APPLICATION WHITE PAPER

Introducing WDM into

Next-Generation Access Networks

Authors:
Jim Theodoras and
Stephan Rettenberger,
ADVA Optical Networking
ADVA Optical Networking All rights reserved.

As access networks have struggled to keep pace with the explosion in bandwidth
consumption, the number of network types and protocols have jumped
dramatically, reaching untenable levels. Today, there are more types of access
networks than ever before: DSL, HFC, WiFi, 3G, A/B/GPON, GE/10GEPON, WiMAX
the list goes on and on. This protocol explosion is a byproduct of the urgent
response by bandwidth providers to meet surging bandwidth consumption.
At the same time, revenue-per-bit is in decline. The price consumers are
willing to pay for bandwidth has not kept pace, leaving bandwidth providers
in a pinch.
The solution to this predicament lies not in yet another access protocol. If
providers are to deliver more bandwidth for less cost, they must seriously
look at upgrading to Next-Generation Access (NGA) networks. Introducing
WDM into the access part of the network allows consolidation into a single
architecture that backhauls trafc to centralized data centers and switches at
the lowest layer possible. By avoiding multiple layers of data aggregation and
protocol conversions, a dramatically more efcient access network can be built
that supports the long-term strategy to eliminate active sites and consolidate
Central Ofces (COs), while scaling indenitely to meet future demand.

Background
When access networks rst appeared on the scene, the bandwidth landscape
was much different than it is today. Large geographical areas had to be covered,
with as minimal capital outlay as possible. User bandwidths were not only
much lower, but highly asymmetrical, favoring downloads. The subscription
rate of passed homes and businesses was very low. All of these factors heavily
favored approaches that shared bandwidth among users, and todays access
architectures are still burdened by these early decisions.

Over the long term, bandwidth

consumption is growing at around
40% to 50% per year on average
To drive this level of bandwidth
growth, both the application and the
access technologies must be in place.
The applications continue to be rapid
access to entertainment such as video
and ubiquitous connectivity to the
Internet.
- DellOro Group, January 2009

Today, user bandwidths are exploding. With user-generated content all

the rage and virtual storage networks being formed from peer-to-peer
networks, upstream throughput is as important as the downstream. As
the latest FTTx offerings have entered neighborhoods, subscription rates
from passed homes have exceeded 50%, and in some neighborhoods are
past 100% with waiting lists. These access networks have reached critical
mass, where sensitivity to initial capital expense is giving way to closer
examination of operating expenses and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) over
the life of the equipment and network. These latest shifts in the market have
led industry leaders and technology visionaries to re-evaluate traditional
access approaches in search of a solution more suitable to present needs as
well as future trends.

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Introducing WDM into Next-Generation Access Networks

Passive Optical Networks (PONs)

Passive Optical Networks have several key dening characteristics. Passive
refers to the fact that in a PON, the device that splits bandwidth among
subscribers is passive, i.e., non-powered and non-active. Optical refers to a
ber being used to carry the bandwidth from the source to the neighborhood,
and it does not necessarily mean that an optical signal or ber is distributed to
each subscriber. There is a common misconception that the purpose of PONs is
to reduce the number of ports required in a CO to feed a set of subscribers. While
this sounds attractive, it is seldom actually true, as each concentrated Optical
Line Terminal (OLT) port at the CO is often translated into a set of client ports
anyway. The main impetus for PON architectures was to reduce the number of
feeder bers needed to service a given number of subscribers. A bandwidth
provider who wishes to reach an area of subscribers seldom has direct access,
but rather must transverse one or more networks owned by others, leasing
the access on a per-ber basis. Even if a provider does own an entire network
end-to-end, the sheer number of bers that would be needed to feed an area of
subscribers would make it physically impossible to assign them each a feeder.
Another point of consideration is the mean-time-to-repair for a multi-ber
approach. A cable break with hundreds of bers and splices takes longer to
locate and re-splice than one with a single ber pair.

Figure 1: Traditional PONs share bandwidth among subscribers through

timesharing techniques

Traditional PON architectures such as A, B, GPON and EPON use Time Division
Multiple Access (TDMA) to share bandwidth among subscribers on a common
feeder ber. Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation (DBA) algorithms are used to decide
who gets the available bandwidth at times of oversubscription. This time-based
separation of subscribers within xed aggregated data rates has made it difcult
for traditional PON protocols to scale to meet the aforementioned changing
bandwidth landscape.
Standards bodies, equipment vendors and service providers have struggled
to keep pace, transitioning from A- to B- to GPON, with now talk of NG-PON
alternatives. This inability to scale has been one of the major shortcomings of
traditional PON protocols and has driven the search for better alternatives.

