Tellium last Friday announced the shipment of its Aurora Optical Switch, a high-density, high-capacity optical switch for the Internet core.
Aurora supports 512 OC-48 connections in its initial configuration and boasts a switching capacity of 1.28T bits/sec. It will support OC-192 connections this fall, and is built to accommodate OC-768 speeds, Tellium says.
Competitive products include Sycamore Networks Inc.'s SN 16000 and the yet-to-ship Monterey wavelength router from Cisco Systems. Sycamore says its SN 16000 can scale to 512 OC-48s but the company is shipping only a 64-port version at this point.
Sycamore says it will ship a 512-port OC-48 SN 16000 before year-end.
The Aurora switches run Tellium's StarNet operating system, which enables the switch to interoperate with ATM switches and IP routers. The software uses IP signaling protocols to bring Layer 3 control to the optical core, Tellium says.
The switch is being used by service provider Extant. Tellium signed a 5-year, US$250 million contract with Extant a year ago to equip Extant's nationwide telecom network with Aurora switches.
Energy company Dynegy last year acquired Extant.