SOLUTION BRIEF

CircuitFLEX
FLX-1610
Multi-protocol flexible networking card
The Optelian FLX-1610 networking cards aggregate and
switch Ethernet, SONET/SDH, storage, and video optical
wavelength services onto high capacity 10 Gb/s wavelengths.
The FLX-1610 offers broad networking capabilities based on
the technologies it supports, including 10 Gb/s and 20 Gb/s
point-to-point muxponder, and ADM on a Blade for ring and
linear chain deployments.

The flexibility of having 14 SFP ports that are capable of

supporting any mix of protocols, per-service protection
switching, performance monitoring and OTN line
encapsulation facilitates service delivery and network
capacity planning.

Wholesale Point-and-Click Service Networking

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FLX-1610 FLX-1610

Business 10G Networking over C/DWDM

14 14
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FLX-1610 FLX-1610
14
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FLX-1610
Residential

• Any protocol, any port • Per-service protection • Point-to-point muxponder

• Efficient aggregation • OTN/FEC Extended reach • ADM on a Blade
 SOLUTION BRIEF

Card capabilities
Multi-protocol support
The FLX-1610 supports client services from 155 Mb/s SONET/SDH OC-3/STM-1
OC-12/STM-4
to 4.25 Gb/s and, with the flexibility of SFP interfaces,
OC-48/STM-16
addresses the variety of optical interfaces seen within LANs
and data centers. Network operators can leverage a Gigabit Ethernet 1000Base-T, 1000Base-X
FLX-1610 service card to efficiently deliver multiple Storage 1G, 2G, 4G Fibre Channel/FICON
applications over the same wavelength.
Video SDI (SD, HD, 3G), DVB-ASI

Any port, any protocol

The FLX-1610 does not limit specific protocols to particular ports that would drive the need for card-level
network pre-engineering. The FLX-1610 service card’s “any port, any protocol” supports any combination of
protocols and rates up to a cumulative bandwidth of 10 Gb/s per line port. This is valuable when services are
being added to the network, as existing services do not have to be taken down to provision the new services.

Deployment flexibility with dual line ports

Having two line interfaces expands the deployment options possible. Point-to-point muxponder deployments
can be protected with per-service selectable 50 ms protection switching, or both line interfaces can support
working connectivity and offer 20 Gb/s of line capacity. The FLX-1610’s integrated cross-connect also allows
ADM-based configurations including linear chain and ring solutions to enable dynamic service connectivity
between any connected service card.

Optical Transport Network

Standards-based Optical Transport Network (OTN) line encapsulation enables interoperability with OTN-based
core networks and offers enhanced link budgets with Forward Error Correction (FEC). Selectable OTN GFEC,
EFEC and UFEC options offering between 6 - 9 dB gain.

Functional value
10G common currency
Network operators are standardizing on 10 Gb/s CWDM and DWDM network connectivity. 10 Gb/s muxponders
provide sub-wavelength aggregation of lower-rate connectivity to recoup capacity on in-service networks and
free up fiber infrastructure for new service opportunities. The FLX-1610 can combine up to 14 of these services,
potentially freeing up more than 1/3 of a 40-ch DWDM plan. As operational life of the network is extended and
efficient, its ROI is further enhanced.

Efficient, low latency grooming

The FLX-1610 provides low latency mapping of client signals into 10 Gb/s wavelengths and allows full-rate client
services to be allocated bandwidth that is fine-tuned to exactly what is required.

Transparency
For many applications, SONET and SDH client services require precise clock synchronization. The FLX-1610
provides a transparent operating mode where the service card will pass all of the SONET/SDH overhead bytes
transparently and their original timing.
 SOLUTION BRIEF

Deployment examples
High capacity point-to-point interconnect
Point-to-point, high capacity solutions are widely leveraged within the cloud and data center interconnect
application space. This provides a high-speed connection to replicate data for business continuity/disaster
recovery (BCDR) implementations, virtualize separate data center facilities, and more effectively leverage
storage and compute resources across the whole organization.

The FLX-1610 provides multiple point-to-point deployment options to best meet application requirements.
10 Gb/s connectivity can be provided either unprotected or protected on a per-service basis with sub-50 ms
protection switch times. This provides a resilient WAN infrastructure that is low latency and provides guaranteed
bandwidth per service over a high capacity 10 Gb/s network connection.

