[179408] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: Multi-gigabit edge devices as CPE
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Mark Tinka)
Sun Apr 12 18:23:21 2015
X-Original-To: nanog@nanog.org
To: Hamish McGlinn <hmcglinn@gmail.com>
From: Mark Tinka <mark.tinka@seacom.mu>
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2015 00:23:12 +0200
in-reply-to: <CA+iLLbtWA7ny2tqW-XsyzydNOmiCb8wvNaC7i0CLnKuD9jhcow@mail.gmail.com>
Cc: NANOG <nanog@nanog.org>
Errors-To: nanog-bounces@nanog.org
On 13/Apr/15 00:15, Hamish McGlinn wrote:
>
> The ACX series is more of a hybrid. They are probably more likened to
> Layer 2 routers than switches. They are primarily designed as Mobile
> backhaul devices where integration into existing IP MPLS
> infrastructure would be a cost saving and design advantage. You can
> see this with the other models that have the TDM (E1/T1) interfaces.
> Those models use SAToP and CESoPSN to move TDM based circuits over an
> MPLS network. It's all rather clever really. The Ethernet ports on
> those models as well as the ethernet only models are an extension of
> that. They provide layer 2 interfaces where you don't really require
> layer 3 services (such as ethernet based mobile backhaul). So they are
> a switch, yes, but more than that. They utilise MPLS L2VPN/L2Circuits
> to move ethernet over the MPLS infrastructure. Hence why I thought it
> could be an alternative to terminating the layer 3 at the edge.
What you're referring to are the ACX500 through to the ACX4000 units.
The ACX5000 (5048 and 5096, respectively) are Metro-E switches (IP/MPLS
routers, really). Unlike the other ACX models, they do not come with any
non-Ethernet ports.
Mark.
