Nortel Networks Corporation

Chris Murton

David Michael Goodman

Donald Russell Ellis

R Bruce Wallace

Silvana D Romagnino

Jayne Brady

Don Cawthorne

Silvo J Frank

Sylvain Demargerie

In order to allow geographically separate SONET/SDH networks to be interconnected transparently without changes in clock content, payload and overhead, it has conventionally necessary to use dark fiber. For relatively low bandwidth operators this is prohibitively expensive. The present invention proposes a scheme using a mapping and virtual concatenation scheme to allow SONET/SDH to be carried in a bandwidth efficient manner over a SONET/SDH link whilst maintaining clock integrity.

Methods and apparatus for transmitting synchronous data

A technique for enabling a shared storage provider (SSP) to provide shared data storage to a plurality of customers while providing greater privacy and security of each customer's data by implementing a virtual private (VP) addressing scheme is disclosed. The technique also allows a storage networking service carrier to provide connectivity between a plurality of customer storage networking sites, keeping each customer separate from each other. In one embodiment, the technique is realized by network architecture and a scheme to separate and virtualize storage traffic and stored data on a shared infrastructure. Functionally, the scheme provides for the following features: translation between user storage network addresses to carrier addresses; recovery of user storage network addresses when data is returned to the user; use of the carrier assigned addresses to separate the users within the carrier's network; recognition of user storage address within the storage device for partitioning within the user's storage space assigned by the SSP; Storage virtualization or the logical representation of a storage independently of its physical organization; and the displacement of address mapping and virtualization functions away from devices directly attached to storage. All of the above can be implemented singly or in combination, by any networking technology including SONET, ATM, IP, Ethernet and Fiber Channel network technologies.

Architecture and addressing scheme for storage interconnect and emerging storage service providers

An interface for converting a variety of incoming digital signals into SDH/SONET format for transmission on a synchronous digital network, by identifying the line code of the incoming digital signal, without identifying the information for OSI layer 2 or 3 processing, i.e. format of each packet. Headers are used to encapsulate incoming packets, and enable packets to be discriminated at the receiver. Advantages of performance monitoring capability and transparency are combined. Identifying line codes enables a greater degree of error detection, than a bit based interface. Also synchronisation can be simpler since line codes for padding can be added or deleted more easily than adding or subtracting bits. The interface is semi-transparent in the sense that identification of line codes limits the interface to those formats that use identifiable line codes, but without limiting to a particular OSI layer 2 or 3 frame format.

Semi transparent tributary for synchronous transmission

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Chelmsford, United Kingdom

Chris Murton