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Introducing WDM into Next-Generation Access Networks

Figure 2: PON timeline

Regulatory Concerns
Access networks are a valuable asset and need to be designed with a longterm plan. It took more than one hundred years to build a global network that
now supplies most of the population at least in developed countries with
high-quality telephony service. Upgrading the access infrastructure from twisted
pairs of copper wire to ber on a broader scale will take a long time, and it is
important that whatever is buried in the ground can remain in service for a
commensurate amount of time.

In todays deregulated markets,

competitive communication providers
typically have several choices in the
context of local loop unbundling.

Governments see the build-out of access infrastructure as an element of

strategic importance to strengthen their national economies in a globalized
world. Regulatory bodies have the mandate to dene a framework that
both assures investors and offers consumers a competitive communications
offering, neither of which is an easy task. In todays deregulated markets,
competitive communication providers typically have several choices in the
context of local loop unbundling. There are two extremes: They can gain
access to the physical media, i.e., mainly copper wires in case of residential
services. In that case they are fully in control of their own destiny and can
connect whatever technology they choose. This gives them ultimate exibility
regarding service creation and denition. The other extreme is access to the bit
stream only. In this case, the incumbent operates the equipment that drives
the access link. In this scenario, exibility on the service denition side is more
limited.
If an incumbent builds out the access network and moves to ber, what will
be the impact on the regulatory environment? Once ber has been rolled out
closer to the end users, there is little incentive to maintain the old copper plant.
Where will be the new access points to other communication providers? And will
it still be possible to offer both infrastructure access and bit-stream access?
Traditional TDMA-PONs can provide bit-stream access but there is no way to
provide access to the physical layer.

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Introducing WDM into Next-Generation Access Networks

Passive WDM and NGA

There is no doubt that the increase in end user bandwidth demand can only be
satised by moving the ber closer to the end user. The best FTTX strategy
whether it be to the Curb (FTTC), Building (FTTB) or Home (FTTH) depends
on a mix of factors that include the available legacy network infrastructure,
the regulatory environment and competitive landscape. But operators do not
only need to worry about how to deliver more bandwidth. The main question
is: how much revenue can be generated with that ultra-broadband network? In
times of at-rate based competition, this is a valid concern and in some cases
the business case for the network upgrade may not be clear. Operators need to
include more than just the cost of upgrading the rst-mile of their network in
the equation. The cost of operating the access and backhaul part of the network
plays a vital role where factors such as energy consumption, labor, network
management and real estate management and maintenance come into play.
Lower operational expense may be
achieved with operational simplicity,
lower energy consumption and fewer
active sites.

One key requirement for NGA concepts is the ability to deliver more
bandwidth to more end users at lower operational expense. Lower operational
expense may be achieved with operational simplicity (less and simpler
active equipment), lower energy consumption and fewer active sites. To
accomplish all three requires a technology that supports high capacity and
long reach. WDM has delivered against these requirements in other parts
of the network. The question is: how can WDM successfully solve the NGA
conundrum?
WDM technology has certainly been one of the great bandwidth enablers over
the last decade. Multicolor encoding coupled with optical amplication ushered
in a new era in data transport. As WDM technology matured, it moved from the
core of the network toward metropolitan networks, eventually reaching the edge
of access. However, when vendors tried to extend the technology for access
networks, it proved a poor t. Price points were too high. The color-stabilized
lasers and multiplexers were power hungry, and not able to operate over the
extended temperature extremes required of eld boxes. Simply separating
subscribers by color was inefcient, as well as ineffective. Finally, there was no
way of knowing status or measuring performance on the end-to-end path to the
customer.
The solution to all of these problems has arrived with environmentally-hardened
WDM lters that allow the creation of a point-to-multi-point WDM solution, often
referred to as passive WDM or WDM-PON. A passive point-to-multipoint WDM
solution meets all key PON criteria, having a single feeder ber spanning from
the CO to the subscriber edge. The device that splits the bandwidth, the Flexible
Remote Node (FRN), can be run fully passively. Scalability issues are resolved
by reserving colors on an individual or group of subscriber basis, rather than
through time-slot reservation. Color-stabilized lasers are only required in the
end-points of the network, and only the temperature-hardened FRN needs to
be elded.
ADVA Optical Networking has extended the function-ality of the successful FSP
3000 platform and introduced a NGA solution based on passive WDM (Figure
3). This WDM-PON extension creates a physical point-to-point wavelength
connection over a point-to-multipoint ber plant. The low-insertion loss of the
FRN allows network operators to deliver more bandwidth to more endpoints
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from fewer sites that sit farther back in the network. CO-to-subscriber links are
fully visible and remotely provisionable. Optical links to third-party devices, such
as DSL Access Multiplexers (DSLAMs), can be monitored through innovative
Optojack surveillance features. Ethernet business services are also in-servicetestable using ADVA Optical Networkings Etherjack Service Assurance (ESA).
The concept allows open access on a physical layer (the wavelength acting as
a virtual ber) as well as bit-stream access on an interface at the OLT.

