Mid-Atlantic Crossroads Deploys Ekinops PM 1001PC In 10GbE Trans-Atlantic Network
Paris — Ekinops, a provider of optical transport, DWDM, and aggregation solutions, announced that Mid-Atlantic Crossroads (MAX) has deployed the Ekinops 10-Gigabit LAN PHY (local area network physical layer device) to WAN PHY (wide area network physical layer device) protocol converter to connect its 10-Gigabit Ethernet network to an OC-192/STM-64 submarine network between the U.S. and Europe.
The MAX's NGIX/East (Next Generation Internet Exchange is the major U.S. East Coast peering exchange point (POP) for many large Federal, commercial, research, and education networks, including Abilene (Internet2), ESNet, and NREN. This new 10-Gigabit link provides a high-speed connection between U.S. networks and GEANT, a PAN-European research and education network.
The Ekinops PM 1001PC is a 10-Gigabit LAN PHY to WAN PHY protocol converter offering a very cost-effective solution for connecting any 10G LAN PHY switch or router to any OC-192/STM-64 equipment.
"What is typically available from submarine cable operators and many carriers is OC-192 or STM-64 service," says Dan Magorian, director of engineering at MAX, "but we needed a 10 Gigabit LAN PHY service to interface with our peering switch. Our challenge was to find an economical solution for connecting the two different interfaces."
"Our PM 1001PC protocol converter allows service providers to use their existing SONET/SDH and DWDM networks to provide 10-Gigabit Ethernet services," notes Jonathan Amir, Ekinops' vice president for the Americas. "We help carriers that can't currently provide a 10G LAN PHY interface to capture a piece of the fast growing, and very lucrative, market for 10 Gigabit Ethernet services."
The European network provides high-speed connectivity to research and education institutions across Europe. Connecting the U.S. and European networks enables sharing of massive amounts of data and collaboration on a wide range of research projects. The submarine network will transport high performance, non-congested traffic ranging from uncompressed high definition video and radio telescope images to huge amounts of data from the CERN super collider in Switzerland.
"The Ekinops 1001PC allowed us to get the circuit up very quickly, bridging between 10-Gigabit LAN PHY to the OC-192/STM-64 circuit," says Magorian. "We were impressed with the responsiveness of the entire Ekinops team, and their ability to deliver and implement rapidly. Their strong support capabilities in both North America and Europe were critical to our operation."
MAX is also using other optical transport and aggregation equipment from Ekinops in their optical network. "We are pleased to have this opportunity to serve MAX," says Amir, "and we look forward to being a part of the growing MAX network."
SOURCE: Ekinops