ANDA Networks announced this week at GLOBALCOMM its new EtherSLAM Ethernet Service Line Access Mux, which aggregates Ethernet over existing bonded T1/E1/DS3/E3 copper access connections, in an effort to help carriers serve customers requiring 10-50mbps E-LINE or E-LAN services.

“Reach has been one of the key problems that a lot of the service providers are dealing with,” said Greg Gum, ANDA's vice president of marketing.  “They can't get to the locations that require Ethernet by deploying fiber, given its cost and time to get to those locations.”

By putting Ethernet over readily available T1s and E1s, carriers can quickly bring out an off-net Ethernet service to complement their fiber deployments, he said.

EtherSLAM offers Ethernet service aggregation for carriers' sub-100mbps Ethernet services via a daughter card connection to any existing ANDA EtherEdge 4000 chassis.  Each shelf can support 168 Ethernet customers and costs about $20,000, Gum said.

As carriers have been successful selling Ethernet, they have asked for a cost-effective way to grow the number of ports they can support, said Gum.  “As they add more of the Ethernet demarcation devices like the [EtherReach] 2000 series boxes, they can add more cards,” he said. “You can stack up to three of these shelves and scale up to 504 T1 connections per deployment. It's very similar to how DSLAMs evolved.”

By supporting 504 T1 connections, EtherSLAM can fill 75 percent to 80 percent of a gigE pipe, said Gum, noting that optimizes the connection back to the router so the carrier can minimize port cost on the more expensive gear. In comparison to using a channelized DS3 card, which can cost $40,000 to $50,000, you can use a gigE card, which runs around $1,000 to $5,000, he explained.  “GigE on a router is one of the cheapest they could use.  So rather than burn a DS3 port as in [frame relay], they can use a much less expensive gigE port, which is standard on devices,” he said.

To accommodate the worldwide market, the new EtherSLAM will be available in two flavors, including the EtherSLAM 6xCH DS3 for North America and the 2xCH STM1 version for European, Asia Pacific and Latin American regions.

EtherSLAM will be available starting in third quarter.  Gum said it already is in trials with Tier 1 providers.

ANDA Networks www.andanetworks.com

By Khali Henderson