Cisco Prime™ Optical is a complete, carrier-class management system that integrates the end-to-end management of legacy transport networks and packet optical transport networks (OTNs). It is part of the Cisco Prime for IP Next Generation Network (NGN) product family, which simplifies the design, provisioning, and management of carrier-grade networks. Cisco Prime Optical helps service providers deliver the capacity and quality of service (QoS) required to support the delivery of rich content-based services and high-bandwidth applications.
Benefits
Cisco Prime Optical is a complete management system for Cisco® optical transport products. With a single software application, system operators can manage the entire service delivery lifecycle in packet optical networks and legacy technologies such as Packet over Synchronous Optical Network (SONET)/Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH). Cisco Prime Optical provides service providers the following key benefits:
• Greater efficiency: Maintains an efficient and productive optical infrastructure with one view of the nationwide optical network supporting fault, configuration, performance, and security management, constantly monitoring the key performance indicators of the optical network.
• Simple and accurate: Makes advanced management capabilities such as A-to-Z circuit provisioning easy to learn and error free.
• Faster and lower cost: Reduces the initial network discovery time by half, allowing shorter system startup, significantly reducing the length of the network maintenance window, and reducing operating expenses (OpEx).
New in Cisco Prime Optical Release 9.5
Cisco Prime Optical is the evolution of Cisco Transport Manager. It includes all of that product's powerful capabilities combined with significant enhancements.
New features include:
• Wavelength Switched Optical Network (WSON) control plane: Enhances Generalized Multiprotocol Label Switching (GMPLS) capabilities with awareness of wavelength properties and optical impairments so circuit problems can be detected and fixed before service is activated.
• New support for Cisco products: These products and features are now supported by Cisco Prime Optical:
– Cisco ONS 15454 Any Rate Muxponder Card and Cisco ONS 15454 Any Rate Xponder Card are plug-in modules for the Cisco ONS 15454 Multiservice Transport Platform (MSTP) that provide a high degree of flexibility for the multiservice aggregation transport of a large variety of signals and interfaces into enterprises, Metro, or regional service provider networks.
– Synchronous Ethernet (SyncE) and IEEE 1588v2 Precision Time Protocol support on the Cisco Carrier Packet Transport product family Release 9.5 for more effective management of Cisco Carrier Packet Transport platforms.
– Management of the dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) interface of Cisco ASR 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers and Cisco CRS-1 Carrier Routing System to provide end-to-end management of IP over DWDM (IPoDWDM).
Table 1 includes a summary of enhancements and new features of Cisco Prime Optical 9.5.
Table 1. Enhancements and New Features of Cisco Prime Optical 9.5
Enhancements and New Features
Description
Benefits
Wavelength Switched Optical Network Control Plane
Optical Impairment-Aware WSON Control Plane for Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP simplified creation of optical paths
In networks with an Automatic Switched Optical Network (ASON) and a GMPLS control plane, establishing a connection considers only bandwidth and link up or down status. Optical layer impairments are not considered, and the optical channel is assumed to work by design. In this case, only preplanned channels are guaranteed to work. GMPLS alone is not sufficient to decide whether a proposed path is feasible in the photonic domain.
The Cisco WSON control plane architecture enhances GMPLS capabilities with awareness of wavelength properties and optical impairments, offering dynamic service provisioning on a flexible DWDM network.
The solution introduces extensions to GMPLS that supply path computation with analysis of optical feasibility while providing protocol interoperability with the GMPLS suite. Optical feasibility analysis needs the implementation to be aware of physical optical impairments. Cisco's DWDM-aware GMPLS is aware of optical network topology, node model, node configuration, and optical impairments of node and fiber, which are all fundamental in optical channel path calculation.
• Network availability is improved, as the network is tolerant to multiple failures, with the ability to reroute wavelengths using the management software, without complex replanning exercises and service calls.
• Network optimization is enhanced. Network topology is modified over a period of time, as service requirements change. The optical-aware WSON control plane helps to reoptimize and to reduce or eliminate network fragmentation.
• Time to market is significantly improved with rapid service setup. Without the need for complicated network planning, a simplified GUI allows users to dynamically demand wavelength services across DWDM networks.
• By designing and provisioning new DWDM services with Cisco Prime Optical, service providers can efficiently use the benefits of reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexers (ROADMs) and reduce the number of wavelengths and transponders needed in the network. Affecting the lowest layer in the network, this directly translates to savings not just in DWDM equipment, but also in ports at higher-layer equipment (cross-connects and routers), resulting in tremendous capital expenditure (CapEx) savings for operators.
• The WSON control plane provides optical rerouting capabilities, allowing service providers to offer services with new service-level agreement (SLA) levels in addition to their present modes of operations.
