WHITE PAPER

How Metro Network Aggregation Helps You Handle the Bandwidth Explosion
How Carriers Are Using Packet Optical Transport Platforms to Grow Metro Networks and Cut Costs
Executive Summary
Carriers today are facing an unprecedented explosion in user bandwidth demand that is stretching metro and regional networks to their limits. To stay ahead of the soaring demand for bandwidth and reverse the decline in revenue per bit, carriers are investigating solutions that enable them to handle demand and turn up new services fast while still keeping expenses in line. Metro network aggregation using a packet optical transport platform (POTP) is one solution carriers are turning to in order to solve these challenges. Using a POTP, wireline carriers, wireless carriers, converged network carriers and wholesale network carriers can benefit from a network that offers high bandwidth and supports a wide variety of service types. Network consolidation provides the capital-expense (CapEx) and operating-expense (OpEx) savings carriers need to increase profits while giving their networks the flexibility and agility they need to compete in todays environment.

Greg Perisho
Staff Product Manager Transport Products Tellabs

This rise in bandwidth demand is causing carriers to examine several critical issues, including the following concepts:
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Can you handle user bandwidth needs while keeping expenses in line? Several carriers have stated that while they have recordhigh revenues, their earnings are down. They attribute the decrease to the high cost of building their networks to support exploding bandwidth demands. How fast can you turn up new services? As services are moved to the cloud and wireless speeds increase with the introduction of LTE, users expect bandwidth to be available whenever they need it. And while Wi-Fi offload helps with the congestion and bandwidth limitations of the airwaves, it introduces another strain on the backbone network. Is your network highly reliable and able to respond to faults quickly? Networks must be adaptable and able to handle changes seamlessly, including fiber cuts and natural disasters.

User Demand for Bandwidth Is Skyrocketing

Carriers around the world are facing an unprecedented bandwidth demand explosion. The number one driver is video, but other trends are adding to this growing demand, including the proliferation of smartphones and tablets, an increase in machine-to-machine (M2M) communications, and applications and storage moving to the cloud.
Demand for bandwidth dramatically increasing each year in terabits per second

Metro Networks Struggle to Scale

A typical metro network requires a separate physical handoff from each service edge to each designation. Each physical handoff must be sized based on the maximum utilization of each destination, and an edge router is required to distribute traffic to the customer. Metro networks based only on routers and switches will not economically scale to meet increasing bandwidth demand. They can require multiple overlay rings, new fiber pairs and additional hardware for each location for each ring. This can be extremely inefficient, with extensive design and deployment times.

Bandwidth demand will increase 8-fold by 2020.

SOURCE: TELEGEOGRAPHY

Adding Overlay Networks Can Be Too Costly

One solution to assist carriers in meeting the bandwidth challenge is to overlay new networks with more advanced capabilities. But while adding overlay networks may help address the near-term demand, there are questions about the sustainability of this approach. The biggest concern is that the resulting network is too expensive to maintain for several reasons, including:
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2008 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Historical Forecasted

Figure 1. How bandwidth demand has risen and how it will continue to rise

Additional floor space: Adding overlay networks requires additional floor space to handle the overlay network elements. In some cases, this may require building out new areas or leasing additional space, both expensive propositions.

See tellabs.com for more information about Tellabs Solutions

2 HOW METRO NETWORK AGGREGATION HELPS YOU HANDLE THE BANDWIDTH EXPLOSION

More power: The additional network elements require additional power and put more strain on the environmental control systems. At minimum, the HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) systems will work harder and draw more power. Support for multiple network elements: If the overlay network consists of elements that are different from those already at the site, training on multiple network elements is required. Multiple operational support systems (OSS) may be required to support multiple network element types, increasing costs for hardware, training and support. Furthermore, a network with multiple overlay networks is difficult to manage. Customer nodes may be on different networks, requiring inter-system connections. With circuits being on different parts of the network, completing an order or troubleshooting could require accessing different support systems.

