Atrica, Inc.

Atrica Transforms Traditional Ethernet
Atrica is a leading provider of Ethernet carrier solutions for metropolitan area networks. Atrica took the Ethernet model that was used for local area networks (LANs), and escalated it to universal transport. Uri Ascar, director of network services, explains, “The Atrica network serves tier-1 carriers such as France Telecom in Europe, Light Path, CableVision and Cox Communications in the United States, and KVH Telecom and Hokkaido Telecom in Japan, which definitely has led us to be considered the field’s leader for a number of years.”

Atrica’s business process combines the performance and cost-effectiveness of Ethernet with crucial carrier-class features to change the landscape of metro area networks and carrier services. Ascar continues, "Atrica’s solutions focus on intensive and efficient protection of all services provided by the carrier, whether point-to-point, virtual LAN or VPLS (virtual private LAN service). Atrica's solution enables our customers to sell to their clients services with hard SLA, which is based on the committed information rate and excess information rate."

SQL Anywhere Provides Reliable Functionality
Atrica developed a solution called Aspen, based on SQL Anywhere technology, Uri Ascar describes the project, "The Aspen installation includes SQL Anywhere. Our servers are UNIX-based, and the installation can be carried out either with all of the servers installed in the same station or in a decentralized manner on a number of stations. Therefore, Sybase can be run on a separate station. In a protection mode, we run servers that protect one another, and there is also an additional SQL Anywhere station that runs on a separate location and performs real-time data synchronization.”

SQL Anywhere plays a crucial role in every piece of Atrica’s infrastructure, "In general, Atrica's network and service management system enables sophisticated provisioning. By means of intelligent algorithms, the system builds the service routes and calculates the protection routes. SQL Anywhere sits on the management system, and serves as our database. When the Aspen solution samples the network, locates it, and analyzes its structure – including all systems and links – and all of its services, the data is saved and organized by SQL Anywhere,” says Ascar.

Ascar explains the complex two-tiered functionality of the Aspen solution, "In fact, SQL Anywhere has two functions within the Aspen system. First, it serves as a storage base – in other words, it contains the inventory as it appears on the network. In addition, the SQL Anywhere database plays an active role in the management algorithm, because a large part of the analysis of the network's condition is carried out by means of the stored procedures that run on the database server. With the help of the SQL Anywhere, the network’s condition is assessed on an ongoing basis with regard to every service provided by the network."

A High-Performance Database Built for Growth
Atrica has seen years of success with the Sybase based solution, Uri Ascar describes, "Because of the performance and market success of the Aspen system, it is clear to me that the decision to choose Sybase was the right one. Sybase's advantages are clear: It is an easy-to-maintain database that does not require hands-on management, and therefore, is ideal for Atrica’s customers, who do not specialize in data processing. Our customers are not database experts, and therefore, they require a database that is easy to manage and requires little maintenance.”

Atrica plans to continue its relationship with Sybase technology, Ascar concludes, "SQL Anywhere provides a satisfactory answer to our scalability requirements, and we are already planning to embark on a path that will lead to SQL Anywhere’s next version, and which undoubtedly will significantly increase scalability so that the product actually grows along with us. Aside from all of this, SQL Anywhere is a high-performance database."