www.orckit.

com
Pushing technology to the edge
2011 Orckit-Corrigent
PTN Opti mal
Sol uti on for
SDH Mi grati on
PTN Opti mal
Sol uti on for
SDH Mi grati on
Orckit facilitates telecommunication providers delivery of high
capacity broadband residential, business and mobile services over
wireline or wireless networks with its Orckit-Corrigent family of
products. With 20 years of eld experience with Tier-1 customers
located around the world and sound leadership, Orckit has a rm
foothold in the ever-developing world of telecommunication.
Orckit-Corrigents product portfolio includes Packet Transport
Network (PTN) switches - an MPLS and MPLS-TP dual stack based
portfolio enabling advanced packet as well as legacy services over
packet networks with a wide set of transport features.
Orckit-Corrigent markets its products directly and indirectly through
strategic alliances, as well as distribution and reseller partners
worldwide.
Orckit was founded in 1990 and went public in 1996. Orckit is
dually listed on NasdaqGM (ORCT) and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange
and is headquartered in Tel-Aviv, Israel. For more information,
please visit www.orckit.com.
Pushing technology to the edge
www.orckit.com
2011 Orckit-Corrigent
Over the past several years, telecommunication service providers have been experiencing a dramatic
shift from legacy TDM circuits to next generation Ethernet trafc. This shift has been driven by
both residential triple-play services and business Ethernet services, and it has also been marked
by the introduction of Ethernet-based 3G Node B and 4G/LTE mobile networks.
Nevertheless, the demand for SDH circuits is expected to remain solid. While small ofces and
home ofces (SOHO) have already made the shift towards Ethernet services (mostly based
on broadband xDSL and CATV services), two signicant market segments present an ongoing
demand for legacy TDM services.
The rst is medium and large enterprise customers. Although such companies are moving to
Ethernet based services, many of them maintain their legacy systems. Carriers, therefore,
will continue to provide them with TDM services. The other segment that demands legacy
services is the mobile market. In order to prevent major forklift upgrades, mobile operators
will continue to support 2G and 3G infrastructure. These technologies contribute to the
SDH demand in metro networks.
Therefore, it is clear that for the foreseen future, TDM and Ethernet will have to coexist
in the metro. Yet, initial deployments of carrier Ethernet solutions have not offered any
support for SDH. Standards bodies such as the MEF decided to focus on the transport of
PDH rates with circuit emulation services but did not dene a circuit emulation technique
or demand for real, high-rate SDH services.
As a result, most of the carriers today use two separate transport systems in their metro
area networks: The rst is a legacy SDH network (or MSPP based Next Generation
SDH). At the same time, they have also deployed a packet network composed of
Layer2 aggregation (in some cases, Carrier Ethernet-based aggregation) and a Layer3
IP-MPLS core.
Packet Transport Networks (PTN) equipment and Packet Optical Transport
Systems (POTS) are innovative solutions that address the challenge of an integrated,
single-layer approach for a next generation metro network. Both solutions include
advanced technologies to address Ethernet and SDH in their native forms.
Conclusions
The migration from legacy SDH to packet-based systems in the metro calls for a hybrid solution that can cost-effectively
address this challenge with a single platform. The two leading candidates for this purpose are POTS with its multipurpose
switching capabilities and PTN which integrate advanced circuit emulation technology into a state-of-the-art carrier
Ethernet platform. The following table compares the key characteristics of the two technologies.
Characteristic PTN POTS
Architecture
Unied switching entity for packet and TDM
- PTN packet switching architecture forwards
packets and TDM in the same way, forming a
unied switching architecture.
Two logically separated switching entities
(packet plus TDM) - the multipurpose switching
fabric forms two separate switching entities in
a single box.
Networking
A unied packet network, capable of
transporting any mix of packet and TDM trafc
over 1GE and 10GE interfaces.
Two separate networks, one for TDM and the
other for Packets. Both can use the same ber
pairs by adding WDM components at extra
cost, instead of service cards.
OAM
Carrier Ethernet OAM tools including Ethernet
OAM (IEEE-802.1ag CFM and ITU-T Y.1731).
TDM OAM at TDM termination points only.
Separate OAM approach for Packet trafc and
TDM trafc. Carriers need to master both
technologies to manage their network.
Network
Management
PTN uses MPLS-based dynamic control plane
with full routing and signaling capabilities. This
signicantly simplies the establishment and
management of all services. Use of NMS is
optional and is mostly used for GUI-based
service management with full FCAPS support.
NMS in POTS is compulsory. All provisioning
is static and is based on centralized path
computation for SDH services and on Path
Computation Element for packet services.
Management of services is complex and differs
signicantly from TDM to Packet.
Cost
The PTN architecture enables low cost
solutions. With a lower entry cost, PTN
technology is extremely cost effective. This cost
advantage grows as the node capacity scales.
The POTS architecture with its multipurpose
switching fabric imposes high system cost due
to high cost of networking interfaces.
POTS is the technology of choice for multiservice national backbones which require integration between high capacity
ROADM technology, packet transport and TDM transport in a single box. When attempting to use the same technology
for metro applications, however, its major disadvantages become clear. The multiservice switching technology forces
the POTS devices to act as two separate products in one cage with TDM trafc handled completely separate from
the packet transport. Converging the two technologies by means of Ethernet over SDH simply turns the POTS into
a regular MSPP.
Furthermore, the POTS technology is very expensive both in terms of CAPEX and OPEX. POTS high entry cost is
mostly driven by the need for expensive NNI interfaces. The cost of expansion cards is also high due to the complex
switching architecture and the need to convert any trafc to cells. In terms of OPEX, operators are actually running
two networks in one box. This means that network operators are running a TDM network in parallel with a packet
network and, in some cases, even with a WDM layer for ber relief.
PTN solution, on the other hand, is designed and optimized for metro applications. Its unied packet switching keeps
the system cost at a very low price point and the OPEX is kept low with a single transport approach. The selection of
MPLS and MPLS-TP as the underlying transport technologies, introduces state-ofthe-art control plane into the packet
transport t world, providing simple operation with assured SLA.
Therefore, it is clear that the optimal solution for next generation transport networks, which are capable of converging
TDM with packet technologies, is PTN.
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e
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:

