The ML-Series interface cards provide Ethernet switching and IP routing capabilities unmatched in any multiservice provisioning platform (MSPP) available today. Cisco has coupled the ONS 15454's market-leading optical capabilities with Cisco's proven IOS software to deliver profitable metro Ethernet and IP solutions over a multiservice network architecture. The Cisco ML-Series cards for the ONS 15454 MSPP are the industry's highest performance Ethernet and IP switching modules ever integrated into a SONET/SDH optical transport platform. The ML-Series cards further extend the multiservice capabilities and flexibility offered by the Cisco ONS 15454 platform. Through the integration of the industry's most widely deployed and tested Ethernet and IP technology, Cisco IOS, with the industries most successful multiservice provisioning platform, the Cisco ONS 15454, service providers and enterprise customers are provided with a single integrated platform for delivering true carrier-class metro Ethernet, TDM, and Optical transport services and applications. The ML-Series cards use a common hardware and software base, providing the same Layer 2 and Layer 3 feature set. These single-slot cards can be installed in any of the 12 multiservice interface slots in an ONS 15454 shelf assembly, and can be mixed and matched within the assembly or network to enable flexible architectures to meet the user's application. Each card has "virtual" interfaces that are mapped to SONET/SDH optical interfaces for transport with other services between network elements over 155 Mbps to 10 Gbps optical line rates. Packet transport bandwidth over the chosen optical interface is provisionable, enabling efficient matching and scalability of ingress to transport traffic requirements, based upon over-subscription requirements.
