The Strategic Imperative of an Ethernet Metro an New

8/3/2019 The Strategic Imperative of an Ethernet Metro an New

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Executive Summary

The broadband revolution is in full swing, dramatically affecting how services are offered

and consumed. Enterprises are adopting virtualization, cloud computing, and Software

as a Service at a rapid pace and using VoIP and multimedia collaboration tools widely.

These changes have increased network traffic to and from application-hosting service

providers and among enterprise locations, with IP or Ethernet VPN services and

infrastructure quickly replacing Frame Relay and ATM.

On the consumer side, simple Internet access for email and Web browsing has morphed

into mature triple-play service offerings. Telephony service is migrating to VoIP, while

television service is delivered to the end-office or customer premises over IP. Finally, 3G

and 4G wireless networksand user-friendly devices such as the iPhonehave increased

the demand for IP-based mobile data and video services significantly.

Together, these trends are causing IP and Ethernet traffic to grow approximately

40 percent per year. Unfortunately, by 2010, broadband and wireless service revenues

are projected to grow only 10 and three percent respectively, as illustrated in Figure 1.

Service providers must better monetize this traffic growth while optimizing the service

delivery architecture, and controlling both Capital Expenditure and Operating Expenses

(CAPEX and OPEX) for rapidly growing and evolving IP and Ethernet services.

Optimizing with an Ethernet Metro Aggregation Network (MAN)

In the future, virtually all IP and Ethernet traffic will enter the service provider network

over Ethernet, either directly at the customer demarcation device or at the uplink of the

broadband access node (DSLAM, PON-OLT, CMTS or wireless base station).

W A S D P Application Note

Benefits

> Converges all IP and Ethernet

services for all customer types

and locations onto a common

aggregation network

> Offers a broad, integrated

Carrier Ethernet Service

Delivery Portfolio for best

network fit

> Provides deterministic,

reliable, and cost-effective

packet aggregation and

transport between the end-

user and the metro hub office

> Helps optimize the utilization

of and lower the spend on

IP/MPLS routers

> Provides True Carrier

Ethernet for best-in-breedscalability, flexibility and

resiliency

> Features low-touch

operations, making it just

as easy to deliver 1,000

Ethernet-based services as it

is to deliver ten

The Strategic Imperative of anEthernet Metro Aggregation Network

2004

33 Tb/s

101 Tb/s

10 Tb/s

56 Tb/s

Source: McKinsey & Company Source: Yankee Group and Pyramid Research

20112007

134 Tb/s

66 Tb/s

41%

13%

4%

30%

13%

20%

7%

-3%

3%

-5%-1%

10%

2006 2008

Broadband

But revenue growth is slowingTraffic keeps growing...

Consumer

Enterprise Wireless

Wireline

2010

Figure 1. New services and cost containment can combat slower revenue growth


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Additionally, low cost per bit and

the ability to scale bandwidth

continually have made Ethernet the

interface of choice on all next-

generation packet network

elements, such as switches, routers,

and IP application/content servers.Wherever practical, Ethernet should

serve as the networking technology,

not just an interface, for the same

reasons. To establish whether use of

a Carrier Ethernet switch is more

practical than an inherently higher-

cost IP/MPLS Carrier Ethernet

switch-router, operators must

determine where an IP router is

absolutely necessary.

The percentages in Figure 2

delineate the sources of end-userservice traffic for each of the three

main IP/Ethernet service categories:

IP services (IP-VPN, Internet access, VoIP, IPTV),

mobile/wireless backhaul (transport to/from the wireless

operators offices), and business Ethernet (L2-VPN). In

aggregate, over 98 percent of all end-user traffic comes from

servers or other end-users located at or beyond the metro-

centralized IP service edge or metro hub officeat the video

headend, the Internet at large (accessed through a Tier 1 ISP

peering at a metro core office), or another metro area.

Therefore, the main objective of the metro access and

aggregation network is to provide deterministic, reliable, andcost-effective packet transport between the end-user and that

metro hub.

Carrier Ethernet has the necessary and sufficient tools to fulfill

this task, especially since IP routing is not necessary there; the

one percent of IP traffic sourced from another local end-user

can be aggregated to and routed at the hub for minimal

incremental cost. While IP/MPLS routers could perform this

mainly aggregation role, the added capabilities of these

routers are unnecessary, complex, and costly.