Primary Secondary
Data Center Data Center

Server clustering
SERVER SERVER
14 14
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…
10G λ LAN interconnect
SWITCH
FLX-1610 FLX-1610 SWITCH

SAN infrastructure
STORAGE STORAGE

Optional WAN Protection

NAS infrastructure
STORAGE STORAGE

10G λ Server clustering

SERVER SERVER
14 14
…

LAN interconnect
SWITCH
FLX-1610 10G λ FLX-1610 SWITCH

SAN infrastructure
STORAGE STORAGE

20G Connectivity Solution

NAS infrastructure
STORAGE STORAGE

In situations where full transport equipment redundancy is required and subtending equipment provides
protection functionality, the FLX-1610 can be used in 20 Gb/s point-to-point muxponder mode where attached
connections can be multiplexed to either 10G unprotected line for an extremely high client density/high
throughput connection between facilities using two wavelengths.

Network capacity reclamation

Adding a wavelength within a service delivery network is rarely done at less than 10 Gb/s. Network operators
have standardized on 10 Gb/s connections and allocating a wavelength to a lower rate connection, such as
SONET OC-48, is inefficient as there is stranded network capacity—in the case of an OC-48 it is 75% inefficient.

<NEW> EPL Servics(s)

SWITCH
SWITCH
SONET OC-3/12/48

14
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14
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10G λ
MSSP
FLX-1610 MSSP
FLX-1610 MSSP

MSSP MSSP
MSSP MSSP
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MSSP MSSP

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FLX-1610 MSSP
MSSP
FLX-1610 MSSP
 SOLUTION BRIEF

The FLX-1610 provides extensive capabilities to manage and eliminate stranded bandwidth. The full complement
of SONET services—from OC-3 through OC-48—and their SDH equivalents, can be provisioned on any port
and aggregated to the 10 Gb/s line, reclaiming wavelengths and network capacity. In addition, the multiprotocol
nature of the FLX-1610 also allows it to support overlays of new services, such as GbE private line connections,
over the same shared 10 Gb/s connection.

Wavelength service delivery core infrastructure

Delivering services to customers is an extremely competitive part of many service provider’s business, where
customer responsiveness and rapid service delivery are almost as important as service pricing. Many service
providers are pre-deploying shared service delivery infrastructures within their aggregation and metro/core
network segments to limit truck rolls, avoid the commissioning of dedicated equipment, and to enable service
provisioning in days rather than months.

Point-and-click core provisioning

NOC

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FLX-1610 FLX-1610

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FLX-1610 FLX-1610
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FLX-1610

Minimize truck rolls

The FLX-1610 is well suited for this based on its ADM-like capabilities. Two line interfaces and integrated
cross-connect enable deployment as a 10 Gb/s ring and allows for adding and dropping of services between
any service card on the ring. Sharing this predeployed infrastructure between many services is cost-effective,

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eliminates truck rolls to many sites to deploy equipment thereby expediting service delivery timelines, and reduces
the complexity of the network with fewer service cards.

With the FLX-1610, operators can also dynamically change the route of any service using Optelian’s intuitive
network and element management software.

Get more out of your network

The FLX-1610 is designed to make CWDM and DWDM networks more efficient, aggregating multiple, lower
rate services onto a common wavelength, eliminating low per-channel utilization of precious network wavelengths.
In addition, its integrated cross-connect capabilities enable more dynamic service delivery infrastructure –
allowing for point-and-click commissioning of services between any networking card – compared to traditional
point-to-point, transponder-based WDM networks. The FLX-1610 provides a flexible, resilient, and multi-protocol
networking capability for SONET/SDH aggregation, wavelength service delivery, and data center
interconnect applications.

UNITED STATES CANADA

™

1700 Enterprise Way, SE, Ste. 101 1 Brewer Hunt Way

Marietta, GA 30067-9219 Ottawa, Ontario K2K 2B5
T: +1 877 225 9428 T: +1 613 287 2000
T: +1 770 690 9575 sales@optelian.com
optelian.com