Alcatel is also looking to add dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) capabilities to its systems. According to Newell, DWDM SFPs are starting to hit the market. If all goes according to plan, Alcatel will implement this capability in the 7750 family by year's end.
Alcatel expects to raise eyebrows on the software side by changing its QoS approaches in the 7750. "QoS is where we are fundamentally different," Newell said.
Since Alcatel uses its own network processor, the company was able to go into the microcode and make QoS changes to its chips without respinning silicon. With the changes, the company has created a multitiered scheduling structure for its 7750 family.
Like other boxes, Alcatel's 7750 can reserve bandwidth for high-priority traffic. In a typical system, however, this bandwidth would be locked up whether or not the bandwidth is used. That's no longer the case with the 7750. If high-priority traffic is not using the reserved bandwidth, the 7750's hierarchical QoS architecture makes the bandwidth available for lower-priority traffic schemes.
By changing the way QoS is handled, Newell said, carriers can offer different types of service-level agreements. These include a multiapplication SLA, where each application gets a reserved bandwidth but lower-priority applications can bust to use all available bandwidth. It also includes a multisite SLA, in which two offices connected to the same VPN share one SLA.
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