The Ethernet MAN must therefore provide the following (see

Figure 3):> Ethernet demarcation to IP/Ethernet business services

customers and active-Ethernet residential broadband

customers

> Ethernet UNI to all other residential broadband access

nodes, as well as Ethernet-enabled wireless base stations

and access points

> One or more tiers of Ethernet aggregation of all business,

residential, and wireless backhaul traffic

> Service creation and local switching of intra-metro Ethernet

business services

> Aggregated Ethernet handoff of all IP and inter-metro

Ethernet business services to the metro-centralized IP/MPLS

service edge router

Cienas Ethernet MAN Solution

Cienas Ethernet MAN solution allows service providers to

converge all IP and Ethernet services for all customer types

and locations onto a common MAN. Unlike aggregation

solutions built using a conglomeration of disparate Ethernet

products, basic Ethernet technology, or a proliferation of

IP/MPLS switch-routers, Cienas solution is based on the

broad, integrated Carrier Ethernet Service Delivery (CESD)

Portfolio of purpose-built service delivery switches with

True Carrier Ethernet attributes. These switches provide

comprehensive management, control, and data plane

advances, above the minimums defined by standards

development organizations such as the MEF, IEEE, and

ITU. These capabilities enable service providers to realize new

levels of speed, creativity, operational scalability, and

reliability in the delivery of Carrier Ethernet-based business,residential, and transport services, while containing the cost

and complexity associated with IP/MPLS.

According to CIMI Corporations analysis of operator costs,

about 18 cents of every revenue dollar is spent on capital

equipment, and about 38 cents on network and service

operations. To minimize CAPEX, the Ethernet MAN is best

built using Carrier Ethernet switches rather than IP/MPLS

switch-routers since the former cost approximately 40% less.

The Strategic Imperative of an Ethernet Metro Aggregation Network

2

SERVICE ACCESS METRO AGGREGATION METRO-CORE BACKBONE OTHER METROS

EO Hub

Source: Ciena & Network Strategy Partners analysis of Vertical SystemsOvum, Yankee, FCC, USTA, AT&T Labs and Columbia University data

IP-Based

Mob

ileBH

(T1/E

1,ATM,

Eth

ernet)

Ethernet

1%

80%17%

100%

65%10%

2%

25%

90%(+/-5%)

10%(+/-5%

)

TypicalBusiness+ResidentialLECmix

IP ServiceEdge

100%18% 3%

}Aggregatetraffic reach 98%No reason to route here

Figure 2. Traffic distribution of growth-stage packet services


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3

Carrier Ethernet also has the potential to provide 12 to 44

percent lower OPEX than IP/MPLS in the metro, yet those

savings can not be realized fully if the network employs a

disparate set of Ethernet access devices and aggregation

switches from a wide range of original equipment

manufacturers. Although all MEF-certified Carrier Ethernet

elements must deliver certain common service and interface

attributes to allow interoperability, each vendor uses different

techniques and controls. In addition, each element comes with

its own element or network management system, resulting in

disjointed operations. The result is that a heterogeneous setof Ethernet elements obstructs differentiated service creation

and rapid, cost-effective service delivery.

Cienas CESD portfolio is comprised of Carrier Ethernet

service delivery and service aggregation switches (see Figure

4). Beginning at under $500, the service delivery switches

feature a variety of 10/100 Mb/s, Gigabit Ethernet (GbE), or

10GbE port-count and feature package options to fit any size

business, multi-tenant office building, or cell tower. These

switches may be placed inside customer premises, while

environmentally hardened versions may be situated on utility

poles or the sides of buildings. The service aggregation

switches provide cost-effective FE/GbE/10GbE packet

aggregation to fill the transport facilities within both the

metro access and aggregation tiers, and ultimately minimize

the number of IP/MPLS router ports with which they

interwork. These switches may be placed on utility poles or in

business parks, outdoor telecom cabinets, and central offices.

These service delivery and aggregation switches represent

a unified portfolio that handles all IP and Ethernet services

using a common service-aware operating system and

Ethernet services

management system.

This streamlining provides

operational efficiency and

consistent system and

service implementation

across all Ethernet accessand aggregation applica-

tions. The benefits of such a

consolidation include rapid,

automated implementation

of the latest standards-based

Ethernet technical advances

across all platforms, and

improved efficiency and cost

savings from a common

deployment and service

provisioning model. The

switches also allowharmonized integration of

any legacy IP/Ethernet

access segments through flexible address, class-of-service,

and encapsulation translations. All this harmonization

inherently provides economies of scope. The more services,

customer types, and locations served with a common network

operating model, the greater the return on investment.

