Ability to dynamically allocate Sonet capacity in tiny increments sets it apart from the competition, it claims
August 30, 2000
DENVER -- Geyser Networks unveiled the details of its first product, the OSM 4800 Services Manager, an optical networking product for the metropolitan area network, here at the National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference (NFOEC) show (see Geyser Spouts Off ). The product will be formally announced next week.
The market for such products, referred to as multiservice provisioning platforms (MSPPs), is a crowded one. The Geyser product includes the capability to aggregate multiple types of traffic like ATM (asynchronous transfer mode), TDM (time-division multiplexing), frame relay, and gigabit Ethernet to help reduce equipment costs in a metro network POP (point of presence), but such features are typical of the products in the space (see Sonet Goes POP).
What sets it apart, Geyser officials say, is its ability to dynamically provision Sonet capacity in increments of 1.5 Mbit/s. This allows it to maintain quality of service for a variety of traffic types running over the same network, by automatically adding or taking away capacity in response to network conditions.
Geyser claims other service provisioning platforms cannot perform this function dynamically. It also says that others typically allocate capacity in less efficient increments of 45 Mbit/s.
Appian Communications, which offers a product that competes with Geyser’s, says it plans to add the ability to add traffic in 1.5 Mbit/s in future products.
-- Marguerite Reardon, senior editor, Light Reading, http://www.lightreading.com
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