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l
u
s
t
u
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i
o
.
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o
m
the optimal solution for next
generation transport networks,
which are capable of converging
TDM with packet technologies is PTN

For the foreseen future,
TDM and Ethernet will
have to coexist
| www.orckit.com | 2010 Orckit-Corrigent
1
SDH
Processor
TSS convergence to WDM
Dual Matrix
Packet Function
Processo
r Processor
Packet
Data
Processor
UNI
Eth
Processo
r Processor
SDH/TDM
SDH
TDM
NNI
Processor
Data
Processor
Eth Packet
Processor
TDM
SDH/TDM
R
O
A
D
M

D
W
D
M

C
W
D
M
HO TDM Function
LO
XC
Data
EoS
SDH
EoS
TDM
POTS products provide an integrated solution for several
technologies in a single box using a multipurpose centralized
switching fabric or dual matrix fabric architecture. Universal
fabric is typically based on cell switching technology and is
capable of performing native packet switching and native SDH
switching simultaneously. The more popular implementation
is the dual matrix architecture.
In some cases, interconnection between the TDM fabric and
the packet fabric by means of Generic Framing Procedure
(GFP) encapsulation enables Ethernet over SDH. In other
cases, interconnection between the TDM fabric and the
packet fabric impossible, leading to different bers for Ethernet
and TDM services. POTS products can be designed so
that the packet switching technology of choice is PB/PBB/
PBB-TE/MPLS/MPLS-TP. For TDM switching, POTS can
be congured with High Order (HO) or Low Order (LO)
switching granularity for SDH. TDM tributaries may include
low rate services such as E1 and up to high rate STM-64
10G interfaces.
SDH technology uses an advanced OAM suite. With
a multilayer OAM approach, SDH offers the ability to
continuously monitor every single circuit, path, multiplexer
section and regenerator section, and initiate consequent
actions (such as switch to protection) upon failures in these
layers. It also includes advanced Alarm Indication Signals
(AIS) and Remote Defect Indications (RDI), loopbacks
and alarm correlation tools.
Carrier-grade packet switching technologies are enhanced
to provide a similar level of OAM by providing standard
tools for OAM at different levels. At the Ethernet level,
IEEE 802.1ag - Connectivity Fault Management (CFM)
offers Continuity Check, Loopback and Link trace (trace
route) while ITU-T Y.1731 extends this standard and offers
service-level OAM enhancements such as AIS for alarm
indication and suppression and SLA verication delay,
delay variation and frame loss rate.
Carrier Ethernet (CE) technology is ideally designed to
cater to Ethernet services in carrier network environments.
With Carrier Ethernet, carriers benet from a complete
OAM solution as well as high availability and manageability
features. The underlying transport technology varies
from system to system and can be based on Ethernet
technologies, such as Provider Bridge or PBB/PBB-TE, or
on MPLS technologies, such as IP-MPLS (VPLS/VPWS)
or the newly dened MPLS-TP.
A PTN solution was specially designed by Orckit-Corrigent
and integrated into its CM-4000 family of products offering
an enhanced Carrier Ethernet solution with unique
transport capabilities of SDH services. As an example, while
regular CE platforms implement SAToP and CESoPSN
circuit emulation technologies, they are limited to E1
circuits over packet and are far from providing a real
replacement for legacy TDM. The separation of the two switching entities suggests that the
POTS platform is composed of two separate systems: packet
switch and TDM switch. Simply put, the POTS solution is
a combination of a Carrier Ethernet Switch and MSPP in
a single box.
Todays carriers environment generates a large amount of
SDH trafc and packet trafc that needs to be transported
between sites in the metro. The deployment of POTS would
require two ber pairs for every link. One pair would be
used to interconnect the SDH part of the network and the
other pair would be used to carry the Packet trafc. The
complete separation between the two technologies implies
that with POTS, the operator actually builds and maintains
two networks on the same physical node.
This signicant waste of CAPEX (or OPEX, in the case of
leased bers) is overcome in one of two ways: Ethernet
over SDH (EoS) or WDM/ROADM technologies with
OTN capabilities.
With EoS, POTS implements Virtual Concatenation (VCAT),
Generic Framing Procedure (GFP) and Link Capacity
Adjustment Scheme (LCAS) on dedicated hardware to map
As illustrated in Figure no. 1, POTS that is based on dual
matrix fabric architecture implements both packet switch and
TDM switch. Dedicated hardware, interfaces, capacity, and
power consumption per switch, results in a costly and non
scalable design for high Ethernet capacity. In addition, this
architecture has inefcient ber usage: blocking operation that
does not allow a single ber to support any mixture of TDM
and Ethernet trafc on any distribution of line cards.
In systems where interconnection is not possible, the double
cost of the ber infrastructure (or, alternatively, the additional
cost of enabling double the number of wavelengths in the
DWDM network) is prohibitive. With this approach, each
TDM service consumes both the working bandwidth and
the protection bandwidth, while it is desired that when
there is no network failure, protection bandwidth can be
reclaimed and used for excess data trafc. Eventually, two
networks are needed - TDM and packets. For example,
in a case where 7Gbps of packet trafc and 2.5Gbps of
TDM trafc should be carried inter-city, it would require