Figure 3: WDM-based NGA solution

One main advantage of ADVA Optical Networkings WDM-based NGA solution is it

is using native Ethernet, albeit with carrier-class enhancements. No proprietary
protocols, digital wrappers or data conversion are needed. The necessary
features are added through Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF)-compliant protocols
using Ethernet demarcation techniques, with non-service effecting out-of-band
packets. A second main advantage is that the solution is based upon standard
CWDM and DWDM optical transport technology. Again, no proprietary ber,
channel grids or color spacing are needed. Once a subscribers data enters the
network on an assigned color, it can propagate anywhere in the WDM transport
network, be it access, metro or core.
The key to the dramatic leap forward
in efciency of ADVA Optical Networkings WDM NGA architecture lies in
the reduction of redundant layers of
aggregation.

The key to the dramatic leap forward in efciency of ADVA Optical

Networkings WDM NGA architecture lies in the reduction of redundant layers
of aggregation. The most efcient place to process the packets that Ethernet
carries is in the data center. Current access architectures involve several
stages of protocol conversion and packet aggregation prior to reaching a data
center or CO. For example, a subscribers Ethernet connectivity might come
from a router connected to a DSL modem, connected over a copper twisted
pair to a DSL aggregator in a box, over bonded T1s/E1s to a local exchange,
aggregated again, transported to another local exchange over an OC-3/STM1 ber link, aggregated into an OC-48/STM-16 metro network, transported to
a data center or CO, where it is once again aggregated and then translated
back to Ethernet and transported between core routers on perhaps a 10 Gigabit
Ethernet MPLS core network. If the subscribers original content is Ethernet and
the data center needs Ethernet, any additional protocol conversions and layers
of aggregation are simply wasteful.
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Figure 4: Comparison of access architectures

With ADVA Optical Networkings WDM NGA solution, subscribers are each
assigned Ethernet Virtual Circuits (EVCs) with monitored and guaranteed
bandwidth characteristics. Subscribers can even be assigned EVCs per application
or data type, each with their own bandwidth prole. These EVCs can then either
be assigned their own color channel or grouped together and assigned a color.
These color channels are fully compatible with all WDM transport gear used
today and as such can travel any amount of distance required to reach a data
center or CO. The color channels are aggregated together onto a single feeder
ber with the aforementioned FRN. Since the color channels can travel such
long distances, exibility is needed to add/drop a channel at a network node or
transfer between bers on the journey. This exibility is provided by a Layer 2
(L2) aggregator/switch that is able to read the EVCs identication tags and add,
drop, re-arrange, re-assign and switch as needed.

Network Consolidation
The aforementioned separation of trafc and bandwidth guarantees have the
fringe benet of allowing another major leap in efciencies, if a bandwidth
provider so chooses. Residential and business trafc have traditionally been
served from two separate networking platforms operating in parallel in the
same geographical domain. The separation was necessary due to the different
requirements of the two customer groups regarding bandwidth and service
availability. In fact, business customers are accustomed and willing to pay a
premium for network performance and availability, typically contractually backed
by a Service Level Agreement (SLA). Residential customers mainly receive a
best-effort service with no compensation in the case of service downtime.
When introducing WDM in the access and backhaul part of the network, the
operation of two parallel purpose-built platforms is no longer necessary. WDM
provides hardware-based trafc separation on the physical layer, supporting the
most stringent requirements for payload security. Different end user groups (a
residential community or a business) can be served on different wavelengths
with different levels of priority and end user-specic SLAs. The ability to service
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residential communities, business customers and ultimately even wholesale

carrier customers from one common network infrastructure yields obvious and
substantial savings.

Figure 5: Network consolidation

Migration Strategy
While the benets of introducing a scalable long-reach technology in ber-based
access networks is very logical, it is also important to highlight that the migration
strategy is straightforward. Since ADVA Optical Networkings WDM NGA is based
upon native Ethernet and standard WDM technology, adoption is relatively easy.

