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CHICAGO--Equipment vendor Meriton Networks is adding Sonet and SDH capabilities to its optical add/drop switch. The fourth release of Meriton’s 7200 OADX includes Sonet and SDH switching and grooming.

Customers can replace the transparent switch fabric card with a new Sonet/SDH switch fabric card that allows up to 320 Gb/s of non-blocking STS-1 or VC-4 switching in a single shelf.

“When you’re moving to a converged, IP/MPLS sort of network, your Sonet and SDH don’t go away,” a Meriton spokesperson said. “A lot of your Layer 1 transport will still be over Sonet and SDH for a significant amount of time.”

Previous enhancements to the 7200 added coarse and dense wavelength-division multiplexing, reconfigurable OADM interfaces and transparent wavelength switching.

The company claims to have more than 10 service provider customers in North America. It also serves British Telecom’s 21st Century Network initiative, through its partner, Fujitsu. BT’s needs for that initiative were one of the primary drivers for the inclusion of Sonet and SDH in the new release.