two wavelengths to carry that trafc instead of one.
Although these standards are sufcient for Ethernet-based
packet forwarding (PB and PBB), additional OAM tools are
required for MPLS-based networks. This includes IETF
RFCs such as LSP Ping (RFC 4379) for data and control
plane connectivity check, performance monitoring (delay,
jitter and packet loss) and LSP Trace for fault isolation.
The use of POTS in a metro network requires full suite
SDH OAM and Packet OAM. As a result, operators should
actually manage two separate networks that happen to
share the same boxes. The operational complexity is high
and lack of any interworking functionality between the
Packet and TDM layers prevents the operational simplicity
promised by the POTS technology.
PTN solution is capable of providing circuit emulation
for any SDH payload. It also provides HO and LO cross
connection and grooming capabilities, fueling true network
convergence over a single platform and signicantly
reducing OPEX.
Figure 2 below depicts the architecture of a typical PTN
platform. The system is built around a packet switch,
which handles all trafc owing through the product. A
second switch can be added and congured in standby
mode for 1:1 protection of the switching fabric.
In order to keep costs low, the switching fabric shares a
blade with Ethernet UNI and NNI ports. High port fan-
out is achieved by enabling the ports next to the standby
switch to be fully functional regardless of the status of
their collocated switch. With an extremely low entry
cost, additional services and interfaces are provided by
inserting extension modules. With a pure packet-based
switching fabric, the packet extension modules are also
very cost-efcient.
Ethernet into a standard SDH payload. This approach is very
inefcient for high capacities of packet trafc and services.
By using integrated WDM/ROADM with OTN capabilities
in POTS platforms, POTS can carry both SDH and Ethernet
over a single ber pair over 2 separate wavelengths or
2 sub-wavelengths. Although WDM/OTN technologies
signicantly increase bandwidth, they also add a signicant
amount of complexity and require special care by trained
professionals. Moreover, as operators often already use a
WDM network in the metro, the integrated WDM and
ROADM capabilities of POTS adds little value. In this case,
deployment of POTS will require two wavelengths on an
existing WDM infrastructure.
The POTS solution POTS Operation Administration and
Maintenance (OAM)
A PTN is a pure packet network. With Layer 2 MPLS as
the underlying packet technology, PTN provides network-
wide Trafc Engineering, advanced QoS and Connection
Admission Control (CAC) for SLA assurance.
Circuit emulation packets are assigned with the highest
possible priority and strict priority queues. Synchronization
is also applied on the packet interfaces using Synchronous
Ethernet or IEEE 1588v2. QoS and network synchronization
provide SDH-like quality across the network and are used
to meet the required jitter, delay and wander performance
levels of TDM circuits.
PTN solution can provide a full set of SDH services over
packet networks using Circuit Emulation over Packets
(CEP) encapsulation. These services are transported
with the same delay, jitter and wander tolerances as in
traditional SDH systems and are compliant with ITU-T
and Telcordia specications. The CEP implementation is
based on IETF standards and provides service protection
in under 50msec for ber cut or node failure.
This effectively enables circuit switching of STM-1,
STM-4 and STM-16 signals together with HO/LO cross-
connections and grooming of multiple channelized STM-n
signals.
With the integration of Synchronous Ethernet and IEEE
1588v2 Technology, the PTN circuit emulation solution
is based on a synchronized packet network enabling it to
provide the same quality as traditional SDH networks.
The circuit switching (HO and LO cross connection) and
circuit emulation (converting TDM payload into packets)
is performed on the TDM interface cards. This maintains
a low cost for the packet services and adds the TDM cost
burden to the TDM interfaces alone.
The PTN OAM approach is signicantly simple, compared
to the POTS OAM. With a single transport technology
for both packet and TDM, the only OAM tools that are
used are the Ethernet and MPLS OAMs. SDH OAM is
terminated by the TDM line cards, thereby signicantly
simplifying the OAM processes.
PTN Services and
network architecture
PTN is Enabling TDM
and Synchronization
PTN Operation
Administration and
Maintenance
The PTN approach
POTS Services and network architecture
Figure 1:
Typical POTS Architecture
Figure 2:
Typical PTN System
Architecture
Figure 3: Typical POTS and PTN cost breakdown
Case Study Cost comparison
POTS and PTN are optimized for converged solutions that offer a mixture of SDH and Ethernet services. A typical
node conguration would include the following characteristics:
Fully redundant node conguration for switching fabric, control and power
33% of the bandwidth allocated for NNI interfaces and 66% of the bandwidth allocated for UNI interfaces
Trafc mixture of 60% packet and 40% TDM
Figure 3 compares the cost breakdown of typical POTS versus a PTN platform. The PTN solution provides about
40% lower cost, mainly due to the very low cost of the NNI solution. In fact, almost 30% of the POTS cost is
associated with NNI interfaces. The PTN solution, with its on-board UNI/NNI interfaces and the use of one type
of NNI interface (namely Ethernet NNI), maintains a much more competitive price point.
Eth
NNI SDH Commons
POTS CAPEX PTN CAPEX
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%

