Accedian Networks, a vendor of performance assurance Ethernet demarcation products, is targeting the small cell backhaul market with its NanoNID, a USB stick-size network interface device designed to provide remote troubleshooting, performance measuring and capacity planning for small cells, mobile backhaul and CPE networks.
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The NanoNID (pictured) is a USB stick-size network interface device. |
Mobile operators that have upgraded their backhaul from TDM lines to gigabit Ethernet are finding that they need performance assurance in order to make gigabit Ethernet as stable and predictable as TDM. "What our customers have been telling us is that performance assurance is as important with small cells as it is with macrocells," Patrick Ostiguy, president and CEO of Accedian, told FierceBroadbandWireless.
The NanoNID complements Accedian's existing product portfolio by further extending network operator visibility into small cells and legacy networks. The device is arriving just in time to exploit the market opportunity, given that Ostiguy expects the mobile industry will see large-scale trials of small cells in 2013, "but the big boom year in terms of high volume we see as 2014."
Accedian's NIDs can sit on top of a cell site router or replace a cell site router, but larger NIDs are often too costly or too large for use with small cell deployments. Prior to the introduction of the NanoNID, Accedian's smallest NID--the MetroNID--was about the size of a cigar box.
The small form-factor pluggable (SFP) NanoNID enables network operators to perform inline and offline service performance assurance link tests using the International Telecommunication Union Y.1731 standard with loopback message (LBM) and loopback reply (LBR) capabilities.
Most small cell equipment from large infrastructure providers already includes SFP slots for optical transceivers, which can accommodate the NanoNID. Accedian has partnerships in place with Nokia Siemens Networks, Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) and Fujitsu but also conducts direct sales of its products, Ostiguy said.
Mobile backhaul represents more than 75 percent of Accedian's business. The Canadian company's customers include Tier 1 mobile operators, including two U.S. and two international operators, and wholesale backhaul providers that cater to operators. Established in 2004, Accedian has an installed base that exceeds 75,000 cell sites, and it has more than 120,000 systems deployed worldwide.
Other vendors of performance-assurance demarcation products include companies such as ADVA Optical Networking, MRV Communications, Overture Networks and RAD Data Communications.
For more:
- see this Accedian release
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