1. Future Access Networking
Saemundur E. Thorsteinsson
Iceland Telecom
Research Department

2. Overview The Eurescom FAN and Anfina Projects FAN Rationale
Bandwidth Demand
Two Access Network Segments
Backhaul technologies
Drop technologies
Quality of Service in the Access Network
Role of Ethernet
Economic considerations
Vision of the Future Access Network
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3. The FAN project Participants
FAN (Future Access Networks) was a Eurescom Study
finished in 2002
European Intitute for Research and Strategic Studies in Telecommunications
Participants
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4. The Anfina Project Anfina Also a Eurescom study
Access Networks control Functions and Interfaces in NGN Architectures
Also a Eurescom study
will be finished by end of 2003
Participants
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5. FAN Rationale IP dominates the traffic
Future Services are IP based
Current Services migrate to IP (e.g.VoIP)
Convergence of the Services in IP
Ethernet becomes the standard customer interface
Bandwidth demands increasing
Dynamic bandwidth allocation required
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6. FAN Rationale Currently deployed telecom access network solutions are
mostly TDM-based (for narrowband traffic, e.g. legacy telephony)
ATM-based (broadband traffic, e.g. ADSL)
The result is a gap between access network technology and service evolution trends
When and how should the operators upgrade their AN ?
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7. Bandwidth demand of homes
Exponential growth, doubling every 23 months
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8. Factors increasing the bitrate
Video communications
Streaming video on the Internet
Video on Demand
Video telephony and conferencing
Digital cameras and camcorders
Increasing need for exchanging pictures and videos
SAN = Storage Area Networking
Data storage
Files grow through the years
Enhanced data security
High speed connections required for tolerable service
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9. Video encoding Advancement in video encoding technology
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
2001
2003
2002
2005
2004
Bitrate
[kb/s]
Year
Advancement in video encoding technology
Less bitrate required for same video quality
Makes Video over ADSL interesting
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10. Two Segments - Drop and Backhaul
NT – Network Termination
AG - Aggregation Node
SN – Service Node
Access Network
Drop Segment NT
DATA Network
Radio AG SN
PSTNNetwork
DAT
Cable
DATA Network
A Network
Backhaul Network SN
Backhaul Segment
DATA Network
ATM Network
DATA Network
DATA Network
Copper AG SN
IP Network
DATA Network NT
DATA Network
Fibre
Service Node or
Core Network Interface
e.g. BRAS
Drop Segment
Aggregation Node
e.g. DSLAM
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11. Drop Segment
From the customer to the aggregation node is characterised by
Diversity of Transmission media (copper, fibre, cable, radio)
Diversity of Systems based on various technologies (TDM, ATM, IP,…)
Different Aggregation Node concepts
Not interoperable
This situation remains probably for a long time, but could evolve smoothly by substituting or deploying new technologies, e.g. ATM-based ADSL --> Ethernet-based ADSL or VDSL
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12. Nearly only ATM but IP-based DSLAMS are available now SHDSL (x)
Technology
Comments
ATM
connection
less, e.g.
Ethernet
Copper
ADSL x
Nearly only ATM but IP-based DSLAMS are available now
SHDSL
(x)
open, but ATM dominating
VDSL
packet based, FS-VDSL propose ATM in the first step
Coax
DOCSIS
DOCSIS deployment dominates
DVB
Radio
up to Release 4 & 5
Release 6
WLAN
IP native (IEEE802.11) dominating Technology
HiperLAN/2
No product yet on the market
BWA
Hiper Access(ATM), IEEE (DOCSIS like)
Fibre
APON
Standard based
EPON
IP native, but no standard yet
Optical Ethernet
IP native, wide deployment in the Data world
ATM over SDH
Inefficent IP transport
POS
Expensive
Layer 2
UMTS
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13. Backhaul Segment From the Aggregation Node to the Service node
Dedicated to the individual services and/or drop technologies
Diversity of systems based on various technologies (TDM, SDH, ATM, IP,)
Not interoperable
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14. Backhaul Segment Expected evolutions & potential of cost savings by
Convergence of the Backhaul networks on common optical platform
Integration of services by integration of different drop technologies
Simplification of the protocol stack (Replacement of IP/ATM/SDH by Ethernet
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15. Reduced complexity and cost
Backhaul Segment
Reduced complexity and cost
Optical
SDH
ATM IP
Optical
SDH IP
Optical
ATM IP IP
Ethernet
Optical
Legacy situation
Frequent situation
Frequent situation
Upcomingsituation
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16. Ethernet Future Development
Data
Voice
LAN Metro WAN
10GbE
QoS
(ATM) SONET/SDH
EFM
MPLS
Ethernet
EFM: Ethernet in the First Mile
Þetta er reyndar bara um Ethernet en það hlýtur að mega stinga þessu inn í IP-talið líka...