The PTN solution

provides about 40%
lower cost, mainly due
to the very low cost
of the NNI solution

Simply put, the

POTS solution is a
combination of a
Carrier Ethernet
switch and MSPP in
a single box
| www.orckit.com | 2010 Orckit-Corrigent
1
SDH
Processor
TSS convergence to WDM
Dual Matrix
Packet Function
Processo
r Processor
Packet
Data
Processor
UNI
Eth
Processo
r Processor
SDH/TDM
SDH
TDM
NNI
Processor
Data
Processor
Eth Packet
Processor
TDM
SDH/TDM
R
O
A
D
M

D
W
D
M

C
W
D
M
HO TDM Function
LO
XC
Data
EoS
SDH
EoS
TDM
POTS products provide an integrated solution for several
technologies in a single box using a multipurpose centralized
switching fabric or dual matrix fabric architecture. Universal
fabric is typically based on cell switching technology and is
capable of performing native packet switching and native SDH
switching simultaneously. The more popular implementation
is the dual matrix architecture.
In some cases, interconnection between the TDM fabric and
the packet fabric by means of Generic Framing Procedure
(GFP) encapsulation enables Ethernet over SDH. In other
cases, interconnection between the TDM fabric and the
packet fabric impossible, leading to different bers for Ethernet
and TDM services. POTS products can be designed so
that the packet switching technology of choice is PB/PBB/
PBB-TE/MPLS/MPLS-TP. For TDM switching, POTS can
be congured with High Order (HO) or Low Order (LO)
switching granularity for SDH. TDM tributaries may include
low rate services such as E1 and up to high rate STM-64
10G interfaces.
SDH technology uses an advanced OAM suite. With
a multilayer OAM approach, SDH offers the ability to
continuously monitor every single circuit, path, multiplexer
section and regenerator section, and initiate consequent
actions (such as switch to protection) upon failures in these
layers. It also includes advanced Alarm Indication Signals
(AIS) and Remote Defect Indications (RDI), loopbacks
and alarm correlation tools.
Carrier-grade packet switching technologies are enhanced
to provide a similar level of OAM by providing standard
tools for OAM at different levels. At the Ethernet level,
IEEE 802.1ag - Connectivity Fault Management (CFM)
offers Continuity Check, Loopback and Link trace (trace
route) while ITU-T Y.1731 extends this standard and offers
service-level OAM enhancements such as AIS for alarm
indication and suppression and SLA verication delay,
delay variation and frame loss rate.
Carrier Ethernet (CE) technology is ideally designed to
cater to Ethernet services in carrier network environments.
With Carrier Ethernet, carriers benet from a complete
OAM solution as well as high availability and manageability
features. The underlying transport technology varies
from system to system and can be based on Ethernet
technologies, such as Provider Bridge or PBB/PBB-TE, or
on MPLS technologies, such as IP-MPLS (VPLS/VPWS)
or the newly dened MPLS-TP.
A PTN solution was specially designed by Orckit-Corrigent
and integrated into its CM-4000 family of products offering
an enhanced Carrier Ethernet solution with unique
transport capabilities of SDH services. As an example, while
regular CE platforms implement SAToP and CESoPSN
circuit emulation technologies, they are limited to E1
circuits over packet and are far from providing a real
replacement for legacy TDM. The separation of the two switching entities suggests that the
POTS platform is composed of two separate systems: packet
switch and TDM switch. Simply put, the POTS solution is
a combination of a Carrier Ethernet Switch and MSPP in
a single box.
Todays carriers environment generates a large amount of
SDH trafc and packet trafc that needs to be transported
between sites in the metro. The deployment of POTS would
require two ber pairs for every link. One pair would be
used to interconnect the SDH part of the network and the
other pair would be used to carry the Packet trafc. The
complete separation between the two technologies implies
that with POTS, the operator actually builds and maintains
two networks on the same physical node.
This signicant waste of CAPEX (or OPEX, in the case of
leased bers) is overcome in one of two ways: Ethernet
over SDH (EoS) or WDM/ROADM technologies with
OTN capabilities.
With EoS, POTS implements Virtual Concatenation (VCAT),
Generic Framing Procedure (GFP) and Link Capacity
Adjustment Scheme (LCAS) on dedicated hardware to map
As illustrated in Figure no. 1, POTS that is based on dual
matrix fabric architecture implements both packet switch and
TDM switch. Dedicated hardware, interfaces, capacity, and
power consumption per switch, results in a costly and non
scalable design for high Ethernet capacity. In addition, this
architecture has inefcient ber usage: blocking operation that
does not allow a single ber to support any mixture of TDM
and Ethernet trafc on any distribution of line cards.
In systems where interconnection is not possible, the double
cost of the ber infrastructure (or, alternatively, the additional
cost of enabling double the number of wavelengths in the
DWDM network) is prohibitive. With this approach, each
TDM service consumes both the working bandwidth and
the protection bandwidth, while it is desired that when
there is no network failure, protection bandwidth can be
reclaimed and used for excess data trafc. Eventually, two
networks are needed - TDM and packets. For example,
in a case where 7Gbps of packet trafc and 2.5Gbps of
TDM trafc should be carried inter-city, it would require
two wavelengths to carry that trafc instead of one.
Although these standards are sufcient for Ethernet-based
packet forwarding (PB and PBB), additional OAM tools are
required for MPLS-based networks. This includes IETF
RFCs such as LSP Ping (RFC 4379) for data and control
plane connectivity check, performance monitoring (delay,
jitter and packet loss) and LSP Trace for fault isolation.
The use of POTS in a metro network requires full suite
SDH OAM and Packet OAM. As a result, operators should
actually manage two separate networks that happen to
share the same boxes. The operational complexity is high
and lack of any interworking functionality between the
Packet and TDM layers prevents the operational simplicity
promised by the POTS technology.
PTN solution is capable of providing circuit emulation
for any SDH payload. It also provides HO and LO cross
connection and grooming capabilities, fueling true network
convergence over a single platform and signicantly
reducing OPEX.
Figure 2 below depicts the architecture of a typical PTN
platform. The system is built around a packet switch,
which handles all trafc owing through the product. A
second switch can be added and congured in standby
mode for 1:1 protection of the switching fabric.
In order to keep costs low, the switching fabric shares a
blade with Ethernet UNI and NNI ports. High port fan-
out is achieved by enabling the ports next to the standby
switch to be fully functional regardless of the status of
their collocated switch. With an extremely low entry
cost, additional services and interfaces are provided by
inserting extension modules. With a pure packet-based
switching fabric, the packet extension modules are also
very cost-efcient.
Ethernet into a standard SDH payload. This approach is very
inefcient for high capacities of packet trafc and services.
By using integrated WDM/ROADM with OTN capabilities
in POTS platforms, POTS can carry both SDH and Ethernet
over a single ber pair over 2 separate wavelengths or
2 sub-wavelengths. Although WDM/OTN technologies
signicantly increase bandwidth, they also add a signicant
amount of complexity and require special care by trained
professionals. Moreover, as operators often already use a
WDM network in the metro, the integrated WDM and
ROADM capabilities of POTS adds little value. In this case,
deployment of POTS will require two wavelengths on an
existing WDM infrastructure.
The POTS solution POTS Operation Administration and
Maintenance (OAM)
A PTN is a pure packet network. With Layer 2 MPLS as
the underlying packet technology, PTN provides network-
wide Trafc Engineering, advanced QoS and Connection
Admission Control (CAC) for SLA assurance.
Circuit emulation packets are assigned with the highest
possible priority and strict priority queues. Synchronization
is also applied on the packet interfaces using Synchronous
Ethernet or IEEE 1588v2. QoS and network synchronization
provide SDH-like quality across the network and are used
to meet the required jitter, delay and wander performance
levels of TDM circuits.
PTN solution can provide a full set of SDH services over
packet networks using Circuit Emulation over Packets
(CEP) encapsulation. These services are transported
with the same delay, jitter and wander tolerances as in
traditional SDH systems and are compliant with ITU-T
and Telcordia specications. The CEP implementation is
based on IETF standards and provides service protection
in under 50msec for ber cut or node failure.
This effectively enables circuit switching of STM-1,
STM-4 and STM-16 signals together with HO/LO cross-
connections and grooming of multiple channelized STM-n
signals.
With the integration of Synchronous Ethernet and IEEE
1588v2 Technology, the PTN circuit emulation solution
is based on a synchronized packet network enabling it to
provide the same quality as traditional SDH networks.
The circuit switching (HO and LO cross connection) and
circuit emulation (converting TDM payload into packets)
is performed on the TDM interface cards. This maintains
a low cost for the packet services and adds the TDM cost
burden to the TDM interfaces alone.
The PTN OAM approach is signicantly simple, compared
to the POTS OAM. With a single transport technology
for both packet and TDM, the only OAM tools that are
used are the Ethernet and MPLS OAMs. SDH OAM is
terminated by the TDM line cards, thereby signicantly
simplifying the OAM processes.
PTN Services and
network architecture
PTN is Enabling TDM
and Synchronization
PTN Operation
Administration and
Maintenance
The PTN approach
POTS Services and network architecture
Figure 1:
Typical POTS Architecture
Figure 2:
Typical PTN System
Architecture
Figure 3: Typical POTS and PTN cost breakdown
Case Study Cost comparison
POTS and PTN are optimized for converged solutions that offer a mixture of SDH and Ethernet services. A typical
node conguration would include the following characteristics:
Fully redundant node conguration for switching fabric, control and power
33% of the bandwidth allocated for NNI interfaces and 66% of the bandwidth allocated for UNI interfaces
Trafc mixture of 60% packet and 40% TDM
Figure 3 compares the cost breakdown of typical POTS versus a PTN platform. The PTN solution provides about
40% lower cost, mainly due to the very low cost of the NNI solution. In fact, almost 30% of the POTS cost is
associated with NNI interfaces. The PTN solution, with its on-board UNI/NNI interfaces and the use of one type
of NNI interface (namely Ethernet NNI), maintains a much more competitive price point.
Eth
NNI SDH Commons
POTS CAPEX PTN CAPEX
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%

