Berlin, Germany, September 22, 2008: RAD Data Communications, whose product portfolio enables Carrier Ethernet over any access technology, has successfully participated in the Carrier Ethernet interoperability test organized by the European Advanced Networking Test Center (EANTC) that is taking place this week at the Carrier Ethernet World Congress in Berlin.

The list of RAD demarcation and circuit emulation service devices that were used in the interoperability event was by far the longest among all 28 participating vendors. RAD successfully tested both Link OAM and Service OAM for Ethernet over fiber, Ethernet over bonded copper circuits, Ethernet over DSL (Ethernet in the First Mile), and Ethernet over third-party hybrid microwave radio. In addition, RAD tested performance monitoring based on ITU Y.1731 for Ethernet over fiber and Ethernet over DSL.

“As the experts in Carrier Ethernet demarcation, we offer a comprehensive portfolio that allows carriers and providers to start a service over fiber, terminate it over bonded SHDSL.bis and manage it end-to-end, even in cases where third party networks are involved, without affecting the end user’s experience,” states Ron Agam, Director of Product Management at RAD Data Communications. “RAD’s EtherAccess® technology provides carriers and service providers with the ability to deploy lower cost, highly reliable standardized Ethernet services according to predefined SLAs regardless of the underlying access infrastructure or transport network.”

System on an SFP
Standing out among the RAD innovations tested were the MiRICi-E1/T1 Ethernet-over-PDH remote bridge and the MiTOP-E1/T1 TDM-over-packet pseudowire gateway, elements of the company’s unique “System on an SFP” portfolio of autonomous, hot-swappable and software-configurable solutions in thumb-sized SFP enclosures. Both devices feature enhanced functionality that goes far beyond simple media conversion, with the service support that is normally available in full-sized bridges and gateways. The MiRICi-E1/T1 and MiTOP-E1/T1 connect to any host with a standard SFP port to provide economical, ad-hoc solutions for service providers and enterprises delivering transparent LAN services over leased lines and TDM services over packet networks, and to other vendors that need to add such capabilities to their own offerings with minimal time-to-market.
 
Proven Leadership in Pseudowire Emulation
The tests also confirmed that RAD excels in circuit emulation services (CES) for cellular backhaul over packet with its IPmux-216/24 TDM pseudowire gateway, which is MEF-9 and MEF-14 certified for Carrier Ethernet services, and the MiTOP, which was hosted in RAD’s ETX-202A, a native Ethernet demarcation device. “This comes as no surprise, given our long-standing leadership in pseudowire emulation technology and active involvement in the formulation of the industry’s primary pseudowire standards,” Agam notes.

A Must for Mobile Backhaul Networks
The interoperability event established that the RAD pseudowire products maintained MEF-8 service stability, even when network impairments were introduced. Additional pseudowire capabilities, such as CES and SAToP, as well as RAD’s transport-agnostic approach, were successfully demonstrated using the company’s ACE-3xxx cell site gateways across MPLS and PBB-TE packet networks. RAD also demonstrated its advanced adaptive clock recovery capabilities and verified its ability to support frequency accuracy better than 16 ppb, a must for mobile backhaul networks.  
 
“The industry clearly recognizes that ATM pseudowires over packet networks are a key requirement in supporting 3G and 3.5G traffic such as HSPA, and this is another area in which RAD’s ACE cell site gateways were tested successfully,” Agam continues. “Cell site gateways are proving to be a necessity, especially for transport providers and operators with self-built networks,” he concludes. “Depending on the capabilities of specific NodeBs, intelligent cell site gateways provide the only technologically viable solution.”