Cloud Services

Optical LAN/WAN

VoIP

Metro/Regional Fiber Optic Backbone

Data Center & Storage Area Network

Video Transport

Moving to an All-IP Network Isnt the Answer

Another solution for carriers is to move to an all-IP network. But many carriers that have started down this path are already looking for a better alternative. IP router-based networks have not lived up to carriers expectations and are costing more than planned. The migration of all services to IP transports resulted in an increasing number of routers and router ports required for traffic that is simply being tunneled through routers. Some of these services were originally supported via WDM and SONET/SDH elements alone. Even for IP services, the intermediate routers in the path of point-to-point or point-to-multipoint services are simply forwarding traffic through the ingress and egress routers. Also, many services require more network bandwidth over IP than they do over a time division multiplexing (TDM) network. A 64kbps voice call over TDM might require 100 kbps as voice-over-IP (VoIP). The same is true for private-line and guaranteed-bandwidth services. They require much more bandwidth on an IP network than on a TDM network. Migrating these services to IP actually increases the bandwidth requirements, accelerating the growth requirements on the network.
Mobile Networking

Figure 2. Metro network aggregation and transport infrastructure

A POTP is typically modular for scalability and flexibility. It aggregates smaller demands of TDM and Ethernet traffic and transports over a single 10 Gbps or faster connection. POTPs can easily scale up for situations where dozens of wavelengths are required with many different fiber directions (degrees) from the same site. A POTP can support any combination of TDM and Ethernet traffic, depending on the modules employed. A POTP can replace standalone Ethernet switches, WDM, SONET/SDH ADMs and digital cross-connect systems (DCSs). It can also allow the use of legacy equipment for existing connections. Carriers can add Ethernet and TDM capabilities as needed in a scalable, flexible and highly manageable configuration.

How a Packet Optical Transport Platform Works

A POTP offloads traffic (e.g., Internet protocol television, video on demand or Internet) from IP routers that could be handled equally well from a functional perspective, and at a much lower cost, via carrier Ethernet and optical facilities. A POTP should appear like a transparent pipe to the higher-layer IP routers. The routers will operate as if they are directly connected. By integrating Layers 0 (optical/DWDM), 1 (SONET/SDH/OTN) and 2 (Ethernet/MPLS-TP), a POTP supports the high network reliability of TDM and WDM networks. This includes the 50-millisecond restoration times and high reliability that IP networks cant replicate.

Metro Network Aggregation Manages the Bandwidth Explosion

Infonetics Research, in their Fundamental Telecom/Datacom Market Drivers report (December 15, 2011), highlighted that carriers are interested in using a single network for fixed/mobile, private/public, basic/premium, and enterprise/residential services. A change in network architecture toward convergence of fixed and mobile can enable carriers to add bandwidth efficiently across the network and get on a new, lower cost curve. Moving to a unified network that supports multiple services allows a carrier to share infrastructure costs among all of their customers. A packet optical transport platform is the network architecture many carriers are considering as the leading solution.

See tellabs.com for more information about Tellabs Solutions

3 HOW METRO NETWORK AGGREGATION HELPS YOU HANDLE THE BANDWIDTH EXPLOSION

Principle #1
Stay As Low As Possible On The Cost & Complexity Curve

Principle #2

Technology Integration

IP/MPLS SONET/SDH

Ethernet
OTN
Cost
Optical

Packet optical networking has proven to provide up to 65% in capital savings and up to 85% in operational savings
Figure 3. Two principles for how POTP improves network efficiency

POTPs Combine the Benefits of TDM and Ethernet

By moving to a unified network served by a POTP, carriers can support almost all of their core network, wireless backhaul and wholesale service requirements. These services include Ethernet business services, cloud services, video distribution services, SAN services and TDM private line services. A network based on a POTP combines the benefits of the existing TDM networks with the benefits of Ethernet into a single network.
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Finally, a POTP eliminates the high costs of converting to an all-IP network. The growth in packet services is efficiently aggregated and transported using Ethernet switching that is integral to the POTP. This offers a lower-cost alternative to an all-IP network while reducing ports costs on service routers at the hubs.

