RAYcontrol™

The RAYcontrol™ GMPLS based control plane greatly simplifies the management of optically switched networks and offers unparalleled flexibility in service delivery, protection and restoration capabilities.

RAYcontrol™ manages several aspects of system configuration. Through end-to-end provisioning, it automates much of the process required to configure service delivery. This automation translates to zero configurations on all but one network element, no matter the size or complexity of a network.

The intelligent control plane fully manages allocation of system and network resources. RAYcontrol™ automatically makes the most efficient use of those network resources required to support each service.

RAYcontrol™ both delivers and monitors network performance. Services are provisioned dynamically and in real-time. The complex process of circuit planning and design is fully automated. Service delivery is fast and cost-effective, reducing not only provisioning time, but also the manpower and skill required to provision network services. RAYcontrol™ also automates the configuration of ROADM devices and enables full end-to-end equalization of optical power levels along the service path.

Protection and restoration options are provided on a per-service basis, thus enabling carriers to customize service quality according to network-wide, or even customer-specific, service level agreements and cost models. The standard-compliant distributed network intelligence of RAYcontrol™ breaks the barrier to mesh networking and provides protection mechanisms for any combination of ring and point-to-point topologies.

RAYcontrol™ supports a wide range of optical platform technologies, including fixed OADM, reconfigurable OADM, in-line regeneration and amplification and wavelength-selective optical switching. RAYcontrol™ also supports a wide range of service payload configuration options, including SONET/SDH,  Ethernet,  G.709 and transparent optical services.

RAYcontrol™ implements a rich set of control plane protocol standards, providing a clear pathway for network evolution. This includes integration of OAM&P (Operations, Administration, Maintenance and Provisioning) functions across vendors and transport technologies within a provider domain. In the longer term it supports the vision of inter-provider, and even customer, flow-through provisioning.