Carrier Aggregation Switches. Carrier aggregation switches route traffic in addition to bridging (transmitted) Layer 2/Ethernet traffic. Carrier aggregation switches’ major characteristics are: • Designed for Metro Ethernet networks • Designed for video and other high bandwidth applications • Supports a variety of interface types, especially those commonly used by Service Providers Capabilities should include: • Redundant Processors • Redundant Power • IPv4 and IPv6 unicast and multicast • High bandwidth • Low latency • Hot swappable power supplies and fans • MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) • BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) • Software router virtualization and/or multiple routing tables • Policy based routing • Layer 2 functionality o Per VLAN Spanning Tree o Rapid Spanning Tree o VLAN IDs up to 4096 o Layer 2 Class of Service (IEEE 802.1p) o Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) o QinQ (IEEE 802.1ad)
