The ME2 box doesn't even have a working viable VT fabric! Meaning that the only sub-wavelength service it can drop is DS3. And have you ever heard of a DS3 that supports UPSR BLSR and linear protection? :) Right on the Web site for God sake! I've heard of Optics that support Switched rings but DS3s!!! http://www.ciena.com/products/... I agree fully with Light-path. Are you an employee of Ciena? Perhaps a Marketeer? Somehow you don't understand the difference between: What is available NOW, and what is Available on Slideware! Come on the ME2 got a sprint deal through Politics and creative contracts with bundling of the CoreDirector, thats all. It has nothing to do with the "Best features" it still does not provide. You know Cyras was the mother of all fibbers. I still remember them saying how their 480G backplane (I can't remember the moniker for it... Sasquatch err something) was the highest capacity backplane. God they so stole that from Cerent! Come on they were so full of S#%$. It was coming out their ears. They saw the us successful and LITERALLY copied our slides and modified our slides. It was quite comical. Hey by the way... If I remember right... and I do :) The box had a 768 STS matrix, and 12 IO slots (Ala Cerent!)... They also promised any card any slot. Well here you go, why don't you take the slideware, plug in 6 protected OC-192s And try to make Cross-Connections... (OOPS out of bullets Hans) Yes they can't even Support any card any slot with their Switching Fabric! Doesn't support Drop and Continue, Doesn't support Dual Ring interconnect, Doesn't support X.86, GFP, ANSI T1X1.5 etc. Come on need I go on? The box won't be a very solid platform for Ethernet. It truly is a ME2 box that was BOUGHT on the sole basis of allowing the box to drop Sub-sts/Sub-wavelength off the Coredirector. Of course they only have a 1344 VT fabric (Which Doesn't work worth a crap)so they can't even take multiple OC48s from the Coredirector and do that job. The box is old technology the only benefit I can see is the promise of very limited (5g) ATM switching also EXACTLY what we at Cerent had in Richardson though not GA (Early Beta) which was killed by Cisco. No Ciena made a mistake with ME2, they just can't admit it now.
re: Ciena Fleshes Out Sprint DealLighten up bulb, or maybe dim up.....
You give me credit for alot that I didn't comment on. It is quite true that the 454 was used almost extensively as a ds3 to oc48 aggregator. This fact along with massive give aways is responsible for the historical success of this product. Oh, btw, ever reach that billion dollar run rate?
re: Ciena Fleshes Out Sprint DealThe K2 atleast has OC192 in very well working condition supporting all the three APS schemes. Do cerent have working OC192 ? The only card that can not be placed in any slot is OC192. This restriction does not apply to other IO cards. As far as VT fabric is concerned, I beleive they started supporting VT cross connects since Rel 2.0. They have support for ATM, which is why eAccess deployed K2. The box can support inter-ring connection between any APS schemes. I think that they are going to support ethernet very soon.
You look bitter because you lost the Sprint deal to K2. Don't be so bitter because such things will be more frequent in the future & may affect your health.
re: Ciena Fleshes Out Sprint DealLosing(buying) the Sprint deal is a interestng statement. I think someone wrote on this site, that ciena threw-in at no cost 3 K2s for every CoreDirector that Sprint purchase...
re: Ciena Fleshes Out Sprint DealAtleast Ciena did not try and buy out Gotham. Gotham shut their doors a couple of days back.... Another one bites the dust!!!
You are quite obviously on serious medication or a soon to be ex-Cyras employee.
The K2 is NEVER, repeat NEVER, one of the frontrunners in any truly competitive acquisition.
At least some competitors had something to offer (ala Nortel and Marconi). But we all know where those companies, engineers and and tech support are headed.
The 15454 has been rock solid for years. It has everything from T1 to OC192, DWDM, 10/100/100 ether switching, LINE RATE GIGE, NEBS3, SDH, and new enhancements every quarter.
