Networking Industry Leaders to Showcase Shortest Path

LAS VEGAS, NV--(Marketwired - May 1, 2013) -

• Alcatel-Lucent, HP and Spirent join Avaya to endorse the benefits of Shortest Path Bridging for fabric networking.
• Interop 2013 to be the first live public showcase of a multi-vendor fabric implementation.

Avaya announced today that Alcatel-Lucent, HP and Spirent will join them to conduct the industry's first, live multi-vendor interoperability test using Shortest Path Bridging (SPB) technology at Interop 2013. The interoperability testing will be conducted across the InteropNet backbone to publicly showcase the multi-vendor fabric implementation.

Shortest Path Bridging is an open and extensible fabric networking technology standardized by the IEEE as 802.1aq and by the IETF as RFC 6329.

SPB enables customers to simplify network creation and management by requiring service provisioning only at the edge of the network. SPB saves time, effort, and reduces human error by dynamically building and maintaining the network topology between nodes using Intermediate System to Intermediate System (IS-IS), a proven carrier-grade link state protocol. Establishing a multi-path fabric for traffic distribution, SPB maximizes bandwidth utilization on all paths and executes seamless, sub-second network changes.

The multi-vendor interoperability test demonstrates the benefits of open, standards-based solutions and replicates the reality of today's networks environments, which are frequently characterized by a mix of vendors and equipment distributed across different Data Center locations. In addition, premises-based Data Centers are often backed-up by a cloud service provider. Using SPB in heterogeneous networking environments as a bridge between private and public clouds enables seamless service delivery between Data Centers.

The interoperability test will leverage the InteropNET backbone network to interconnect equipment located at each of the participant's booths. Avaya's SPB-based Fabric Connect technology will support InteropNET, one of the world's largest temporary networks built for Interop 2013, a premier networking industry event. This test builds on previous validation efforts that have demonstrated SPB's capabilities for multi-site Data Centers and hybrid clouds, including a 2000 node / 400 link interoperability test that showcased full control and data plane interoperability between five vendors, and another test that included the migration of a virtual machine over a multi-vendor SPB network that seamlessly transferred services between nodes delivered by different vendors.

The SPB network will consist of the Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch™ 6900 , Avaya Virtual Services Platform 9000 , HP 12500 Switch Series alongside Spirent TestCenter™ .

Quotes "Avaya is committed to bringing open, interoperable networking technologies to market. The opportunity to showcase this technology in a public form such as Interop, plus demonstrating interoperability with our peers, proves that the SPB technology is ready for multi-vendor mission-critical environments." --Marc Randall, SVP and GM, Avaya Networking

"Alcatel-Lucent is a strong supporter of open, standard-based networks. With SPB, customers can benefit from simplified IT operations and faster ROI for scalable, virtualized Enterprise data center and cloud networks. Showcasing this with three other companies at Interop helps customers realize they can reap those benefits today in a multivendor network environment." -- Stephane Robineau, Vice President, General Manager, Enterprise Networks at Alcatel-Lucent

"Spirent is a strong supporter of showcases demonstrating network technology advances and previously helped validate interoperability and scale of a Shortest Path Bridging network emulating hundreds of nodes and links. Spirent is pleased to be part of this first live public showcase demonstrating interoperability and performance of a multi-vendor fabric implementation at the Interop show." -- Jurrie van den Breekel, Director Strategy and Business Development, Spirent Communications

"These four vendors coming together to showcase SPB interoperability in a public forum such as Interop is significant. In comparison to alternative fabric technologies, SPB offers more vendor support, offers greater scaling and has implementations which are closer to the actual standards -- facilitating this type of interoperability testing. Companies that are looking to virtualize data centers and reduce network complexity need to consider an approach based on Shortest Path Bridging." --Zeus Kerravala, Principal Analyst, ZK Research

Additional Resources

• Product: Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise Data Center Switching Solutions
• Product: Avaya Virtual Enterprise Network Architecture
• Wikipedia: Shortest Path Bridging (IEEE 802.1aq)

Tags SPB, Shortest Path Bridging, IEEE, 802.1aq, interoperability, Avaya, Alcatel-Lucent, Spirent, Solana, VSP 9000, multivendor networks, Interop, data center

About Avaya Avaya is a global provider of business collaboration and communications solutions, providing unified communications, contact centers, data solutions and related services to companies of all sizes around the world. For more information please visit www.avaya.com .

About Alcatel-Lucent ( PARIS : ALU ) ( NYSE : ALU ) The long-trusted partner of service providers, enterprises and governments around the world, Alcatel-Lucent is a leading innovator in the field of networking and communications technology, products and services. The company is home to Bell Labs, one of the world's foremost research centers, responsible for breakthroughs that have shaped the networking and communications industry.

Alcatel-Lucent innovations are regularly recognized by international institutions for their positive impact on society. In 2012 and for the second year running, Alcatel-Lucent was named one of the Thomson Reuters Top 100 Global Innovators, recognition for the company's continued addition to its world-class patent portfolio, one of the largest in the telecom industry. Alcatel-Lucent has also been recognized for its sustainability performance. In 2012 the company was ranked Technology Supersector Leader by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. Through its innovations, Alcatel-Lucent is making communications more sustainable, more affordable and more accessible as we pursue our mission of Realizing the Potential of a Connected World.

With operations throughout the world, Alcatel-Lucent is a local partner with global reach. The Company achieved revenues of Euro 14.4 billion in 2012 and is incorporated in France and headquartered in Paris.

For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com , read the latest posts on the Alcatel-Lucent blog http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/blog and follow the Company on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Alcatel_Lucent .

About Spirent Communications plc Spirent Communications plc. ( LSE : SPT ), a global leader in test and measurement offers an extensive portfolio of solutions to test data centers, cloud computing environments, high speed Ethernet networks and services, 3G/4G wireless networks and devices, network security, and global navigation satellite systems. For more information visit http://www.spirent.com/about-us/News_Room/Abo...s_plc.aspx .

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