Chiaro Gets Router Patent

RICHARDSON, Texas -- Chiaro Networks, developer of true infrastructure-class IP/MPLS routing platforms, has recently been assigned three patents that together contribute to the industry-leading high availability (HA) capabilities of Chiaro's Enstara® core router platform.

Specifically, the patents provide improvements in the operation of IP routers under network and equipment failure scenarios, minimize the disruption to peer routers during faults, and minimize the cost of providing protection resources to accomplish these improvements.

"Patents like this are important because they help establish credibility for a technology company, providing evidence of innovation to support claims of technological and product advantages," said John Marcus, senior analyst at Current Analysis. "In this case, Chiaro's recent patents reinforce the validity of the high-availability claims offered for the Enstara platform."

Background on the Patents

Current IP router protection depends on re-routing and converging routing tables as quickly and efficiently as possible any time failures occur. Unfortunately, these convergence events can take tens of minutes in certain cases -- which in a communications network is unacceptably long.

The Chiaro patents describe technologies that provide redundancy to the router peering session, so that failures within a router are more completely transparent to the IP network. The result is that lengthy convergence times are eliminated for many classes of network faults. In addition, the technologies enabled by the patents work to reduce or eliminate the "bow-wave" effect that happens when a large number of router additions and withdrawals creep across the network in response to an equipment fault. Reducing this bow-wave effect leads to better stability and performance of the entire IP network.

"These patents vividly demonstrate the technological underpinnings of the Enstara platform's high-availability capabilities," said Tom McDermott, vice president of technology of Chiaro Networks. "The Chiaro Enstara router fully interoperates with existing IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) standards designed to enhance IP networks -- such as graceful restart and non-stop forwarding -- but this platform goes further still in providing better fault tolerance and recovery in a manner completely transparent to existing IP routers and networks. These capabilities form a big part of the 'infrastructure-class' nature of the Enstara platform."

Also in the Enstara platform, router blade protection switching is fully interoperable with the IETF Fast Reroute standards, providing network operators with additional, cost-effective methods for protecting against facility failures.

Chiaro Networks Inc.