The PTN solution

provides about 40%
lower cost, mainly due
to the very low cost
of the NNI solution

Simply put, the

POTS solution is a
combination of a
Carrier Ethernet
switch and MSPP in
a single box
| www.orckit.com | 2010 Orckit-Corrigent
1
SDH
Processor
TSS convergence to WDM
Dual Matrix
Packet Function
Processo
r Processor
Packet
Data
Processor
UNI
Eth
Processo
r Processor
SDH/TDM
SDH
TDM
NNI
Processor
Data
Processor
Eth Packet
Processor
TDM
SDH/TDM
R
O
A
D
M

D
W
D
M

C
W
D
M
HO TDM Function
LO
XC
Data
EoS
SDH
EoS
TDM
POTS products provide an integrated solution for several
technologies in a single box using a multipurpose centralized
switching fabric or dual matrix fabric architecture. Universal
fabric is typically based on cell switching technology and is
capable of performing native packet switching and native SDH
switching simultaneously. The more popular implementation
is the dual matrix architecture.
In some cases, interconnection between the TDM fabric and
the packet fabric by means of Generic Framing Procedure
(GFP) encapsulation enables Ethernet over SDH. In other
cases, interconnection between the TDM fabric and the
packet fabric impossible, leading to different bers for Ethernet
and TDM services. POTS products can be designed so
that the packet switching technology of choice is PB/PBB/
PBB-TE/MPLS/MPLS-TP. For TDM switching, POTS can
be congured with High Order (HO) or Low Order (LO)
switching granularity for SDH. TDM tributaries may include
low rate services such as E1 and up to high rate STM-64
10G interfaces.
SDH technology uses an advanced OAM suite. With
a multilayer OAM approach, SDH offers the ability to
continuously monitor every single circuit, path, multiplexer
section and regenerator section, and initiate consequent
actions (such as switch to protection) upon failures in these
layers. It also includes advanced Alarm Indication Signals
(AIS) and Remote Defect Indications (RDI), loopbacks
and alarm correlation tools.
Carrier-grade packet switching technologies are enhanced
to provide a similar level of OAM by providing standard
tools for OAM at different levels. At the Ethernet level,
IEEE 802.1ag - Connectivity Fault Management (CFM)
offers Continuity Check, Loopback and Link trace (trace
route) while ITU-T Y.1731 extends this standard and offers
service-level OAM enhancements such as AIS for alarm
indication and suppression and SLA verication delay,
delay variation and frame loss rate.
Carrier Ethernet (CE) technology is ideally designed to
cater to Ethernet services in carrier network environments.
With Carrier Ethernet, carriers benet from a complete
OAM solution as well as high availability and manageability
features. The underlying transport technology varies
from system to system and can be based on Ethernet
technologies, such as Provider Bridge or PBB/PBB-TE, or
on MPLS technologies, such as IP-MPLS (VPLS/VPWS)
or the newly dened MPLS-TP.
A PTN solution was specially designed by Orckit-Corrigent
and integrated into its CM-4000 family of products offering
an enhanced Carrier Ethernet solution with unique
transport capabilities of SDH services. As an example, while
regular CE platforms implement SAToP and CESoPSN
circuit emulation technologies, they are limited to E1
circuits over packet and are far from providing a real
replacement for legacy TDM. The separation of the two switching entities suggests that the
POTS platform is composed of two separate systems: packet
switch and TDM switch. Simply put, the POTS solution is
a combination of a Carrier Ethernet Switch and MSPP in
a single box.
Todays carriers environment generates a large amount of
SDH trafc and packet trafc that needs to be transported
between sites in the metro. The deployment of POTS would
require two ber pairs for every link. One pair would be
used to interconnect the SDH part of the network and the
other pair would be used to carry the Packet trafc. The
complete separation between the two technologies implies
that with POTS, the operator actually builds and maintains
two networks on the same physical node.
This signicant waste of CAPEX (or OPEX, in the case of
leased bers) is overcome in one of two ways: Ethernet
over SDH (EoS) or WDM/ROADM technologies with
OTN capabilities.
With EoS, POTS implements Virtual Concatenation (VCAT),
Generic Framing Procedure (GFP) and Link Capacity
Adjustment Scheme (LCAS) on dedicated hardware to map
As illustrated in Figure no. 1, POTS that is based on dual
matrix fabric architecture implements both packet switch and
TDM switch. Dedicated hardware, interfaces, capacity, and
power consumption per switch, results in a costly and non
scalable design for high Ethernet capacity. In addition, this
architecture has inefcient ber usage: blocking operation that
does not allow a single ber to support any mixture of TDM
and Ethernet trafc on any distribution of line cards.
In systems where interconnection is not possible, the double
cost of the ber infrastructure (or, alternatively, the additional
cost of enabling double the number of wavelengths in the
DWDM network) is prohibitive. With this approach, each
TDM service consumes both the working bandwidth and
the protection bandwidth, while it is desired that when
there is no network failure, protection bandwidth can be
reclaimed and used for excess data trafc. Eventually, two
networks are needed - TDM and packets. For example,
in a case where 7Gbps of packet trafc and 2.5Gbps of
TDM trafc should be carried inter-city, it would require
two wavelengths to carry that trafc instead of one.
Although these standards are sufcient for Ethernet-based