The maximum level of investment

protection with the most modest
feature set can be realized with simply
plugging CPE equipment directly into
the ber feeding a FRN and WDM
transport gear upstream.

At an existing subscribers site, several low-impact options exist, each with

increasing benets and functionality. Any colored ports on the existing CPE
can be used as-is, or one of the pluggable optical ports on the CPE can be
swapped for an Optojack SFP. Alternatively, an Ethernet demarcation device
such as the ADVA FSP 150 can either be inserted inline or can simply replace
the CPE. The maximum level of investment protection with the most modest
feature set can be realized with simply plugging CPE equipment directly into
the ber feeding a FRN and WDM transport gear upstream. The necessary
OAM features are provided upstream, and simple loopbacks can be used
at the CPE for test and turn-up. For a greater level of features, with only a
small hit in CPE equipment, ADVA Optical Networking has invented Optojack
link monitoring, which includes intelligent SFP transceivers that can be simply
plugged into a subscribers existing equipment to provide all the enhancements
necessary. The Optojack option will be the optimal solution for most access
networks. However, if a greater feature set is desired and the customer is willing
to add to their CPE investments, a small Ethernet demarcation product can be
put inline, in between the CPE and FRN nodes.
Once a CPE strategy is chosen, a FRN is installed somewhere in the network,
either at one of the CPE sites, in a basement or closet, a eld box, or even at
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Opt

CPE changes

Comments

None

Loopbacks for test and

turn-up

Replace SFPs with

OptojackTM SFPs

Best balance of features

vs. cost

Ethernet demarcation
device added inline

Full demarcation feature

set (UNI and NID), but
additional product needed

Table 1: CPE investment protection

the local exchange remember, the F stands for exible. Finally, the WDM
chassis is located at the central destination, be it a CO or data center. The same
WDM transport platform, physical chassis, management software, etc. may be
used from access through metro to core, to deliver Ethernet packets end-to-end,
with complete visibility and service assurance.

TCO Analysis
In order to verify the access strategy proposed and conrm it does indeed yield
the envisioned savings, ADVA Optical Networking has performed a TCO analysis
comparing the costs of its WDM-based NGA solution to two of todays most
prevalent high-bandwidth access architectures, VDSL2 and GPON.1 The entire
path of a packet to and from the data center or CO was included in the TCO
study, not just local exchange-to-subscriber, which is typically modeled. The
results of the analysis were eye-opening, to say the least. While VDSL2 has the
lowest duct costs, thanks to the re-use of the existing copper plant in the rst
mile. Its Operations, Administration, Maintenance and Provisioning (OAM&P)
costs, however, are the highest. Energy costs are 18% of the TCO. GPON and
WDM-based NGA on the other hand require a signicant build out of the ber
plant, seen in the high duct cost, which is identical for both solutions. Both ber
solutions allow a reduction of energy cost compared to the VDSL2 approach with
a slight advantage for the WDM-based NGA. The overall operational expense,
however, is for GPON more than 50% higher than for the WDM-based NGA. This
is mainly due to the higher number of sites with active equipment. Normalized
to the VDSL2 case, GPON does not provide any TCO advantages, whereas the
WDM-based NGA provides 20% savings.
The WDM-based NGA approach saves operating expenses and lowers energy
use over the life of a network, easily offsetting any additional capital expense
up front. And the TCO analysis assumed only a single layer of aggregation
One Million subscribers, ~40Mbit/s CIR symmetrical, 25 years;
For additional details see A TCO analysis of L2-enabled WDM-PONs, Klaus Grobe and Jrg-Peter Elbers,
ADVA Optical Networking, in IEEE Optical Communications, published March 2009.

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Introducing WDM into Next-Generation Access Networks

was removed. In most cases, multiple levels of redundant aggregation can be

removed, resulting in even greater savings in both cost and energy consumption.

