Actelis Networks announced the addition of a new Ethernet access device in its ML 600 line. Available in March, the new ML 640 supports MEF 10 traffic management specifications, giving this copper-based solution comparable capabilities to optical-based Ethernet gear.

We really have achieved parity with the traditional metro Ethernet over fiber providers. This has all of the same sort of traffic management and rate shaping as a Cisco 3500 or 3750 ME platform or the Alcatel CPE devices, said Craig Easley, associate vice president of marketing for Actelis.

Using the Actelis ML 640, carriers can deliver exactly the same service, exactly the same EIR and CIR parameters, but they are doing it over bonded copper, he said.

The MEF 10 specifies traffic prioritization by port, EVC and class of service. This allows carriers to prioritize services inside of an EVC and do a three-tired hierarchical quality of service, Easley explained.

Whats important is that we do it at both ends, said Easley. We do it at ingress, at the Ethernet access device within the 640, and we also developed new software to do it at the aggregation end in our service dispatch unit, which is the switch card that goes in our ML 1300.

Easley said the ML 640 supports service creation by providing a set of mechanisms for classifying traffic on specific EVCs. That really sets us apart from some of our competitors because we are doing this at the edge, said Easley, explaining that most vendors support all-to-one bundling where all traffic that comes into the CPE gets sent across the access link to an aggregation platform in the CO, which does the classification.

He said that without filtering or profiling at the CPE, carriers are not optimizing use of bandwidth in the access network, noting that best-efforts traffic can make it all the way to the CO at the expense of higher-priority traffic only to be dropped because its out of profile.

Because the traffic management capabilities add complexity, Actelis has devised service provisioning wizards for the ML 640, which allow providers to define a service template and apply it again and again as subscribers are turned up.

Actelis Networks www.actelis.com