The Rich, Dynamic Metro Network

The advantages of a common model have become critical in

an age of uncertainty characterized by:

> Almost-daily application/content releases from an ever-growing list of new providers

> Indirect user-to-application access through multiple tiers of

loosely associated network providers throughout the world

> Customers who want access from anywherehome, office, and

on the gorelating to providers through new business models

Cienas Ethernet MAN solution incorporates the companys

True Carrier Ethernet advancesextensions of the MEFs

basic Carrier Ethernet attributes of standardized services,

scalability, service management, reliability, and quality of

serviceto enable a service-driven metro network that can

take advantage of these trends. Cienas solution allowsbandwidth to be segmented for tight resource control per

service, customer, and/or application class, and incoming

traffic to be richly classified based on Layer 1-4 parameters

for granular quality-of-service treatment. Hierarchical

performance monitoring and usage measurements allow

bandwidth monetization and Service Level Agreement

(SLA) assurance.

True economies of scale and scope for the Ethernet MAN

come from consistent, end-to-end, automated instrumentation

BusinessServices

BroadbandTriple Play

WirelessBackhaul

Base stationor Access Point

ServiceEdgeRouter

or

Broadbandaccess node

DSL/PON/HFC

Customer Premises

Access End Office(or cable D-Hub)

Metro Hub Office(or cable headend)

IP/MPLS

Metro

DWDM

Inter-metro traffic

Ethernet MAN elements}

Active

Ethernet

Figure 3. The Ethernet metro aggregation network


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of these capabilities on the CESD network elements through

the switches associated Ethernet Services Manager (ESM)

software system.

The ESM allows operators to create standard device

configuration files and associate the appropriate file with the

particular service delivery switch to be shipped to a new

customer or installed at a new cell site. When the device isconnected by the customer or field technician, its IP address

and profile are auto-configured from network servers. This

automation improves the speed and accuracy of device turn-

up and eliminates the need for expensive, highly-trained

technicians. The ESM also allows creation of a broad menu of

differentiated service templates by creatively combining the

wealth of traffic classification features enabled by the

common service-aware operating system. After being auto-

configured, the devices are auto-discovered by the ESM and

added to the existing network topology. At that point,

administrators can point and click on service endpoints and

run a provisioning wizard to create Ethernet Virtual

Connections (EVCs) and apply the appropriate service

template to the EVCs. As end-user service or Ethernet

transport infrastructure requirements evolve, upgrading traffic

management at each service delivery or aggregation switch is

as simple as modifying the handful of service templates. Rather

than a truck-roll to each site or device-by-device remote

configuration, the appropriate service template is pushed out

to update all corresponding devices automatically.

Summary

Ciena is the Ethernet MAN specialist, with 100,000+ CESD

elements deployed at more than 100 customers in over

25 countries. As the specialist, Ciena enables network

operators to deploy an integrated Ethernet access and

aggregation network that will converge all packet-based

servicesmaking it just as easy to deliver 1,000 Ethernet-

based services as it is to deliver ten. This facilitated service

delivery is made possible by Cienas True Carrier Ethernet

innovationswhich provide best-in-breed service scalability,

flexibility, and resiliency with low-touch operationsand the

companys ten years of Carrier Ethernet experience helping

service providers optimize and transform the metro networkfor next-generation services.


1201 Winterson Road

Linthicum, MD 21090

1.800.207.3714 (US and Canada)

1.410.865.8671 (outside US)

+44.20.7012.5555 (international)

www.ciena.com

Ciena may from time to time make changes to the products or specifications contained herein without notice. 2009 Ciena Corporation. All rights reserved. AN040 3.2009

Specializing in transition to

service-driven networks to help you

change the way you compete.

Ethernet Services Manager

a common service-aware operating system

Small OutsideAggregation site

Large Outdoor cabinetAggregation site

Home

SmallBusiness

SmallBusiness

WirelessBackhaul

Multi-TenantOffice Building

Mid-sizeBusiness

LargeBusiness

CO Aggregationand service switching

> Differentiable:Rich classification and engineering of bandwidth> Carrier Class: High resiliency and detailed measurements for service assurance

> Interoperable:Between any legacy Ethernet structure and the IP/MPLS domain

> Convergence: All services originate and aggregate as Ethernet> Coverage: Broad product range for best network fit

> Low Touch: Automated device and service activation

Figure 4. Cienas Ethernet MAN solution

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The Strategic Imperative of an Ethernet Metro an New