Riverstone Gets HVPLS Happy

PARIS -- In keeping with its pioneering heritage, Riverstone Networks (Pink Sheets:RSTN), a leading provider of carrier Ethernet solutions, will be demonstrating its Hierarchical Virtual Private LAN Services (HVPLS) capabilities on both its RS and 15000 product lines as part of the MPLS & Frame Relay Alliance Interoperability Demonstration at MPLS World Congress. Vendors participating in the event will perform HVPLS interoperability using the International Engineering Task Force (IETF) HVPLS standard developed by Marc Lasserre, Riverstone Networks' Chief Scientist. Riverstone will also demonstrate its Operations and Management (OAM) capabilities, specifically LSP ping and MPLS traceroute.

Last week, Riverstone successfully demonstrated HVPLS and OAM interoperability during a pre-event hot-staging in Germany. Moreover, Riverstone was the only vendor prepared to demonstrate line-rate 10G MPLS/VPLS at the hot-staging.

The demonstration is one of the industry's first interoperability events to showcase HVPLS. HVPLS extends the capabilities of VPLS, allowing Service Providers to further optimize their networks for Triple Play services by providing both the added reliability and scalability necessary to serve hundreds of thousands or even millions of subscribers dependably. It also provides a more cost-effective means of delivering high quality video services by pushing video packet replications for multicasting further out to the edge.

The introduction of HVPLS capabilities marks the third phase in what Riverstone views as a carrier network evolution. This evolution begins with the shift from ATM, Frame Relay and Multiservice switches to Ethernet and Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS). Phase two is the establishment of multipoint connectivity based on VPLS, allowing LAN-to-LAN services and multicasting among other services. HVPLS then creates a tiered structure that allows providers to further increase the scalability of the network and enhance reliability for inter and multi-metro networks. Future phases of the architecture will further increase scalability, manageability, and seamless support for legacy services across multiple carrier Layer 2 and Layer 3 domains.

Riverstone Networks Inc.