I don't recall if Pannaway is a layer 3 or layer 2 DSLAM, but we have a mix
of Calix C7 (ATM) and Calix E5 (Ethernet) gear in our network. We're kinda
in the same boat, but we expect to be able to gracefully transition to dual
stacked IPv4/IPv6 without having to replace DSL modems, by reconfiguring
the modems into bridged mode and leaving the layer 3 up to the customer's
router.
We're also in the process of budgeting for a new broadband aggregation
router next year that will handle IPv6.
Ask Pannaway if they can bridge traffic (either ATM PVC, or Ethernet
QinQ/VLAN per subscriber) up to a broadband aggregator, like a Redback or
Cisco.
In Pannaway's case they want to pretend to be in the router business and
we ended up buying their BARs. Their DSLAMs (BASs) are aggregated into
their BARs and the BAR ring terminates on my Cisco core. I would love
to eliminate the BARs from the equation but that's not an option. I've
been by several (dozen) people that their Minnesota Pannaway office
stopped selling the BARs and instead worked with Cisco for aggregation.
I've also been told by Cisco folks that numerous sites are trying to
get Cisco to take the Pannaway BARs in on trade-in. It would appear
that no one like the BARs. Occam did it right. They didn't try to
pretend to be in the router business. They stuck with L2.
