Vitesse unveils industry’s lowest power access switch solution for small cell, mobile backhaul and network IP edge apps

CAMARILLO, USA: Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. is again expanding its Carrier Ethernet portfolio with a new family of switch engines, Serval. Complementing the previously announced Jaguar, LynX and Caracal solutions for carrier access, aggregation, and mobile applications, Serval is optimized for power and cost-sensitive applications at the network edge, delivering 75 percent lower power and 50 percent lower BOM cost than competitive options.

Serval is the industry’s only switch engine family to support MPLS/MPLS-TP LER and LSR and patented LTE-advanced-ready IEEE 1588v2, useable in both fiber and microwave applications. The family also offers the most complete Ethernet Operations, Administration & Maintenance (OAM) support, critical for businesses which typically receive Ethernet services spanning multiple service provider networks.

“Ethernet markets are growing quickly – we forecast double-digit CAGRs for both Ethernet microwave backhaul equipment and Ethernet Access Devices through 2015, based on the dual fundamental drivers of growing traffic levels, and operators’ migration from legacy TDM backbones to all-Ethernet access/aggregation networks,” stated Michael Howard, principal analyst, carrier networks, at Infonetics Research. “Vitesse designed Serval to be optimized for Ethernet-based access systems, which will enable manufacturers to produce equipment that will help service providers achieve the operations efficiencies they need as they migrate their access networks to Ethernet.”

Design in advantages with Serval
Serval is ideal for fiber, microwave and millimeter-wave backhaul, as well as wireline network edge devices, because it uniquely offers full OAM in hardware, including the Maintenance Entity End Points (MEPs) defined in IEEE 802.ag as MEP-Up and MEP-Down. Such connectivity fault management is crucial for businesses which must often rely on various service providers for Ethernet access.

Serval delivers a Vitesse patented feature set for Transparent Clock support over Microwave networks, whereas the competition lags on implementing the same level of precision in Vitesse’s IEEE1588v2 solution.

Serval extends beyond simple priority queuing, and includes hierarchical QoS, i.e. multi-stage scheduling, policing, and traffic shaping. It also provides the ability to separate subscriber types with per subscriber queuing, a unique capability of Serval compared to any other access Ethernet switch.

Serval is an Ethernet-optimized solution that meets all of the stringent Carrier network requirements and delivers twice the switching bandwidth at half the power consumed by a comparable NPU-based solution. In contrast, other solutions carry the high power and cost penalty of legacy TDM support. Additionally, they lack advanced Carrier Ethernet network requirements such as precision IEEE 1588v2 timing, the essential precision timing protocol required for operating mobile and edge networks.

Serval delivers the superior network timing and architectural advantages pivotal to successful deployments of small cell, mobile backhaul and network access equipment, such as Ethernet Access Devices (EAD) and Network Interface Devices (NID).

“Power is one of the highest OPEX considerations in many emerging regional networks, such as China and India. Compared to competitive ASSP and NPU-based solutions which range from 6-15W, Serval delivers the industry’s richest Carrier feature set for access-edge applications at less than 3W,” said Uday Mudoi, director of product marketing at Vitesse. “With Carriers trending towards small micro and pico cells to add network capacity, Serval is ideal for this burgeoning application. Additionally, with its industrial temperature range support, Serval enables a variety of outdoor and fanless designs, such as microwave backhaul enclosures and 1U Ethernet access device systems.”