Welcome to another Network Technologies Newsletter. In this issue we introduce our new website, discuss an exciting new product: DC-PCE, provide an update on the latest available features, and plug our upcoming events where you can meet with us live. We hope you find this information useful. If you have any questions or comments please let us know.
Check out our new website!
Exciting news!
We have launched a new microsite that focuses exclusively on the portable technology solutions from Network Technologies of Metaswitch. You can find it at www.network-technologies.metaswitch.com/
We welcome any
you have on the new site.
Introducing DC-PCE
Defined by the IETF, Path Computation Element (PCE) addresses the challenges that may arise in end-to-end inter-domain and inter-area networking, network scalability, and complex path computations. Mainly applicable to G/MPLS networks, the PCE acts as a route server used to compute traffic engineered routes on the behalf of MPLS-based platforms in the network.
RDC-PCE is available today as part of our fully Integrated Control Plane solution which dramatically lowers project risk, time to market and cost for software developers. It was designed and developed by the same engineers who created our industry leading IP Routing and MPLS protocols. Therefore, users are assured that it delivers on the same principles of scale, modularity, and fault tolerance that have made our control plane solutions so successful.
For additional information please visit DC-PCE or contact us at
.
Innovation
Watch the latest video from
Metaswitch's CEO, Kevin DeNuccio, as he discusses the Network Technologies Division and how the company is
innovating and partnering with equipment manufacturers and service providers to support key trends in the
industry.
Evolutive OTN
Our Integrated Control Plane solution is enhanced to add support for ODU-0, ODU-2e, ODU-4 and ODU-flex. These are based on multiple drafts which should become fully standardized later in 2012; at which time we will provide updates for full standard compliance. For more information on our OTN solutions please see our Deploy OTN Today page.
DC-OAM BFD & DC-OAM Ping
DC-OAM BFD is a library of functions for BFD control packet handling and BFD session monitoring. It may be used in conjunction with Metaswitch's MPLS and/or IP Routing product suites, 3rd party control plane solutions or without a control plane at all.
DC-OAM Ping is a library of functions that build and parse LSP Ping messages and manage the LSP Ping transactions. It is integrated with DC-MPLS to provide an end-to-end solution.
For more information please see our DC-OAM page.
MPLS-TP OAM signaling
DC-MPLS is enhanced to support the signaling of MPLS OAM configuration on RSVP tunnels (as described in draft-ietf-ccamp-oam-configuration-fwk and draft-ietf-ccamp-rsvp-te-mpls-tp-oam-ext). This allows routers to negotiate the OAM properties for an LSP, for example as required in MPLS-TP networks.
Multi-Segment Pseudowires
DC-MPLS is updated to support Multi-Segment Pseudowires (as described in RFC6037). This allows routers to provide a layer 2 service that spans multiple domains, for example to allow interworking between IP/MPLS and MPLS-TP networks.
Multi-Topology ISIS
DC-ISIS is enhanced to support multi-topology IS-IS (as described in RFC 5120). Multi-topology IS-IS allows a set of independent topologies to be run within a single IS-IS domain. This can be useful for a variety of purposes.
- Separate IPv4 and IPv6 topologies can be created. This prevents IPv6 traffic black-holes if a subset of routers within an IS-IS domain do not support IPv6.
- A separate multicast routing topology can be created, which is then used to perform Reverse Path Forwarding (RPF) lookups.
OSPF Multi-Area Adjacency
DC-OSPF is enhanced (as described in RFC5185) to allow a single physical link to be shared by multiple OSPF areas. The link can then be considered as an intra-area link in multiple areas. This can lead to improved routing performance as intra-area links are preferred to inter-area links by OSPF.
OSPF as PE-CE in L3 VPNs
OSPF as the PE-CE protocol in L3VPNs has been supported by DC-OSPF for many years. This feature allows deployment of DC-OSPF as the PE-CE protocol in more complex networks, particularly those with back-door links. Includes support for IP VPN Loop Prevention (RFC 4576) and OSPF as the PE/CE Protocol in L3VPNs (RFC 4577).
Layer 3 VPN Graceful Restart
Layer 3 VPN Graceful Restart (as described in RFC4781) allows graceful restart of an entire L3VPN router or part of an L3VPN router - for example where different processes are running on different physical blades.
IGP Shortcut
IGP shortcut (as described in RFC 3906) allows your IGP router to consider and use MPLS tunnels when routing IP traffic, even if these tunnels are unsuitable for running the IGP itself. For example, this allows routing of IP traffic to remote destinations through unidirectional MPLS tunnels in your network.
We continue to invest in new product features, with releases planned later in 2012. If you are interested in finding out more, or if you have an interest in influencing our roadmap, please contact your sales representative or email us at
Events, Webinars & White Papers
Events
We will be speaking and/or exhibiting at the following upcoming events. Please be sure to stop by and say hello or if you prefer -
.
New York, November 8-9, 2011
MPLS in Transport Networks
Joe Whitehouse, Director of Marketing, Network Technologies
Wednesday, November 9, 10.05-11.05am
Paris, France
February 7-10, 2012
Path Computation, OpenFlow, and the Centralized Control Plane
Pat Moore, Director of Business Development, Network Technologies
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 4pm
Webinar
In June we co-sponsored and presented on a MPLS-TP webinar hosted by LightReading. The playback is available at LightReading and the full presentation may be downloaded here.
White Paper
Recently industry analysts HeavyReading released a white paper on MPLS-TP technology titled, MPLS in Next Generation Transport Networks. The paper was co-sponsored by Network Technologies of Metaswitch and includes our perspective on the importance of MPLS-TP signaling (see appendix). The paper is available here.