Astral Point Communications Inc., an optical networking start-up, is now shipping a new class of products for the optical metro access market. The company announced general availability of its ON 5000 Optical Services Node, an optical access system that is to improve the performance of high-speed, multi-service networks. Release 1.0 of the ON 5000 node is a 16 slot chassis that houses line cards offering leased line, digital cross connect, IP, ATM, Ethernet and 32-channel wavelength add-drop services at speeds from DS0-OC48c. It includes an OSA (optical services architecture) to ease the process of upgrading SONET networks. The OSA incorporates an algorithm, called a self-healing mesh, to enable SONET-quality protection and restoration capabilities, and makes use of optical power to simplify service upgrades. The ON 5000 product incorporates a patented optics technology to reduce light loss during optical transmission, resulting in less amplification and elimination of power-consuming components. This feature also enables rapid provisioning. The algorithm provides sub-50 ms restoration capability and is fully interoperable with SONET networks made up of thousands of nodes. Included in the ON 5000 is the ONset network management system, which incorporates a software “wizard” with a knowledge-based rule set that enables service providers to add hundreds of circuits in minutes instead of months. ONset also provides centralized management of circuit aggregation, grooming, LAN interconnection, banding and transport functions. ON 5000 has an “autodiscovery” capability, which provides end-to-end circuit provisioning, self-provisioning, self-healing, automatic load balancing and automatic protection switching. The ON 5000 ranges in price from US$30,000 to $250,000 per node, depending on features and capacity. Delivery is four to six weeks after receipt of order.
Prices listed are in US currency.