1. WHAT LIES AHEAD? ISSUES FACING THE ISP INDUSTRY Gavin Young Chief Architect, C&W Access
DATE 24th October 2007

2. 3 KEY ISSUES FOR ISPs TO THINK ABOUT
1. Next Generation Access
2. European Union Code of Conduct
on broadband power consumption
3. Ability of your network to support IPTV

3. BROADBAND ACCESS TODAY MAINLY DSL, FIBRE JUST TO BUSINESS SITES
User Curb Cabinet/Node Exchange. Metro Core
MSAN &/or
Business Mux
ADSL2plus
EFM/SHDSLbis
Ethernet/ IP/MPLS
?????
FE/GE

4. NEXT GENERATION ACCESS : GPON & VDSL2 FIBRE DEEPER INTO THE NETWORK FOR CONSUMERS
User Curb Cabinet/Node Exchange. Metro Core
MSAN &/or
Business Mux
FTTB
VDSL2
Ethernet/ IP/MPLS
?????
GPON
FTTN
VDSL2

5. IMPLICATIONS OF GPON FOR ISPs
Deployment starts in 2008
There will be NO copper to these homes (so no DSL)
Could be ~ 2M GPON homes over the next 10 years
Your service ‘availability checker’ will be full of black holes unless you can master delivering service over GPON!
A whole range of new logistics and technical challenges for ISPs :
Different CPE
Analogue Terminal Adapter for Voice, new router
Different Voice Delivery
No existing voice to the home as per DSL
Need a softswitch (or partner who has one)
No line powering, needs battery back-up
Different Processes & Systems
For provisioning, fault resolution etc.

6. THE ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF MULTICAST
Source : The IP Development Network
White Paper “HD-TV over IP, who pays the bill?”

7. OFCOM CONSULTATION ON NEXT GENERATION ACCESS
Consultation published : 26th September 2007
Responses Due : 5th December 2007
MAKE YOUR VIEWS KNOWN
Influence the products, functionality and regulation for Next Generation Access

8. 3 KEY ISSUES FOR ISPs TO THINK ABOUT
1. Next Generation Access
2. European Union Code of Conduct
on broadband power consumption
3. Ability of your network to support IPTV

9. “Code of Conduct on Energy Consumption of Broadband Equipment”
EU CODE OF CONDUCT ON POWER USAGE IN ACCESS NETWORKS SETS TARGETS FOR FUTURE POWER CONSUMPTION
“Code of Conduct on Energy Consumption of Broadband Equipment”
Version 2, 17th July 2007
ADSL2plus can reduce transmit power when traffic is light
Uses L2 & L3 power modes, these may be needed to meet the EU CoC targets
BUT, can reduce the stability of all DSL systems :
More errors
More loss of synch & retrains
-> Lousy for video & Dynamic Line Management at risk
NICC DSL Task Group is looking at how ADSL2plus low power modes could be used safely

10. 3 KEY ISSUES FOR ISPs TO THINK ABOUT
1. Next Generation Access
2. European Union Code of Conduct
on broadband power consumption
3. Ability of your network to support IPTV

11. Best effort networks will work Voice Really needs QoS
IPTV OVER BROADBAND WILL SHOW UP ANY ACCESS & HOME NETWORK QoS INADEQUACIES
Internet Access
Best effort networks will work
Voice
Really needs QoS
but can “get away with” throwing capacity at it
Video
QoS is essential for responsive streaming video

12. HDTV IS EVEN MORE DEMANDING
TYPICAL IPTV BIT-ERROR RATE (BER) REQUIREMENTS
10-9 to 10-8 for SDTV
10-10 to 10-9 for HDTV (i.e. needs to be as good as fibre transmission systems!)
Standard DSL performance target is BER = 10-7 (at 0dB noise margin)
DSL BER of 10-8 can be achieved with reasonable noise margin
BER lower than 10-8 is very hard to achieve
Many DSL routers have an intrinsic noise floor between 10-8 and 10-9
CONCLUSION
Video Application Layer Forward Error Correction (AL-FEC) may be needed
See DSL Forum TR-126 and DVB work in this area
Technically feasible using new Raptor Codes (e.g. from Digital Fountain)

13. 1. Next Generation Access
SUMMARY
AS AN ISP, MAKE SURE THAT YOU (OR YOUR BROADBAND NETWORK SUPPLIER) UNDERSTAND & ARE INVOLVED IN THESE ISSUES :
1. Next Generation Access
Specification & use of GPON products within the UK
Respond to Ofcom NGA consultation
2. European Union Code of Conduct
on broadband power consumption
NICC discussions on use of ADSL2plus low-power modes
3. Ability of your network to support IPTV
What it takes to deliver IPTV, especially HDTV