The Cisco^® ONS 15454 Multiservice Transport Platform (MSTP) provides a comprehensive, intelligent dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) solution for expanding metropolitan (metro) and regional bandwidth.

Product Overview

Release 9.2 of the Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP expands the platform’s reconfiguration options. In addition to the existing 32-channeland 40-channel reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer (ROADM) cards, one new card (Figure 1) is introduced in this release to optimize and increase the MSTP’s throughput density and extend the flexibility of MSTPnodes.

The new 80-channel wavelength cross-connect card (product number 15454-80-WXC-C) is a double-slot unit, optimized for Degree-2 and Degree-N reconfigurable nodes.

Similarly to the already available 40-channel wavelength cross-connect (40-WXC) card, and thanks to the software functionalities extended from previous releases, the new 80-WXC-C provides multi-degree switching capabilities at the individual wavelength level. Mesh and multi-ring network topologies can now be extended to 50-GHz, 80-channel DWDM systems, with complete flexibility of service routing at all nodes in the network.

The 80-WXC-C can be used in the core of the network to build 50-GHz ROADM nodes. With a simple software configuration, the same unit can also be used to provide colorless multiplexing and demultiplexing to ROADM nodes.

The Cisco ONS 15454 ROADM cards are plug-in modules that deliver the flexibility to access network bandwidth from a single DWDM channel all the way to 80 channels, to support the requirements of service provider and enterprise networks. Table 1 provides deployment details.

Table 1. 80-Channel Wavelength Cross-Connect Card: Deployment Information

The Cisco ONS 15454 80-WXC-C card operates on the ITU 50-GHz wavelength plan. The card integrates automatic per-channel power monitor and control capabilities, providing node- and network-based automatic-power-level management on each input and output port. Per-channel optical path selection is also done in a completely automated way through Wavelength Path Provisioning (WPP) at the network level, featuring end-to-end, point-and-click wavelength provisioning and easy SONET/SDH-like wavelength management.

The ROADM node architecture has been specifically defined and engineered to provide:

● High reliability: Enables complete independence between specific direction-facing units with the possibility to house units in physically separated shelves.

● Automatic optical power balancing: Per-channel automatic power control allows an intelligent “self-healing” approach to DWDM, which is unique in the market.

● Low insertion loss: Selected technology allows direct integration of different functionalities in the same optical module, reducing to the bare minimum the number of optical connections.

● Flexibility: The unit can work either as a core building block for 80 channels Optical Cross-Connect nodes or as a colorless Multiplexer/Demultiplexer. Consequently, 80-WXC ports can be used to manage individual channels (Multiplexer/Demultiplexer operation) or to terminate Optical Multiplex Sections, allowing Networks/Rings interconnection without any O-E-O conversion.

The optical cards incorporate faceplate-mounted LEDs to provide a quick visual check of the operational status of the card. Printed on each of the faceplates is an icon, an orange circle, which is mapped to shelf-slot icons indicating the shelf slot where the card can be physically installed. The cards are supported by the integrated Cisco Transport Controller craft manager, which provides the user access for operations, administration, maintenance, and provisioning (OAM&P) of the system. Cisco Transport Controller can also provide a per-channel graphical representation of the optical power levels associated with each individual path in the ROADM nodes (Figure 2).

Complete flexibility provided by the 80-channel wavelength cross-connect unit (80-WXC-C) greatly simplifies the design of optical networks in terms of unit placement. However this flexibility alone is not enough to allow users to define any possible optical path at the network level. The Cisco Transport Planner optical design tool features the possibility to design DWDM networks based on ROADM functionalities and to verify all the possible optical paths and the DWDM interface types defined by the user. The possibility to select any available optical path and any DWDM interface type allows a truly flexible network design. The design is highly customizable by the user, who can compare different solutions and create hypothetical scenarios in a simple and effective way.

The flexibility provided by the smart 80-WXC-C design and Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP software allows building multiple node architectures using the 80-WXC-C as a building block.

Figure 3 shows the internal layout of the 80-WXC-C. The integrated output connection manager (OCM) is connected to all the input and output ports through bidirectional switching. This allows using the unit unidirectionally either as a colorless multiplexer or as a demultiplexer. Similarly to the 40-WXC-C, the unit is used bidirectionally when building the core of ROADM nodes.

Figure 4 and Figure 5 show the node architectures for Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP, 80-channel, Degree-2 and multi-degree ROADM nodes. The 80-WXC-C unit is orange when used unidirectionally as a colorless multiplexer or demultiplexer. It is shown in blue when used bidirectionally to build the core of a ROADM node.

Product Specifications

Tables 2 through 6 give specifications for the 80-channel wavelength cross-connect card.

Table 2. Regulatory Compliance[1]

Table 3. System Requirements

Table 4. Specifications for the 80-WXC-C Card

1. Short-term refers to a period of not more than 96 consecutive hours and a total of not more than 15 days in 1 year. This refers to a total of 360 hours in any given year, but no more than 15 occurrences during that 1-year period.

Table 5. Optical Specifications for the 80-WXC-C Card

Table 6. Optical Specifications for Mesh Patch Panel Units (same used with 40-WXC-C)

Ordering Information

Table 7 gives ordering information for the Cisco ONS 15454 80-channel wavelength cross-connect card.

Table 7. System Ordering Information