Source: Extreme Networks
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17. Access Network evolution
Current Access
Future Access
Customer Premise
IP/MPLS Backbone
Multiple Analog Lines for Voice
DLC
Softswitch Call Control
PBX Extensions
VoDSL GW
DSLAM
ATM/FR
Class 5
LAN
MUX
ADM
Packet-Based
Optimized for the Internet Protocol
Enabled by….
Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS)
Distributed Call-Agent (i.e. SoftSwitch) Services
Equipment Stack at CO
Terminals off remote
Mainframe
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18. Quality of Service, QoS
QoS guarantees must be offered in Access Networks
Services have different requirements
Source: Tanenbaum, Computer Networks, 4th ed.
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19. Quality of Service
Access Networks need to support Service Level Agreement management
To enable flexible/dynamic service provisioning
For dynamic bandwidth allocation
AN need to segregate traffic between customers and/or services.
To enable security and confidentiality
To enable different QoS treatment
AN need to support multicast (e.g. for TV-broadcast services)
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20. Quality of service
To support IP QoS, there is a need to reflect some “IP and application knowledge” in layer 1 and 2 of the AN (in various equipment).
New developments in IP/Ethernet technology increase the capabilities of QoS
Differentiated service integration
The access is not the dumb part of the network any longer.
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21. IP-based contenders in the AN
Layer 2 Ethernet Switching
Full Duplex operation & high bit rates : 10, 100, 1000 Mbit/s
Increasing switching capacity
Use of VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) :
Based on IEEE 802.1Q (VLAN Tag)
Enables “waterproof” separation of different network traffic domains
IEEE 802.1P enables prioritisation, queuing, traffic shaping and policing
Various criteria can be used to relate traffic to a VLAN : per port (of switch), per MAC address, per IP address, per Layer 3-type protocol, per service…
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22. IP-based contenders in the AN
Layer 2,5 MPLS (Multi Protocol Label Switching)
MPLS brings the advantages of connection oriented networks to connectionless networks
Adds intelligent traffic handling to the access network
Close integration with IP
MPLS adds QoS to IP networks in combination with Diffserv or Intserv
Needed for multi-service networks and particularly for voice services
IP/MPLS advantages
One protocol and technology from the access to the core
Enable VPN services (Virtual Private Networks)
Simplified management throughout entire network
Flexible service creation, faster service roll-out
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23. Economic considerations Gigabit Ethernet vs ATM/SDH, SDH
Electronics/Optics BW mgmt. & Annual maint BW on
$/Mbps provisioning upgrades demand
Yes
5:1 – 8:1
5:1
8:1 - 13:1
GbE advantage $
$1k
$1-3
IP/Ethernet
Very difficult
$750-$3750
$5k
$6-35
IP/SDH
$8-40
IP/ATM/SDH
Source: Yipes, Dell ‘Oro, Yankee Group, Extreme Networks, Juniper Networks Assumes a regional network with fibre hubs and 10 rings
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24. Technology Price evolution0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
Price evolution
ATM
Ethernet
SDH
Infra- structure
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25. Model of the FAN
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26. FAN drop segment Will be characterised by Ethernet interfaces
Dependence on medium and technology
Shorter distances, as Aggregation Node is moving closer to the subscriber
(re-)use of copper pair, wherever feasible
New fibre deployment
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27. FAN backhaul segment IP-based Optical
(Gigabit Ethernet, APON, EPON)
Mesh- (L2 switching) or Ring- (with RPR) topologies
Will use MPLS (e.g. over GbE) as an ATM & IP convergence solution
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28. Questions ? Thank you Further information
Deliverable 1 (IP based access technologies and QoS) is publicly available
Questions ?
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