Infotech Lead America: Avaya has unveiled a new network fabric – VENA Fabric Connect, designed to deliver network services from data centers to the desktop while enabling a more agile network. It offers fully integrated support for IP Multicast.
Avaya VENA Fabric Connect designed to be easier to configure, manage and maintain. It is based on an enhanced implementation of Shortest Path Bridging, an open, standards-based, extensible fabric technology. Avaya VENA Fabric Connect delivers an array of network services, including Layer 2 and Layer 3 virtualization with optimized routing.
Avaya VENA Fabric Connect enables customers to gradually phase out multiple complex legacy technologies and enable all services through a single, next-generation technology. Its simple end-point provisioning accelerates time-to-service and offers better improves efficiency, reliability and scalability than traditional approaches.
Avaya will showcase the solutions at InteropNet, one of the world’s largest, temporary networks supporting Interop 2013, a premier networking industry event.

As the growth in video and as emerging transport models such as VXLAN and NVGRE gain importance, IP Multicast plays a more critical, central role in the network.
IP Multicast over Avaya Fabric Connect delivers the simplicity, scalability and resiliency needed for Multicast’s most demanding applications by using a single protocol as opposed to several complex protocol overlays. It now supports tens of thousands of streams as opposed to hundreds previously.
The solution provides sub-second failover times ( < 200msec) as opposed to seconds or minutes and enables single command configuration on end-points.
It drives network traffic through the shortest latent path while supporting virtualization through its multi-tenant functionality.
IP Multicast over Avaya Fabric Connect is available now on the ERS 8800 platform and later this year on the VSP 9000 and the VSP 4000 platforms.
The VSP 4000 further extends the Avaya VENA Fabric Connect across the entire network to the campus, metro or WAN edge. It is delivered on a low-cost, Gigabit /10 Gigabit access device, equipped with full multi-service functionality, a carrier-grade operating system, PoE+ support, and AC/DC power options.
VSP 4000 can deliver a deployment model for smaller enterprises looking for cost effective virtualization technology as well as distributed enterprises looking to extend Avaya VENA Fabric Connect over Service Provider WAN connections or Metro Area Rings to reach remote offices.
Deployment models offered also allow for secure traffic separation for multi-tenant environments or for regulatory compliance (PCI DCC) and IP video surveillance networks.
Avaya is deploying Avaya VENA Fabric Connect for the InteropNet backbone. The technology will simplify the design, deployment and management of the InteropNet network and support the heavy demand of the networking industry event.
The network will showcase the most recent Avaya innovations, including the extension of the network fabric from the Network Operations Center to the Interop show floor using the VSP 4000, and the integration of scalable Layer 2, Layer 3. It will feature the newly announced IP Multicast services over Avaya Fabric Connect. Alongwith VSP 4000, the network deployment will also include the VSP 9000 and ERS 8800 Series products.