Verizon MAE Services has moved toward eliminating the limitations that confront
participants of Internet exchange points by offering Frame, ATM, and GigE
access on the same exchange. MAE Services Interworking provides customers
the flexibility of any-to-any connectivity across a MAE Interchange
Facility. Interworking is transparent to the CPE.
Implementation of interworking in each MAE exchange utilizes one or
more interworking-capable switches providing Frame, ATM, and GigE access
on the same switch. In addition, the interworking-capable switch is
linked to the older ATM-only switches with multiple interlinks between
ATM UNI ports. MAE Services Interworking is available now at these
facilities:
GigE to Frame Relay or ATM
Interworking GigE parameters are mapped to Frame Relay
or ATM parameters (or Frame/ATM parameters are mapped to GigE
parameters). Logical and physical interface
parameters are the same as for MAE GigE and
MAE FE or
MAE ATM services.
ATM to Frame Relay Interworking
ATM parameters are mapped to Frame Relay parameters (or Frame Relay
parameters are mapped to ATM parameters) according to
FRF.8.1 (Frame Relay/ATM
PVC Service Interworking Implementation Agreement) published by the Frame
Relay Forum Technical Committee. Logical and physical interface
parameters are the same as
for MAE ATM and
MAE FE services.
Advantages For customers, the ability to interconnect the various interface
types provides unprecendented flexibility.
Upgrade Path Customers connected to ATM-only switches may maintain their port
positions while upgrading their
hardware to more efficient, high-speed POS or GigE hardware.
Smooth Migration If a customer chooses to upgrade to POS or GigE connections, peering connections
can be moved from one port to another at the exchange either individually or
all at once (by arrangement).
Transparent Provisioning Process Multi-protocol peering connections are provisioned using PeerMaker
software in the same way that
single-protocol connections are handled now. A customer specifies connection
type and bandwidth in units appropriate to the customer's local port
type. Service
parameters are mapped automatically for the destination port.
This White Paper provides an overview of MAE Services and the
method by which peering is handled between dissimilar technologies across
the MAE exchanges.
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