On 13/Apr/15 00:15, Hamish McGlinn wrote: > > The ACX series is more of a hybrid. They are probably more likened to > Layer 2 routers than switches. They are primarily designed as Mobile > backhaul devices where integration into existing IP MPLS > infrastructure would be a cost saving and design advantage. You can > see this with the other models that have the TDM (E1/T1) interfaces. > Those models use SAToP and CESoPSN to move TDM based circuits over an > MPLS network. It's all rather clever really. The Ethernet ports on > those models as well as the ethernet only models are an extension of > that. They provide layer 2 interfaces where you don't really require > layer 3 services (such as ethernet based mobile backhaul). So they are > a switch, yes, but more than that. They utilise MPLS L2VPN/L2Circuits > to move ethernet over the MPLS infrastructure. Hence why I thought it > could be an alternative to terminating the layer 3 at the edge.
What you're referring to are the ACX500 through to the ACX4000 units. The ACX5000 (5048 and 5096, respectively) are Metro-E switches (IP/MPLS routers, really). Unlike the other ACX models, they do not come with any non-Ethernet ports. Mark.
