAD’s carrier-class element management system, via an SNMP-based GUI.

 

The ETX-201 also supports a variety of configuration access channels, including Telnet, SNMP, Web server, and TFTP. Incorporated security features include Secure Shell (SSH), Web-based Secure Socket Layer (SSL), SNMPv3, and RADIUS (client authentication only).