If I were you, I'd start polishing that old resume.
re: Ciena Fleshes Out Sprint DealLitewave must also be a ciena employee. ciena purchased Cryas over a year touting the K2 was a fully cooked product ready to be installed at customers' sites. In the last 14 months, no one has reported actual usage on a live network (except one in Asia that crashed their network) - so where is the K2 and for that matter where is waldo??? Last reports that I have heard that customers are sending the boat anchors (K2) back to ciena still in their shipping crates.
re: Ciena Fleshes Out Sprint DealThe 15454 has been rock solid for years. It has everything from T1 to OC192, DWDM, 10/100/100 ether switching, LINE RATE GIGE, NEBS3, SDH, and new enhancements every quarter.
Yah, sure.
OC192 since March'02, and it still doesn't work properly.
SDH since... what was it, last week? and it still doesn't work properly.
LINE RATE GIGE... Dumb rate GIGE more like it.
I've played with the box dude, don't fake it. The only reason people buy the '454 is because they think theres no viable alternative when infact there is.
No doubt the '454 had a headstart, but really, no one needs to defend the K2, I'm sure the market will unmask the winner eventually.
re: Ciena Fleshes Out Sprint DealThe Beginning: Cerent, Cyras, and Siara were all products developed from one company originally called Fiberlane. There were disagreements within Fiberlane about where to drive the development of the product that all of these platforms originated from.
No one company stole others slideware, it all originated from the same place and was built on from a common base. Each of the three splinter groups just added more slides to the base.
All three of these companies were purchased. Siara - Redback SE800 Cerent - Cisco 15454 Cyras - Ciena K2
Today: Cerent obviously delivered first and gained market share by being first out of the gate. It was primarily an OC-48 to DS-3 platform. OC-192 still doesn't work, GigE is not full line rate, etc...
Redback has turned the product into more of a router for the edge with TDM functionality. No need to bring up more with Redback seeing that it is not being discussed.
Ciena bought Cyras as the last really big acquisition of the telecom boom. It was later to market, but has a working OC-192, ATM and full line rate GigE, but has problems at the VT level. The timing was terrible. Had the market continued to go strong there would have been more demand for the OC-192 on the MSPP and K2 would have got more traction.
In the end, Cerent deployed first and got the market share. K2 did not deliver and is suffering the winter. Each product has strengths and weaknesses and customers that both hate and love the decision they made.
The ME2 box doesn't even have a working viable VT fabric! Meaning that the only sub-wavelength service it can drop is DS3. And have you ever heard of a DS3 that supports UPSR BLSR and linear protection? :) Right on the Web site for God sake! I've heard of Optics that support Switched rings but DS3s!!! http://www.ciena.com/products/...
I agree fully with Light-path. Are you an employee of Ciena? Perhaps a Marketeer? Somehow you don't understand the difference between: What is available NOW, and what is Available on Slideware! Come on the ME2 got a sprint deal through Politics and creative contracts with bundling of the CoreDirector, thats all. It has nothing to do with the "Best features" it still does not provide. You know Cyras was the mother of all fibbers. I still remember them saying how their 480G backplane (I can't remember the moniker for it... Sasquatch err something) was the highest capacity backplane. God they so stole that from Cerent! Come on they were so full of S#%$. It was coming out their ears. They saw the us successful and LITERALLY copied our slides and modified our slides. It was quite comical.
Hey by the way... If I remember right... and I do :) The box had a 768 STS matrix, and 12 IO slots (Ala Cerent!)... They also promised any card any slot. Well here you go, why don't you take the slideware, plug in 6 protected OC-192s And try to make Cross-Connections... (OOPS out of bullets Hans) Yes they can't even Support any card any slot with their Switching Fabric!
Doesn't support Drop and Continue, Doesn't support Dual Ring interconnect, Doesn't support X.86, GFP, ANSI T1X1.5 etc. Come on need I go on? The box won't be a very solid platform for Ethernet. It truly is a ME2 box that was BOUGHT on the sole basis of allowing the box to drop Sub-sts/Sub-wavelength off the Coredirector. Of course they only have a 1344 VT fabric (Which Doesn't work worth a crap)so they can't even take multiple OC48s from the Coredirector and do that job. The box is old technology the only benefit I can see is the promise of very limited (5g) ATM switching also EXACTLY what we at Cerent had in Richardson though not GA (Early Beta) which was killed by Cisco. No Ciena made a mistake with ME2, they just can't admit it now.
Cheerio,