Accedian Enables Ethernet OAM over Any Network

Accedian Networks has announced updated support for the most recent Ethernet Operations, Administration and Maintenance (OAM) standards.

By employing a combination of OAM, service creation and assurance functionality, the company says these units allow service providers to seamlessly deploy, monitor and maintain carrier-grade Ethernet services over multivendor, multitechnology and multicarrier networks.

Ethernet service OAM, based on the IEEE 802.1ag and ITU-T Y.1731 standards, provides a comprehensive set of features for connectivity fault management (CFM) and performance monitoring (PM). Accedian Networks’ demarcation units now offer all 35 key aspects of service OAM. This allows service providers to transparently deploy OAM at critical management points throughout their networks, including customer and cell sites, aggregation and carrier hand-off points  without upgrading existing infrastructure.

Accedian says complying with the latest versions of service OAM standards ensures the highest level of interoperability with OAM-enabled switches and routers. The company’s approach is supposed to bring a necessary level of performance and accuracy to OAM measurements, including the ability to monitor up to 100 services per unit, provide real frame loss in place of estimates, perform high-capacity loopback testing using the standards-based loopback messages, and measure one-way delay and jitter with microsecond resolution – essential to maintaining the performance specified in demanding service level agreements (SLAs).

“Accedian Networks has a history of offering the latest OAM functionality, critical as standards continue to evolve and become central to managing and maintaining carrier-grade Ethernet services,” said Patrick Ostiguy, founding President & CEO of Accedian Networks. “We also cover key gaps in the standards by offering functionality impossible to implement in software, such as seamless in-service throughput testing, automated turn-up testing, and advanced Ethernet & IP performance monitoring that cover all aspects of packet performance assurance.”