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Extreme Networks Dominates Carrier Class Ethernet Deployments

Posted on: Thursday, 25 September 2003, 06:00 CDT

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Extreme Networks, Inc., , today announced that its innovative Metro Ethernet switching solutions successfully provide carrier-class Sub 50-millisecond failover on networks across its installed base of 4 million switch ports. Results of tests conducted by BT's research, technology and IT operations business, BT Exact, on Extreme's Ethernet Automatic Protection Switching (EAPS) version 2 confirm that EAPS delivers sub 50-millisecond failover on both copper and fiber interfaces.

"Extreme has deployed high performance Ethernet Metro networks that deliver the speed, carrier-class resiliency and simplicity that service providers require," said Duncan Potter, vice president of marketing, Extreme Networks, Inc. "We take networks to the next level with unique innovations such as our EAPS failover capability, allowing Ethernet to surpass the performance of legacy network technologies such as SONET/SDH. As evidence, EAPS is used today by our customers throughout the world."

These test scenarios, designed to simulate a real-world network, reflect that the performance of EAPS is on par with Automatic Protection System (APS) for SONET/SDH-type network infrastructures. The tests also demonstrate that EAPS surpasses the performance of the commonly deployed Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) and the Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP) running on a switched infrastructure. And, since EAPS uses standards-based Ethernet it is backwards compatible with all Extreme switches running ExtremeWare. In fact, EAPS offers Resilient Packet Ring (RPR) 802.17-like functionality today without additional expense and is available on 4 million-plus standards-based Ethernet shipped ports.

The recently completed scalability tests of Extreme Networks' industry-leading switches demonstrate that Extreme's EAPS capability can perform protection switching of Layer 2 traffic in less than 50ms for up to 100 protected VLANs (virtual LANs), with each VLAN carrying 1,000 traffic flows. The tests also verified that Layer 3 traffic using BGP (border gateway protocol) routing performed protection switching in less than one (1) second with 100,000 BGP routes advertised and up to 10,000 traffic flows. Notably, no BGP sessions were dropped during any of the tests.

These tests differed remarkably from competitors' previous tests:

-- A six-node network was used to show failover throughout a complete

network, instead of using a single device and test equipment to

simulate a network.

-- Scalability tests were extended to the switch limit of 131,000 MAC

addresses, 4,000 VLANs and 100,000 IP addresses, rather than a minimum

configuration of one VLAN, two MAC addresses and two IP addresses.

-- Layer 2 (VLAN) and Layer 3 (IP) were tested simultaneously rather than

being tested individually.

-- Testing was completed on Extreme's least expensive Inferno series

stackable devices, showing noteworthy cost savings over modular devices

with expensive proprietary interfaces typically tested for this type of

functionality.

-- EAPS' resiliency was tested on both fiber and copper Ethernet

interfaces.

Using EAPS, Metro carriers benefit by gaining the cost efficiency and scalability of Ethernet while realizing higher levels of reliability for services. For example, a carrier can now deploy a highly dependable and inexpensive fiber-optic ring spanning hundreds of route miles by combining EAPS in conjunction with a redundant design with aggregation, edge and premise switching platforms.

Results of the test can be found at http://www.extremenetworks.com/

Tony Dann, head of IP evaluation services at BT Exact, said: "Proven resilience is a key requirement in carrier-grade networks. Our tests verify that Extreme Networks' EAPS solution provides the Ethernet link and node resilience that carriers demand."

BT Exact

BT Exact is BT's research, technology and IT operations business. It specializes in telecommunications engineering, leading-edge network design, IT system and application development and has extensive expertise in business consulting and human factors. Its knowledge helps its customers across BT Group and in selected other businesses gain maximum advantage from their investments in communications networks and IT systems, develop new capabilities and open new opportunities.

BT Exact brings together the technological expertise of BT's research laboratories and the operational experience of the teams that design and operate BT's IT systems. Backed by a team of over 6,000 technologists, it is active and influential in setting global standards.

BT Exact builds on the insights and expertise developed by its research to address the demands of the next-generation internet, as well as advanced data services, information and network security, and software systems to support communications networks worldwide.

BT Exact has people based worldwide -- including locations across the UK and in Asia, continental Europe, and North America.

For more information about BT Exact, please go to bt.com/btexact

Extreme Networks, Inc.

Extreme Networks delivers the most effective applications and services infrastructure by creating networks that are faster, simpler and more cost-effective than conventional solutions. Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Extreme Networks markets its network switching solutions in more than 50 countries. For more information, visit http://www.extremenetworks.com/

NOTE: Extreme Networks is a registered trademark of Extreme Networks, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

This announcement contains forward-looking statements regarding the performance and capabilities of certain networking products. Customers may experience actual results that differ from the reported test results due to specific equipment and network configurations and other features of the customer's environment that differ from the test environment.

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