Hammerhead Systems Announces First Seamless Layer 2 Multicast and Layer 2 Multipoint Support Across MPLS and PBB-TE Networks

Hammerhead Announces Collaboration and Interoperability With Soapstone Networks for Control Plane Provisioning

Hammerhead Systems, Inc. today announced the first complete solution for Carrier Ethernet through its support of E-LAN and E-Tree services under its Carrier Ethernet Multicast Framework(TM). This enables service providers to quickly build and deploy the first seamless multipoint-to- multipoint and multicast PBB-TE networks alongside their existing MPLS and VPLS networks. Hammerhead is the first company to break through the point-to-point limitation of existing PBB-TE based networks by enabling E-LAN and E-Tree services for PBB-TE networks, and at the same time enabling multicast E-Tree services for MPLS. Hammerhead's HSX 6000 enables service providers to support both MPLS cores and PBB-TE metro networks without compromise, offering one-stop shopping for E-LAN (i.e., VPLS) and E-Tree over MPLS and E-LAN and E-Tree over PBB-TE for IPTV, business multicast, and financial multicast applications.

The company also announced collaboration with Soapstone Networks (NASDAQ: AVCI) to use its Provider Network Controller (PNC) for control plane provisioning and joint marketing to support service providers automating the provisioning of their point-to-point and multipoint PBB-TE networks.

"BT is excited to see the vendor community develop PBB-TE technologies. BT has a vested interest in the advancement of MPLS and PBB-TE and the use of these two technologies in our 21st Century network," said Peter Willis, Chief Data Networks Strategist, BT.

"Today's announcement of a Carrier Ethernet Multicast Framework, along with Hammerhead's collaboration with Soapstone Networks' control plane provisioning software, is important to service providers with large installed MPLS and VPLS networks who want to leverage the benefits of adding PBB-TE to their metro networks. The Carrier Ethernet Multicast Framework addresses the perceived limitations for PBB-TE based networks: the lack of E-LAN and multicast capabilities and the absence of control plane provisioning," said Ray Mota, Chief Strategist at Synergy Research Group. "Hammerhead is building upon its PBB-TE Service Gateway to provide architecturally innovative solutions for service providers to expedite and simplify their network deployments as the only demonstrated solution for interoperability between MPLS and PBB-TE networks."

"Hammerhead's Carrier Ethernet technology advances PBB-TE applicability to a wider range of applications such as today's fast growing video and Layer 2 business services. Combined with Soapstone Networks' Provider Network Controller, a real-time control plane that includes support for PBB-TE's E-Line, E-LAN and E-Tree services, we are addressing the two key service provider concerns over the practicality of deploying PBB-TE in metro networks," said Esmeralda Swartz, Soapstone Networks VP Marketing and Business Development.

"Our Carrier Ethernet Multicast Framework and collaboration with Soapstone Networks enables service providers to quickly create and deploy new services," said Pete Savage, President and CEO of Hammerhead Systems. "The debate between MPLS and PBB-TE camps is unnecessary. Service providers can have their cake and eat it too."

Hammerhead's Carrier Ethernet Multicast Framework enables a service provider to deploy E-LAN and E-Tree services across their existing MPLS networks and extend them to their metro networks with PBB-TE using four Hammerhead innovations that serve as building-block technologies: 1) VPLS with hierarchical MultiClass QoS(TM); 2) the PBB-TE Service Gateway(TM) software feature, which has been extended to support multicast and multipoint services across MPLS and PBB-TE networks; 3) a new E-LAN software building block applied to PBB-TE networks; and 4) a new E-Tree software building block applied to both MPLS and PBB-TE networks.

Hammerhead's resilient multicast solutions support IPTV, business multicast, enterprise managed services, and financial multicast applications. For example, Hammerhead can enable a service provider to offer an end-to-end E-LAN service for business multicast and L2VPN applications, where customer sites are connected to metro PBB-TE E-LAN networks and are interconnected as a seamless end-to-end E-LAN using a core VPLS network. When coupled with Soapstone Networks' Provider Network Controller (PNC) carrier grade control plane, the solution set enables service providers to cost effectively and reliably manage and provision multicast services for an optimized CAPEX and OPEX solution over PBB-TE networks.

Hammerhead's PBB-TE Service Gateway(TM) enables service providers to seamlessly interwork PBB-TE deployments with the vast MPLS and growing VPLS installed base so they can leverage existing MPLS investments while deploying PBB-TE for metro on-ramps to their MPLS and VPLS backbones. At the Carrier Ethernet World Congress in Geneva held in September, 2007, Hammerhead's PBB-TE Service Gateway provided the only means of enabling a PBB-TE network to directly interwork with an MPLS network.

The PBB-TE Service Gateway enables more than 10X greater scalability than alternative VLAN-only based interworking solutions by skipping the unnecessary step of VLAN-to-VLAN interconnect, directly interworking PBB-TE trunks to MPLS Pseudowires. By leveraging the inherent scalability of MPLS Pseudowires, which support up to a million flows per physical interface, the PBB-TE to MPLS/VPLS gateway is not constrained by the standards-defined limitation of 4094 VLANs per physical interface and significantly reduces deployment costs through eliminating unnecessary and expensive network elements and interconnect links.

The HSX 6000 is the only purpose-built Layer 2.5 single box solution available offering dense Ethernet aggregation for E-Line, E-LAN and E-Tree Services, MPLS Pseudowire termination, VPLS, PBB-TE Service Gateway, Leased Line IP Aggregation, Multilink PPP/Frame Relay/ATM support, and Any-to-Any Service Interworking. The HSX 6000 uses its Bandwidth Pooling(TM) architecture and a best-in-class multiservice hierarchical QoS implementation to enable industry leading price/performance and unmatched levels of service segregation and SLA assurance.

About Hammerhead Systems

Hammerhead Systems, Inc. is the market leader in Aggregation, Interworking, and Migration to accelerate the profitable delivery of new Ethernet and existing circuit-based data services at a fraction of the cost and complexity of other solutions. Hammerhead's solutions include the HSX 6000 Layer 2.5 Aggregation Switch, and its Pegador SOA Element Management System. Additional information can be found at www.hammerheadsystems.com

Copyright © 2007 Hammerhead Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Hammerhead Systems, HSX 6000 and Pegador are registered trademarks of Hammerhead Systems, Inc. VPLS and EVPL with MultiClass QoS, PBB-TE Service Gateway, Carrier Ethernet Multicast Framework, are trademarks of Hammerhead Systems, Inc.

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