Cisco has rolled out a scaled-down metro Ethernet switching solution that will allow carriers to bring Ethernet connectivity to enterprise environments. At the same time, the communication equipment giant has made hardware and software additions to three of its existing Metro Ethernet switching solutions.
Delivering Gigabit Ethernet connectivity to enterprise customers is clearly one strategy that today's carriers are eyeing as a means for gaining new revenue streams. To help in these efforts, Cisco has spun out its Catalyst 3750 platform, a fixed-port system that resides at the customer premise.
The 3750 comes equipped with 24 10/100 ports as well as two small form-factor pluggable (SFP) ports for Gigabit Ethernet pipes. The systems also provides two additional SFP ports for providing Gigabit Ethernet uplinks into the metro network.
The two uplink ports each deliver three levels of queuing, said Wesley Mukai, manager of product and technical marketing at Cisco. Each port can support 1,000 virtual LAN (VLAN) queues and each VLAN queue has four queues associated with it. Thus, by offering this layered approach, each of the uplink ports can support up to 4,000 queues, Mukai said.
The 3750 delivers support for multiprotocol label switching (MPLS), 802.1q, and virtual private networking (VPN). It also provides hot-swappable AC or DC redundant power supplies.
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