Faster Turn-Up of New Services

To be competitive, carriers must be able to turn up services anywhere and on demand. They need to be able to do this quickly turning up services in hours, rather than days or weeks. Moving to a consolidated network architecture that can support most service requirements, as a POTP can, is a key component in solving this problem.
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This network can build off of the existing network but eliminate the problems associated with multiple networks and/or overlay networks. Many times the existing bandwidth requirements can fit into the existing system or the existing system can be grown incrementally due to their modular design. Built to scale with network requirements, a POTP deploys interface modules and pluggable client interfaces (SFPs and XFPs) only as required. It easily handles the bandwidth demand with little or no impact to floor space, a minimal increase in power and little impact to environment systems. Since this solution is built off of the same system that carriers already have in their networks, there is no need for additional training on the network elements or the support systems. Some carriers opt to replace several existing networks with one POTP. An internal study performed by Tellabs showed that a carrier can save over 65% by deploying dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM, part of the foundation of a packet optical transport network) versus stacked add-drop multiplexors (ADM).

First, all bandwidth is consolidated onto one network, ensuring that bandwidth is not being stranded because it cannot be accessed or because it is only a fraction of the requested bandwidth. Growing additional bandwidth can be as easy as adding another wavelength. POTP systems add a new degree of flexibility to provisioning. If switching is not required, then the carrier can simply use transponder modules and lower the cost of providing the service. If switching is required, then switching modules can be used. Moving to a consolidated network instead of growing the network with overlays enables a carrier to turn up services more quickly, since one OSS is used for all circuits and all circuits reside on the single network.

See tellabs.com for more information about Tellabs Solutions

4 HOW METRO NETWORK AGGREGATION HELPS YOU HANDLE THE BANDWIDTH EXPLOSION

Troubleshooting is simplified in a consolidated network that uses a POTP. Accessing only one OSS for all circuits saves critical isolation and restoration time and associated costs. This is an advantage for ongoing operations and maintenance. A POTP also enables operators to choose the way they manage Ethernet and TDM in the network. TDM-based parameters can manage TDM traffic, and Ethernet performance capabilities can manage Ethernet traffic. Or, TDM performance monitoring can manage everything, even mapping Ethernet traffic into SONET/ SDH or OTN for transport over WDM wavelengths. An internal study performed by Tellabs showed that a carrier could save up to 85% in operations expense by using DWDM over stacked ADMs.

Conclusion
The bandwidth explosion is real, driven by increased demand for data networking and video. The move to mobility for tasks that were normally accomplished via the fixed broadband network adds to the complexity of the problem. Carriers are looking to move away from separate fixed and mobile networks to a metro aggregation transport solution that can support wavelength services, private line services, Ethernet services, public and private MPLS/VPN services, cloud services and data center interconnect and mobile backhaul. As a simple function of integrating multiple technology elements into one system, a packet optical transport platform provides numerous benefits:
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Addressing the Reliability Expectation

Wireline networks are expected to be highly reliable. In the past, the expectation for mobile networks has been a little more tolerant (Im moving into a dead zone so we might drop.). With the advent of smartphones and other mobile devices such as dongles and tablets, this tolerance is waning. It is no longer acceptable for service interruptions to freeze the download of a video or cause a VoIP call to drop. The expectation of todays users is that the mobile broadband network is just as fast and reliable as the wired broadband network. Wired and wireless broadband networks need to provide high bandwidth with no apparent disruption in service, even if part of the network is affected by a network failure. With the vast amount of data flowing through the network, its not unusual for a carrier to get a call from an important business customer if they have a service disruption that lasts less than one second. Packet optical transport platforms, with their underlying DWDM technology, are known for their high reliability (over six 9s 99.9999% uptime) as well as their high bandwidth and service flexibility. Thanks to the mesh architecture of a POTP, networks have three or more paths of recovery automatically, so issues can be handled rapidly without negatively impacting uptime.

Fewer network elements to manage Fewer management connections and facilities required Fewer element management systems to operate Fewer interfaces and cables for interconnecting elements Fewer interoperability issues between different vendor equipment

These benefits result in CapEx and OpEx savings, faster turn-up of new services and a highly reliable, flexible network. Moving to a unified network served by a POTP enables carriers to support almost all of their transport network, wireless backhaul and wholesale service requirements while meeting the massive scalability needs of service providers. Next Step:
Visit www.tellabs.com/solutions/packetoptical to access more white papers and case studies on how Tellabs is helping carriers economically address the bandwidth explosion. If you have a question about Tellabs Packet Optical Solutions, please email ask@tellabs.com.

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