For service providers today, challenges abound. First, the continued falling unit cost of network bandwidth is driving service providers to shift their focus toward high-value, bandwidth-hungry multimedia triple-play services. However, existing networks aren’t optimized to support these new services.
Another challenge is the constant change in the nature of network traffic caused by the drive toward triple-play services. Initially, the bulk of traffic likely will be generated by broadcast and multicast services, such as IPTV or pay-per-view. However, traffic increasingly will become dominated by interactive services like video on demand, gaming and high-definition personal video conferencing. The question lies in predicting how, when and how quickly the transitions will take place.
To illustrate the potential size of the bandwidth explosion, indicators show that each wireline broadband user soon will expect broadband data connections that support the simultaneous delivery of multiple triple play services. Plus, they will need significant bandwidth for high-definition applications such as HDTV – for live viewing or for storage to at least one consumer-based storage device. With this model, each broadband subscriber may require 20mbps now, migrating upwards to 30mbps in the near future. Simultaneously, wireless technology is advancing to increase the amount of bandwidth that can be delivered to wireless attached devices, so much so that megabit speeds soon will become normal on those appliances, further increasing the traffic loads on operators’ infrastructures.
Today’s Typical Network Load vs. Future Expected Network Load
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With this multimedia explosion, service providers need to be able to deliver triple-play services – whether they are delivered to the consumer via wireline broadband or a fixed-mobile convergence strategy – all from a single network infrastructure, if they are to keep network efficiency high and capital and operational costs low.
On another front, the demand for triple-play services requires Ethernet traffic to be carried through the network and delivered deep into the access network to an ever-increasing number of service delivery points – both wireless and wireline – that never before have handled this amount of bandwidth. At the same time, service providers must accommodate legacy services on the new infrastructure to maintain existing customers and revenue.
With these changes, operators are recognizing the need for a cost-effective, flexible and scalable network infrastructure capable of providing deterministic, high-QoS gigE delivery to support the stringent SLAs requirements of triple-play services.
One solution for meeting these triple-play-induced challenges is an agile optical networking infrastructure. An end-to-end managed wavelength-based agile optical networking infrastructure provides the bandwidth scalability and resiliency necessary to deliver nonstop services, which is essential for any service provider competing in the multimedia market. At the same time, this unified optical infrastructure can support legacy services to protect existing customers and revenue.
In a recent case study, an operator wished to expand its service offerings to include a triple-play VoD service to drive new revenue and satisfy customer demands. However, adding VoD service delivery to its existing network presented a number of real-world challenges.
First, to accommodate the increased traffic volume created by the VoD service, gigabit Ethernet transport would be required to an increasing number of service delivery points, which would mean adding capacity to the SONET OC-12 rings. To address this issue, along with a fiber constraint issue, the operator evaluated SONET and WDM-based offerings. Their evaluation was multifaceted, examining the following characteristics of the systems:
- Bandwidth enablement
- Cost effectiveness
- Scalability to support increases in customer base and service portfolio
- Flexibility to extend into a regional network
After the evaluation, the operator chose an agile optical networking solution that provided:
Scalability and Future-Proofing
By using an optical wavelength based solution, the operator cost effectively expanded the bandwidth potential of its network while creating an agile infrastructure that is able to support new services and protocols along with the legacy SONET infrastructure.
Efficient Capacity
The ability to deliver current and future full-rate gigabit Ethernet services without impacting the existing SONET investment .
Network Flexibility
The operator now has a fully managed optical wavelength network that can be extended to regional networks.
DWDM/CWDM Transport and Switching
The ability to carry both CWDM and DWDM over the same fiber infrastructure and terminate using the same network elements, which ensures that the operator has the flexibility to implement the optimal solution for the near term and to easily adapt as needs change, such as increasing gigabit Ethernet bandwidth requirements driven by service penetration and evolution.
Today’s business environment requires operators to evolve their business models to deliver triple-play services to meet the demands of their customer base and the pressures of their competitors. Today’s new wavelength-based agile optical networking solutions can provide a cost-effective, flexible, and scalable network infrastructure with the capability of providing deterministic high-QoS Gig E delivery to support ubiquitous triple-play service delivery.
Nick Cadwgan is director of product marketing at Meriton Networks. He can be reached at nick.cadwgan@meriton.com.
Meriton Networks www.meriton.com
