iConverter® GM4 Network Interface Devices

The iConverter® GM4 is a Network Interface Device (NID) that delivers advanced Carrier Ethernet 2.0 services and provides demarcation at the edges of a network. The GM4 enables rapid service deployments, Service Level Agreement (SLA) assurances, comprehensive fault management and service protection. These advanced capabilities reduce operating costs, provide faster return on investment (ROI) and improve customer satisfaction.

The GM4 supports MEF-certified User-to-Network Interface (UNI) functions including Class of Service (CoS) management, granular rate-limiting, and 802.1ad Provider Bridge VLAN stacking (Q-in-Q) for service multiplexing of multiple E-Line, E-LAN and E-Tree services. The GM4 provides flexible per-flow service mapping, traffic policing and shaping. CIR/EIR “two rates, three colors” ingress port policing provides the granular bandwidth optimization required for CE 2.0 services such as Business Ethernet Services and Mobile Backhaul. The GM4 also provides advanced classification and filtering of subscriber traffic as an EVC or CoS flow based on Layer 1, 2, 3 or 4 identifiers.

The GM4 supports carrier-class Ethernet Service OAM standards. IEEE 802.1ag Connectivity Fault Management (CFM) proactively monitors service availability and provides tools for rapid fault isolation. ITU-T Y.1731 Performance Monitoring provides the ability to monitor key SLA parameters including frame delay, frame delay variation and frame loss. These OAM features provide proactive fault detection and rapid isolation of potential service problems, enabling SLA assurance while reducing Operational costs (OPEX).

The GM4 supports ITU-T Y.1564 and RFC 2544 service testing to easily verify the configuration and performance of Ethernet services prior to customer hand off. RFC 2544 provides per flow testing of Key Performance Indicators (KPI), such as throughput, latency, jitter and frame loss up to full wire speed. Y.1564 is a comprehensive Carrier Ethernet testing standard that tests all data flows and service attributes, including multi-flow Information Rate and Traffic Policing.

The GM4 supports ITU-T G.8031 Ethernet Linear Protection Switching and G.8032v2 Ethernet Ring Protection Switching with Connectivity Check Messages (CCM) at 3.3ms rate for sub-50ms protection switching. G.8032v2 includes multi-ring protection and sub-ring support with 5-port GM4.

Zero-Touch Provisioning (ZTP) allows providers to achieve efficiencies in service activation that accelerate turn up and reduce the need for onsite technicians. ZTP allows service provisioning to be centralized, standardized and remotely managed.

The integrated management eliminates the cost and space required for external management hardware. The integrated management provides comprehensive remote configuration and performance monitoring.

The GM4 supports IPv4 and IPv6 addressing, IP-Less protocol using the IEEE 802.3ah OAM channel, SNMPv1/v2c/v3, SSH, Telnet and serial console port.

The IP address is user-defined or can be resolved through DHCP. Telnet and serial console management interfaces are supported, and utilize an easy-to-use, menu-driven interface. The serial interface provides local configuration access.

SNMP management is available via Omnitron’s NetOutlook® SNMP Network Management Software with an intuitive Graphical User Interface, or third party SNMP software.

The GM4 2 and 3 Port models are available with ST and SC fixed-fiber connectors supporting multimode dual fiber, single-mode dual fiber and single-mode single-fiber options. The GM4 Small Form Pluggable (SFP) plug-in and standalone models support a wide variety of Fast Ethernet and Gigabit SFP transceivers in standard, CWDM and DWDM wavelengths.

The RJ-45 port supports 10/100/1000 and Half/Full-Duplex auto-negotiation and Pause control, with both hardware and software manual override controls. The module supports frame sizes up to 10,240 bytes.

The hot-swappable plug-in module can be mounted in a high-density 19 or 5-Module chassis with redundant AC and DC power supplies. It can also be mounted in a 2-Module or in a 1-Module chassis with AC or DC power input.

The plug-in module features two Gigabit Ethernet backplane ports for connectivity to adjacent modules in a chassis for multi-port and multi-service configurations. It can also functions as a fiber transport module for the modular iConverter T1/E1 and Ethernet Multiplexer System.

The standalone GM4 is available in 2, 3, and 5 port models. They are available with an external AC to DC power adapter or with a terminal connector for direct connection to DC power. The 5 port model is available with dual power inputs.

Features

Metro Ethernet Ring

In this application example, 5-port GM4 NIDs are deployed as nodes on a Metro Ethernet ring. The 5-port GM4 NID on the left is deployed as a hub aggregation device that provides connectivity to the ring and three fiber access links to customer locations. A 2-port GM4 terminates each fiber link and provides service demarcation at each customer premises.

The 5-port GM4 NID below is deployed at a Multiple tenant building with three RJ-45 UNIs providing copper connectivity to three different subscribers.

Mobile Backhaul Protected Ring 

In this application example, GM4 NIDs are deployed as nodes on a wireless backhaul ring. The two 5-port GM4 NIDs connected to the Wireless Backhaul Network provide NNI functions for the ring. All GM4 NIDs on the ring support G.8032v2 Ethernet Ring Protection Switching for service protection with sub-50ms failover.

The 5-port GM4 NID below provides G.8032 ring connectivity and G.8031 linear protection with a redundant fiber access link to the tower. The 3-port GM4 NIDs provide LTE service demarcation at the cell towers, and all the GM4 NIDs on the network support1588v2 clocking and G.8262 Sync-E timing.

iConverter GM4 NID (Data Sheet)

iConverter GM4 NID 2 & 3 Port (Quick Start)

iConverter GM4 NID 5-Port (Quick Start)

iConverter Menu Driven Interface for GM3 and GM4 NIDs

iConverter Command Line Interface for GM3 and GM4 NIDs