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The ST200: One Router, All Services
Key Features
Advantages
System Design
Applications
Product Specifications

Carrier-class Hardware: The NEBS Level 3-compliant ST200
provides the hardware reliability required at the edge of the
world’s largest service provider networks, where thousands of
customers and a range of switched and routed services can be
aggregated in a single device.The ST200’s midplane design allows carriers to add functionality without moving fiber termination
points. Functionality is distributed to multiple network processors
and line cards, eliminating a single point of failure. All common
equipment is redundant and hot-swappable for maximum uptime
and reliability, including:

• Route Control Processors (RCPs)
• System I/Os (SIOs)
• Packet Switching Fabrics (PXFs)
• Timing Control Modules (TCMs)
• Power supplies
• Fan trays

This level of device redundancy eliminates the need for dual router
configurations, simplifying network infrastructures and significantly
reducing capex and opex.

High Availability: To meet the rigorous uptime and reliability
requirements of carrier edge networks, the ST200 minimizes network outages and vastly improves service resiliency through advanced recovery capabilities and scalable, modular ShadeTree software. ST200 advanced recovery features include:

• Non-stop forwarding
• Fast re-route
• Graceful restart
• Hitless software upgrades

Independent carrier lab testing has shown that the ST200 provides
significantly faster service restoration than either ATM switches or
IP routers. In the event of a failure, the ST200 has been proven to
restore services in under 50 milliseconds.

In addition, the scalable, modular ShadeTree software implementation minimizes the impact of individual component failure, protecting against system corruption and ensuring reliable operation — even under extreme conditions. Hitless software upgrades eliminate the need for reboots, maximizing system availability.

Internet-class Routing: The ST200 includes a highly scalable,
Internet-class routing engine that has been independently verified
to interoperate seamlessly with current IP backbones.This ensures
reliable end-to-end service delivery that scales to meet demand
without sacrificing features or performance.The ST200 supports a
feature-rich suite of routing protocols, including:

• Unicast routing: BGP-4, OSPF-TE, IS-IS-TE, RIPv2
• Multicast routing: MBGP, PIM-SM, IGMPv2/3
• MPLS switching: RSVP-TE, LDP

Industry-leading Capacity and Density: The ST200 160 Gbps
switching fabric supports today’s requirements, with room for growth. Industry-leading density for SONET/SDH and Gigabit Ethernet maximizes the number of revenue-generating ports per system, ensuring that investment is focused on customer ports, not
router/switch interconnects.

Complete Multi-service Support: The first and only service edge
router with complete multi-service support based on IETF Draft
Martini as well as IP VPNs based on RFC 2547bis, the ST200 allows service providers to offer both switched and routed data services over a common IP or MPLS backbone. This enables carriers to offer scalable ATM, Frame Relay and Ethernet services while enabling new revenue-enhancing, high-growth services such as VPLS and IP VPNs — all with the same level of bandwidth guarantees and reliability as found in ATM and Frame Relay technology.

Comprehensive Hardware-based Service Accounting: The
ST200 has the most comprehensive tunable hardware counters in
the industry, which utilize a powerful suite of service management
and accounting features to provide detailed statistics at each stage
of processing. In contrast to less accurate sampling methods found on other devices, always-accurate service accounting collects and stores statistics for every single packet and byte of traffic for transfer to OSS applications. Tunability enables the configuration of custom policer-based accounting techniques, which service providers can use to deliver and bill for a wide range of services.

Robust QoS and Traffic Management: The ST200 provides
robust, granular QoS and traffic management capabilities for both
Layer 2 and Layer 3 traffic and follows established standards
including the ATM Forum Traffic Management Specification Version
4.1, Frame Relay ANSI T1.606a and the IETF DiffServ model for
Internet traffic.The result is dependable, predictable performance
for all types of traffic — even delay-sensitive voice and video traffic.

• Per logical interface queuing ensures each interface is guaranteed a fair amount of bandwidth
• Hierarchical scheduling provides three levels of scheduling (CBR, VBR, UBR) to ensure that customers receive only their purchased bandwidth — nothing more, nothing less
• Wire-speed packet classification provides differentiated services based on Layer 2 classifiers such as the ATM CLP bit, Frame Relay DE bit and Ethernet 802.1p bit, as well as Layer 3/4 IP multifield classifiers such as source/destination address and Type of Service (ToS)
• Standard and custom policing schemes enable the creation of burstable services with guaranteed bandwidth
• Weighted random early detection (WRED) congestion management maximizes link utilization and ensures traffic delivery under congestion
• Flexible queuing strategies provide up to eight distinct strict priority or weighted fair queuing (WFQ) queues per logical interface, ensuring service level agreements are met without exception

Unmatched Interface Flexibility: Unlike systems that require specific line cards for specific services, the nimble ST200 features AnyService on AnyPort @ AnySpeed capabilities, with software-configurable SONET/SDH and AnyRate Gigabit Ethernet interfaces that support a wide range of speeds and service types in a single channel. For example, an OC-12c ATM access interface can be reconfigured via software as an OC-12c POS trunk interface. This unparalleled level of flexibility reduces sparing costs, eliminates stranded ports and enables interface reuse as access network technologies change and bandwidth demands increase.

Integrated Service Management: Laurel recognizes that services require more than a smart network element. Intelligent ties to back-office provisioning and management systems are also required. Unlike traditional carrier switching and routing systems with network management included as an afterthought, Laurel built service management into the ST200 from the beginning. Seamless connectivity to back-office and higher-level OSS applications is achieved via advanced high-level APIs with the Laurel Provisioning System (LPS), a powerful, integrated service provisioning and management system.The result is dramatically reduced provisioning time and cost as well as improved service and network management through enhanced efficiency, security and reliability.

Total Security: To meet the high level of security required in service provider networks, the ST200 architecture ensures that all aspects of service delivery are secured, including the management plane, control plane and data plane. Confidentiality of user traffic is preserved using secure tunnels, access control lists, encryption and authentication (e.g., RADIUS, TACACS+). In addition, leading ISPs have certified the ST200 to prevent a wide range of Denial of Service (DoS) attacks.