packet forwarding (PB and PBB), additional OAM tools are
required for MPLS-based networks. This includes IETF
RFCs such as LSP Ping (RFC 4379) for data and control
plane connectivity check, performance monitoring (delay,
jitter and packet loss) and LSP Trace for fault isolation.
The use of POTS in a metro network requires full suite
SDH OAM and Packet OAM. As a result, operators should
actually manage two separate networks that happen to
share the same boxes. The operational complexity is high
and lack of any interworking functionality between the
Packet and TDM layers prevents the operational simplicity
promised by the POTS technology.
PTN solution is capable of providing circuit emulation
for any SDH payload. It also provides HO and LO cross
connection and grooming capabilities, fueling true network
convergence over a single platform and signicantly
reducing OPEX.
Figure 2 below depicts the architecture of a typical PTN
platform. The system is built around a packet switch,
which handles all trafc owing through the product. A
second switch can be added and congured in standby
mode for 1:1 protection of the switching fabric.
In order to keep costs low, the switching fabric shares a
blade with Ethernet UNI and NNI ports. High port fan-
out is achieved by enabling the ports next to the standby
switch to be fully functional regardless of the status of
their collocated switch. With an extremely low entry
cost, additional services and interfaces are provided by
inserting extension modules. With a pure packet-based
switching fabric, the packet extension modules are also
very cost-efcient.
Ethernet into a standard SDH payload. This approach is very
inefcient for high capacities of packet trafc and services.
By using integrated WDM/ROADM with OTN capabilities
in POTS platforms, POTS can carry both SDH and Ethernet
over a single ber pair over 2 separate wavelengths or
2 sub-wavelengths. Although WDM/OTN technologies
signicantly increase bandwidth, they also add a signicant
amount of complexity and require special care by trained
professionals. Moreover, as operators often already use a
WDM network in the metro, the integrated WDM and
ROADM capabilities of POTS adds little value. In this case,
deployment of POTS will require two wavelengths on an
existing WDM infrastructure.
The POTS solution POTS Operation Administration and
Maintenance (OAM)
A PTN is a pure packet network. With Layer 2 MPLS as
the underlying packet technology, PTN provides network-
wide Trafc Engineering, advanced QoS and Connection
Admission Control (CAC) for SLA assurance.
Circuit emulation packets are assigned with the highest
possible priority and strict priority queues. Synchronization
is also applied on the packet interfaces using Synchronous
Ethernet or IEEE 1588v2. QoS and network synchronization
provide SDH-like quality across the network and are used
to meet the required jitter, delay and wander performance
levels of TDM circuits.
PTN solution can provide a full set of SDH services over
packet networks using Circuit Emulation over Packets
(CEP) encapsulation. These services are transported
with the same delay, jitter and wander tolerances as in
traditional SDH systems and are compliant with ITU-T
and Telcordia specications. The CEP implementation is
based on IETF standards and provides service protection
in under 50msec for ber cut or node failure.
This effectively enables circuit switching of STM-1,
STM-4 and STM-16 signals together with HO/LO cross-
connections and grooming of multiple channelized STM-n
signals.
With the integration of Synchronous Ethernet and IEEE
1588v2 Technology, the PTN circuit emulation solution
is based on a synchronized packet network enabling it to
provide the same quality as traditional SDH networks.
The circuit switching (HO and LO cross connection) and
circuit emulation (converting TDM payload into packets)
is performed on the TDM interface cards. This maintains
a low cost for the packet services and adds the TDM cost
burden to the TDM interfaces alone.
The PTN OAM approach is signicantly simple, compared
to the POTS OAM. With a single transport technology
for both packet and TDM, the only OAM tools that are
used are the Ethernet and MPLS OAMs. SDH OAM is
terminated by the TDM line cards, thereby signicantly
simplifying the OAM processes.
PTN Services and
network architecture
PTN is Enabling TDM
and Synchronization
PTN Operation
Administration and
Maintenance
The PTN approach
POTS Services and network architecture
Figure 1:
Typical POTS Architecture
Figure 2:
Typical PTN System
Architecture
Figure 3: Typical POTS and PTN cost breakdown
Case Study Cost comparison
POTS and PTN are optimized for converged solutions that offer a mixture of SDH and Ethernet services. A typical
node conguration would include the following characteristics:
Fully redundant node conguration for switching fabric, control and power
33% of the bandwidth allocated for NNI interfaces and 66% of the bandwidth allocated for UNI interfaces
Trafc mixture of 60% packet and 40% TDM
Figure 3 compares the cost breakdown of typical POTS versus a PTN platform. The PTN solution provides about
40% lower cost, mainly due to the very low cost of the NNI solution. In fact, almost 30% of the POTS cost is
associated with NNI interfaces. The PTN solution, with its on-board UNI/NNI interfaces and the use of one type
of NNI interface (namely Ethernet NNI), maintains a much more competitive price point.
Eth
NNI SDH Commons
POTS CAPEX PTN CAPEX
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%

The PTN solution

provides about 40%
lower cost, mainly due
to the very low cost
of the NNI solution