Figure 6: TCO comparison

Scalability and Reach

Another area of concern that warrants consideration is the future upgradeability
of any deployed access architecture. When making the investment of planting
new ber to the building or home, access network operators should not expect a
quick Return on Investment (RoI). Because it will take years for the investment
to pay off, the selected technology should have longevity. Today, bandwidth in
the range of 10Mbit/s for a residential user may seem generous. However, most
operators are currently using 100Mbit/s as a more future-proof assumption
in their RoI calculations, with future upgradability to GbE mandated for both
residential communities and business users.
Delivering GbE to N endpoints in a WDM-PON scenario requires a 1:N WDM
multiplexer and 2N GbE optical transceivers on the ITU-specied wavelength
grid. The costs of colored (WDM) GbE optics are in sharp decline, making a
1:40 conguration that can span up to 100 kilometers a feasible deployment
scenario that is available today.
In comparison, a TDM-PON scenario with non-wavelength selective splitters
(1:32, 1:64 or 1:128), N+1 non-colored transceivers are needed, and these
must be able to operate at the aggregate bit rate. In the case of GPON these
are 2.5Gbit/s transceivers, delivering (less than) 1/32, 1/64 or 1/128 of the
aggregate 2.5Gbit/s signal as a Committed Information Rate (CIR) to the
subscriber. It is easy to see that a CIR of 1Gbit/s is nearly impossible to deliver:
All transceivers at the end-points would need to operate at the aggregate bitrate,
i.e., at 32Gbit/s, 64Gbit/s or 128Gbit/s, respectively. Even under the assumption
that there will be good advances in high-speed optics these scenarios are not
likely to be economical. And this ignores the substantial guard band that is
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required between subscribers allotted timeslots, which makes matters even

worse.
... while TDM-PON scenarios fulll
todays bandwidth requirements for
short-reach residential access, they
are not suitable to support important
long-term goals

The second limitation is reach: if the objective is to serve more endpoints

from fewer active sites that sit farther in the network, then the accumulation
of large numbers of passive splitters is a distance killer. The insertion loss of
a 1:32, 1:64 or 1:128 splitters is between ~17dB and ~22dB, respectively,
compared to ~4dB insertion loss for a WDM lter. The splitters are taking
away at least 40km of precious ber budget, which is expensive, if not
impossible, to get back. So while TDM-PON scenarios fulll todays bandwidth
requirements for short-reach residential access, they are not suitable to
support important long-term goals such as site reduction and CO consolidation,
which require both scalability and reach.

WDM-based NGA: the Access Network of the Future

WDM NGA is truly the access architecture of today and the future. Adoption
will at rst be limited to backhaul and second-mile aggregation. Migration will
be gradual, as links become bandwidth constrained. But eventually, bandwidth
providers will increasingly leverage the more substantial benets of WDM, as the
migration of their legacy networks accelerates. In order to demonstrate what
is possible today, ADVA Optical Networking has opened a customer solution
center in Meiningen, Germany, that showcases a WDM-based NGA scenario.
Residential, business and wholesale access and backhaul requirements are
served over a unied access and backhaul infrastructure that requires little to
no active equipment between the CO and the CP.

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About ADVA Optical Networking

ADVA Optical Networking is a global provider of intelligent telecommunications
infrastructure solutions. With software-automated Optical+Ethernet transmission
technology, the Company builds the foundation for high-speed, next-generation
networks. The Companys FSP product family adds scalability and intelligence
to customers networks while removing complexity and cost. Thanks to reliable
performance for more than 15 years, the Company has become a trusted partner
for more than 250 carriers and 10,000 enterprises across the globe.

Products
FSP 3000
ADVA Optical Networkings scalable optical transport solution is a modular
WDM system specically designed to maximize the bandwidth and service
exibility of access, metro and core networks. The unique optical layer design
supports WDM-PON, CWDM and DWDM technology, including 100Gbit/s
line speeds with colorless, directionless and contentionless ROADMs.
RAYcontrol, our integrated, industry-leading multi-layer GMPLS control
plane, guarantees operational simplicity, even in complex meshed-network
topologies. Thanks to OTN, Ethernet and low-latency aggregation, the
FSP 3000 represents a highly versatile and cost-effective solution for packet
optical transport.

FSP 150

ADVA Optical Networking

North America, Inc.
5755 Peachtree Industrial Blvd.
Norcross, Georgia 30092
USA

ADVA Optical Networking SE

Campus Martinsried
Fraunhoferstrasse 9 a
82152 Martinsried / Munich
Germany

For more information visit us at www.advaoptical.com

ADVA Optical Networking

Singapore Pte. Ltd.
25 International Business Park
#05-106 German Centre
Singapore 609916

Version 07 / 2012

ADVA Optical Networkings family of intelligent Ethernet access products provides

devices for Carrier Ethernet service demarcation, extension and aggregation.
It supports delivery of intelligent Ethernet services both in-region and out-ofregion. Incorporating an MEF-certied UNI and the latest OAM and advanced
Etherjack demarcation capabilities, the FSP 150 products enable delivery of
SLA-based services with full end-to-end assurance. Its comprehensive Syncjack
technology for timing distribution, monitoring and timing service assurance
opens new revenue opportunities from the delivery of synchronization services.

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