New Support for Cisco Products
Support for Cisco ONS 15454 Any Rate Muxponder and Xponder Cards
The multiport Cisco ONS 15454 Any Rate Muxponder Card and Cisco ONS 15454 Any Rate Xponder Card are plug-in modules for the Cisco ONS.
15454 MSTP. The cards provide a high degree of flexibility for the multiservice aggregation transport of a large variety of signals and interfaces into enterprise, Metro, and regional service provider networks.
The Cisco ONS 15454 Any Rate Cards support the following services:
SONET/SDH
• STM-1/OC-3
• STM-4/OC-12
• STM-16/OC-48
OTN
• OTU-1
• OTU-2
Ethernet
• Fast Ethernet (FE)
• Gigabit Ethernet (GE)
SAN
• Enterprise Systems Connection (ESCON)
• 1 Gigabit Fibre Channel or fiber connectivity (FICON)
• 2 Gigabit Fibre Channel or FICON
• 4 Gigabit Fibre Channel or FICON
• 8 Gigabit Fibre Channel or FICON
Video
• SD-SDI (270 Mbps)
• HD-SDI (1.485 Gbps)
• Third-generation SDI (3G-SDI) (2.970 Gbps)
Any Rate cards can aggregate any mix of services on the client SFP ports into an OTU-2 trunk interface. The main difference between the Any Rate Muxponder and Xponder is the supported bandwidth (20 Gbps for the Any Rate Muxponder compared to 40 Gbps for the Any Rate Xponder). Thus the Xponder card supports additional configurations.
The flexibility to support multiple rates.
and aggregate them over a DWDM interface using OTN technology brings huge savings in operating and management costs.
Support for Synchronous Ethernet (SyncE) and IEEE 1588v2 Precision Time Protocol on the Cisco Carrier Packet Transport product family Release 9.5
SyncE helps enable PHY-level frequency distribution through an Ethernet port. It is one of the critical building blocks of the IP NGN. Previously, SDH and SONET gear were used in conjunction with external timing technology (primary reference clock [PRC] or primary reference source [PRS] using Cesium oscillators and/or global positioning system [GPS] as the clock source) to provide accurate and stable frequency reference. Using similar external references as a source, SyncE, natively supported on the Cisco ASR 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers, achieves the same function.
Precision Time Protocol Version 2 (PTPv2) provides precise timing and synchronization over packet-based Ethernet infrastructures.
More effective management of Cisco Carrier Packet Transport platforms.
Management of the DWDM interface of Cisco ASR 9000 and Cisco CRS-1 Carrier Router System to provide end-to-end management of IPoDWDM
Some service providers use the power of IPoDWDM to combine and distribute video content rapidly and efficiently over an all-IP network and to provision additional network capacity instantly as demand increases for "any-play" consumer and managed business services.
• Lower CapEx and OpEx through the reduction of transport elements and, in some cases, the complete elimination of regeneration sites.
• Easier and faster service deployment through end-to-end circuit creation from the router through the DWDM with graphical point and click ease.
• Easier maintenance based on visualization of the topology crossed by the IPoDWDM circuit and graphical trace of the circuit.
• Faster troubleshooting through consolidation of the Layer 0 (DWDM) alarms with the Layer 2 and Layer 3 alarms on the router (available with the full Cisco Prime Network, Cisco Prime Optical, and Cisco Prime Central suites).
High Availability with disaster recovery configuration extended to the Linux platform
With a disaster recovery configuration, based on Red Hat Cluster Suite and Oracle Active Data Guard (ADG), the Cisco Transport Manager High-Availability Solution gives customers the flexibility to create an element management system (EMS) capable of withstanding any type of disaster with minimal downtime.
Keep network downtime to a minimum, provides carrier-class reliability.
No need for costly third-party software components to implement the disaster recovery configuration as the Oracle ADG is already embedded in the application and the Red Hat Cluster Suite subscription is available through Cisco.
About Cisco Prime
The Cisco Prime portfolio of enterprise and service provider management offerings empowers IT organizations to more effectively manage their networks and the services they deliver. Built on a service-centered foundation, the Cisco Prime portfolio of products supports integrated lifecycle management through an intuitive workflow oriented user experience. The portfolio of Cisco Prime solutions for service providers provides A-to-Z management for IP NGNs, mobility, video, and managed services.
For more information about Cisco Prime Optical, visit http://www.cisco.com/go/transport or contact your local account representative.
To download a copy of Cisco Prime Optical 9.5 for evaluation, please contact your Cisco sales representative or send an email to prime-optical@cisco.com and discover the benefits of this powerful solution with a no-cost, 120-day evaluation license.
To place an order, contact your local Cisco account representative or visit the Cisco Ordering Homepage.