Simply put, the

POTS solution is a
combination of a
Carrier Ethernet
switch and MSPP in
a single box
www.orckit.com
Pushing technology to the edge
2011 Orckit-Corrigent
PTN Opti mal
Sol uti on for
SDH Mi grati on
PTN Opti mal
Sol uti on for
SDH Mi grati on
Orckit facilitates telecommunication providers delivery of high
capacity broadband residential, business and mobile services over
wireline or wireless networks with its Orckit-Corrigent family of
products. With 20 years of eld experience with Tier-1 customers
located around the world and sound leadership, Orckit has a rm
foothold in the ever-developing world of telecommunication.
Orckit-Corrigents product portfolio includes Packet Transport
Network (PTN) switches - an MPLS and MPLS-TP dual stack based
portfolio enabling advanced packet as well as legacy services over
packet networks with a wide set of transport features.
Orckit-Corrigent markets its products directly and indirectly through
strategic alliances, as well as distribution and reseller partners
worldwide.
Orckit was founded in 1990 and went public in 1996. Orckit is
dually listed on NasdaqGM (ORCT) and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange
and is headquartered in Tel-Aviv, Israel. For more information,
please visit www.orckit.com.
Pushing technology to the edge
www.orckit.com
2011 Orckit-Corrigent
Over the past several years, telecommunication service providers have been experiencing a dramatic
shift from legacy TDM circuits to next generation Ethernet trafc. This shift has been driven by
both residential triple-play services and business Ethernet services, and it has also been marked
by the introduction of Ethernet-based 3G Node B and 4G/LTE mobile networks.
Nevertheless, the demand for SDH circuits is expected to remain solid. While small ofces and
home ofces (SOHO) have already made the shift towards Ethernet services (mostly based
on broadband xDSL and CATV services), two signicant market segments present an ongoing
demand for legacy TDM services.
The rst is medium and large enterprise customers. Although such companies are moving to
Ethernet based services, many of them maintain their legacy systems. Carriers, therefore,
will continue to provide them with TDM services. The other segment that demands legacy
services is the mobile market. In order to prevent major forklift upgrades, mobile operators
will continue to support 2G and 3G infrastructure. These technologies contribute to the
SDH demand in metro networks.
Therefore, it is clear that for the foreseen future, TDM and Ethernet will have to coexist
in the metro. Yet, initial deployments of carrier Ethernet solutions have not offered any
support for SDH. Standards bodies such as the MEF decided to focus on the transport of
PDH rates with circuit emulation services but did not dene a circuit emulation technique
or demand for real, high-rate SDH services.
As a result, most of the carriers today use two separate transport systems in their metro
area networks: The rst is a legacy SDH network (or MSPP based Next Generation
SDH). At the same time, they have also deployed a packet network composed of
Layer2 aggregation (in some cases, Carrier Ethernet-based aggregation) and a Layer3
IP-MPLS core.
Packet Transport Networks (PTN) equipment and Packet Optical Transport
Systems (POTS) are innovative solutions that address the challenge of an integrated,
single-layer approach for a next generation metro network. Both solutions include
advanced technologies to address Ethernet and SDH in their native forms.
Conclusions
The migration from legacy SDH to packet-based systems in the metro calls for a hybrid solution that can cost-effectively
address this challenge with a single platform. The two leading candidates for this purpose are POTS with its multipurpose
switching capabilities and PTN which integrate advanced circuit emulation technology into a state-of-the-art carrier
Ethernet platform. The following table compares the key characteristics of the two technologies.
Characteristic PTN POTS
Architecture
Unied switching entity for packet and TDM
- PTN packet switching architecture forwards
packets and TDM in the same way, forming a
unied switching architecture.
Two logically separated switching entities
(packet plus TDM) - the multipurpose switching
fabric forms two separate switching entities in
a single box.
Networking
A unied packet network, capable of
transporting any mix of packet and TDM trafc
over 1GE and 10GE interfaces.
Two separate networks, one for TDM and the
other for Packets. Both can use the same ber
pairs by adding WDM components at extra
cost, instead of service cards.
OAM
Carrier Ethernet OAM tools including Ethernet
OAM (IEEE-802.1ag CFM and ITU-T Y.1731).
TDM OAM at TDM termination points only.
Separate OAM approach for Packet trafc and
TDM trafc. Carriers need to master both
technologies to manage their network.
Network
Management
PTN uses MPLS-based dynamic control plane
with full routing and signaling capabilities. This
signicantly simplies the establishment and
management of all services. Use of NMS is
optional and is mostly used for GUI-based
service management with full FCAPS support.
NMS in POTS is compulsory. All provisioning
is static and is based on centralized path
computation for SDH services and on Path
Computation Element for packet services.
Management of services is complex and differs
signicantly from TDM to Packet.
Cost
The PTN architecture enables low cost
solutions. With a lower entry cost, PTN
technology is extremely cost effective. This cost
advantage grows as the node capacity scales.
The POTS architecture with its multipurpose
switching fabric imposes high system cost due
to high cost of networking interfaces.
POTS is the technology of choice for multiservice national backbones which require integration between high capacity
ROADM technology, packet transport and TDM transport in a single box. When attempting to use the same technology
for metro applications, however, its major disadvantages become clear. The multiservice switching technology forces
the POTS devices to act as two separate products in one cage with TDM trafc handled completely separate from
the packet transport. Converging the two technologies by means of Ethernet over SDH simply turns the POTS into
a regular MSPP.
Furthermore, the POTS technology is very expensive both in terms of CAPEX and OPEX. POTS high entry cost is
mostly driven by the need for expensive NNI interfaces. The cost of expansion cards is also high due to the complex
switching architecture and the need to convert any trafc to cells. In terms of OPEX, operators are actually running
two networks in one box. This means that network operators are running a TDM network in parallel with a packet
network and, in some cases, even with a WDM layer for ber relief.
PTN solution, on the other hand, is designed and optimized for metro applications. Its unied packet switching keeps
the system cost at a very low price point and the OPEX is kept low with a single transport approach. The selection of
MPLS and MPLS-TP as the underlying transport technologies, introduces state-ofthe-art control plane into the packet
transport t world, providing simple operation with assured SLA.
Therefore, it is clear that the optimal solution for next generation transport networks, which are capable of converging
TDM with packet technologies, is PTN.
D
e
s
i
g
n

b
y
:

2
p
l
u
s
t
u
d
i
o
.
c
o
m
The optimal solution for next
generation transport networks,
which are capable of converging
TDM with packet technologies is PTN

For the foreseen future,
TDM and Ethernet will
have to coexist
PTN Opti mal
Sol uti on for
SDH Mi grati on
PTN Opti mal
Sol uti on for
SDH Mi grati on
Orckit facilitates telecommunication providers delivery of high
capacity broadband residential, business and mobile services
over wireline or wireless networks with its Orckit-Corrigent
family of products. With 20 years of eld experience with Tier-1
customers located around the world and sound leadership,
Orckit has a rm foothold in the ever-developing world of
telecommunication.
Orckit-Corrigents product portfolio includes Packet Transport
Network (PTN) switches - an MPLS and MPLS-TP dual stack
based portfolio enabling advanced packet as well as legacy
services over packet networks with a wide set of transport
features.
Orckit-Corrigent markets its products directly and indirectly
through strategic alliances, as well as distribution and reseller
partners worldwide.
Orckit was founded in 1990 and went public in 1996. The
company is active in APAC, Western and Eastern Europe,
and America.
For more information please visit www.orckit.com.
Pushing technology to the edge
www.orckit.com
2011 Orckit-Corrigent
Over the past several years, telecommunication service providers have been experiencing a dramatic
shift from legacy TDM circuits to next generation Ethernet trafc. This shift has been driven by
both residential triple-play services and business Ethernet services, and it has also been marked
by the introduction of Ethernet-based 3G Node B and 4G/LTE mobile networks.
Nevertheless, the demand for SDH circuits is expected to remain solid. While small ofces and
home ofces (SOHO) have already made the shift towards Ethernet services (mostly based
on broadband xDSL and CATV services), two signicant market segments present an ongoing
demand for legacy TDM services.
The rst is medium and large enterprise customers. Although such companies are moving to
Ethernet based services, many of them maintain their legacy systems. Carriers, therefore,
will continue to provide them with TDM services. The other segment that demands legacy
services is the mobile market. In order to prevent major forklift upgrades, mobile operators
will continue to support 2G and 3G infrastructure. These technologies contribute to the
SDH demand in metro networks.
Therefore, it is clear that for the foreseen future, TDM and Ethernet will have to coexist
in the metro. Yet, initial deployments of carrier Ethernet solutions have not offered any
support for SDH. Standards bodies such as the MEF decided to focus on the transport of
PDH rates with circuit emulation services but did not dene a circuit emulation technique
or demand for real, high-rate SDH services.
As a result, most of the carriers today use two separate transport systems in their metro
area networks: The rst is a legacy SDH network (or MSPP based Next Generation
SDH). At the same time, they have also deployed a packet network composed of
Layer2 aggregation (in some cases, Carrier Ethernet-based aggregation) and a Layer3
IP-MPLS core.
Packet Transport Networks (PTN) equipment and Packet Optical Transport
Systems (POTS) are innovative solutions that address the challenge of an integrated,
single-layer approach for a next generation metro network. Both solutions include
advanced technologies to address Ethernet and SDH in their native forms.
Conclusions
The migration from legacy SDH to packet-based systems in the metro calls for a hybrid solution that can cost-effectively
address this challenge with a single platform. The two leading candidates for this purpose are POTS with its multipurpose
switching capabilities and PTN which integrate advanced circuit emulation technology into a state-of-the-art carrier
Ethernet platform. The following table compares the key characteristics of the two technologies.
Characteristic PTN POTS
Architecture
Unied switching entity for packet and TDM
- PTN packet switching architecture forwards
packets and TDM in the same way, forming a
unied switching architecture.
Two logically separated switching entities
(packet plus TDM) - the multipurpose switching
fabric forms two separate switching entities in
a single box.
Networking
A unied packet network, capable of
transporting any mix of packet and TDM trafc
over 1GE and 10GE interfaces.
Two separate networks, one for TDM and the
other for Packets. Both can use the same ber
pairs by adding WDM components at extra
cost, instead of service cards.
OAM
Carrier Ethernet OAM tools including Ethernet
OAM (IEEE-802.1ag CFM and ITU-T Y.1731).
TDM OAM at TDM termination points only.
Separate OAM approach for Packet trafc and
TDM trafc. Carriers need to master both
technologies to manage their network.
Network
Management
PTN uses MPLS-based dynamic control plane
with full routing and signaling capabilities. This
signicantly simplies the establishment and
management of all services. Use of NMS is
optional and is mostly used for GUI-based
service management with full FCAPS support.
NMS in POTS is compulsory. All provisioning
is static and is based on centralized path
computation for SDH services and on Path
Computation Element for packet services.
Management of services is complex and differs
signicantly from TDM to Packet.
Cost
The PTN architecture enables low cost
solutions. With a lower entry cost, PTN
technology is extremely cost effective. This cost
advantage grows as the node capacity scales.
The POTS architecture with its multipurpose
switching fabric imposes high system cost due
to high cost of networking interfaces.
POTS is the technology of choice for multiservice national backbones which require integration between high capacity
ROADM technology, packet transport and TDM transport in a single box. When attempting to use the same technology
for metro applications, however, its major disadvantages become clear. The multiservice switching technology forces
the POTS devices to act as two separate products in one cage with TDM trafc handled completely separate from
the packet transport. Converging the two technologies by means of Ethernet over SDH simply turns the POTS into
a regular MSPP.
Furthermore, the POTS technology is very expensive both in terms of CAPEX and OPEX. POTS high entry cost is
mostly driven by the need for expensive NNI interfaces. The cost of expansion cards is also high due to the complex
switching architecture and the need to convert any trafc to cells. In terms of OPEX, operators are actually running
two networks in one box. This means that network operators are running a TDM network in parallel with a packet
network and, in some cases, even with a WDM layer for ber relief.
PTN solution, on the other hand, is designed and optimized for metro applications. Its unied packet switching keeps
the system cost at a very low price point and the OPEX is kept low with a single transport approach. The selection of
MPLS and MPLS-TP as the underlying transport technologies, introduces state-ofthe-art control plane into the packet
transport t world, providing simple operation with assured SLA.
Therefore, it is clear that the optimal solution for next generation transport networks, which are capable of converging
TDM with packet technologies, is PTN.
D
e
s
i
g
n

b
y
:

2
p
l
u
s
t
u
d
i
o
.
c
o
m
The optimal solution for next
generation transport networks,
which are capable of converging
TDM with packet technologies is PTN

For the foreseen future,
TDM and Ethernet will
have to coexist