TPACK Step-by-Step

TPACK's world explained in layman's terms.

Contents:

  • Introduction
  • The Telecommunications Network
  • Not one, but many networks
  • TPACK enables smooth convergence and migraton strategies
  • TPACK approach in brief
  • Programmable Chips

Introduction

Telecommunications is the business of providing communication services over long distances. Telephones are something we are all familiar with and both fixed-line phones in the home and mobile phone services are still the main revenue generators for telecommunication service providers or carriers. Some carriers are household names, such as NTT, AT&T, Verizon, BT, France Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, to name a few.

What is hidden from the end-user is the extremely complex set of devices and software-based applications required to ensure that these services are delivered smoothly and without error. Modern telecommunication networks require sophisticated, intelligent devices that are capable, not only of delivering telephony services, but also Internet access, business connectivity services, emergency services, TV and video services to a growing number of fixed and wireless devices.

The Telecommunications Network

The following diagram shows a simple view of a typical telecommunications network:

Simplified telecommunication network

Homes and businesses are connected to the network provided by the given service provider through access connections based on either copper wires, optical fibre, coaxial cable or wireless radio. Telecommunication services like telephony and Internet access are provided over these connections according to agreements on bandwidth and price agreed with the service provider.

The telecommunication network is designed to transport services and data over long distances with as few connections as possible. Each access connection to an individual home or office is thus aggregated into fewer, larger bandwidth connections in the access aggregation network by sophisticated telecommunication equipment or nodes. This process is continued at various layers and geographic distances starting with the access aggregation networks, which are numerous and close to each subscriber (home or office), then proceeding to the metropolitan or metro network, which typically serves a region or city and finally to the backbone or core network, which usually includes the central intelligence behind various services.

The core of the network will usually have very high bandwidth connections between relatively few nodes (10s or 100s), whereas a metro network might have 100s or 1000s of nodes with slightly lower bandwidth requirements.

Not one, but many networks

While it is a goal for carriers to have one network as depicted above capable of delivering all services, this is not the reality everywhere today. For each service, there is often one, dedicated network optimized to provide that particular service. While this is good for each service, it means that there will be several parallel networks to manage and operate, each with its own specialized equipment and management systems.

For example, most telecommunication networks today are based on technology designed for delivery of telephony services. These Time Division Multiplexed (TDM) technologies and associated equipment are ideal for telephony services, but not for data services. Why is this the case?

Why data services are a challenge for telecommunication networks

As can be seen in the diagram above, TDM services, like telephony, are constant using a fixed amount of bandwidth. However, data is sent in short "bursts" whenever something needs to be sent. Efficient mechanisms are needed to transport this data in the existing telecommunication network.

Dedicated networks based on Internet Protocol (IP) routers have been deployed to efficiently transport Internet data and are also used to provide business connectivity services linking corporate and home offices in various locations together using Virtual Private Networks (VPN).

However, while IP networks are efficient at transporting data, they are not good at transporting real-time services. Since data is sent in bursts, data networks, like IP networks, take advantage of this fact to mix data from many sources onto a single connection (refered to as statistical multiplexing). Of course, this means that in some cases, congestion can occur and the data to be sent through the network has to wait or be re-sent. This is fine for data services, as it is not a "real-time" service. However, for telephony, this can be a big problem, as too many of these interruptions can affect the quality of the phone call.

TPACK enables smooth convergence and migraton strategies

It is the vision of carriers to merge these two types of networks together to provide one single telecommunication network capable of transporting both data services and telephony services. The migration strategy can be based on two broad approaches:

  • Take the TDM network as a starting point and enhance it to support data more efficiently
  • Take the IP network as a starting point and enhance it to support telephony better

TPACK provides solutions that address both strategies.

New standards and technologies are constantly emerging to address the convergence and migration needs of telecommunication carriers. TPACK helps telecommunication equipment vendors (who provide network solutions to telecommunication carriers) to implement these new standards and technologies in their equipment quickly and efficiently.

TPACK is entrusted with this task as TPACK is one of the few companies to possess knowledge of both traditional TDM and data networks, such as IP. TPACK's success is based on this competence, but also on the unique solution concept that TPACK has developed known as SOFTSYSTEM. This allows equipment vendors to develop a solution quickly, but still have the flexibility to make changes and customize it to their needs.

TPACK approach in brief

A typical telecommunication equipment node includes the following:

A typical system and its main components
  • Several linecards supporting multiple connections
  • Each linecard will use several different types of chips to implement functionality
  • The linecards, chips and system are configured and controlled using software, which runs either on a CPU chip (much like a computers processor) on the linecard and/or on a computer located at a centralized control centre

The chips on the linecard can be of the following types:

  • A Central Processing Unit (CPU) chip used to configure and control the chips on the card
  • Power chips for regulating the power provided to each chip
  • Interface chips used to ensure that the data is in the correct format for transmission over the connections
  • Dedicated function chips
  • Memory chips used to store data used by the dedicated function chips

TPACK provides special dedicated function chip solutions, but also the software to configure and control these chips, which will run on the CPU chip. Since linecards can be difficult to design, TPACK also assists equipment makers in designing the linecard.

As part of the development process, TPACK makes its own "reference" system to show telecom equipment vendors how a solution can be made using TPACK products and to ensure that all issues in integrating various chips and software are resolved for the telecom equipment vendor up-front.

Programmable Chips

Most chips used in telecommunication applications are fixed. This means that the features and functionality provided by the chips cannot be changed. TPACK solutions, on the other hand, are based on programmable chips called Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA), which allow functions and features to be modified at any time. These chips are slightly more expensive, but are attractive for telecommunication applications where new standards and technologies are introduced regularly. Using FPGAs to provide a standard chip product is the basis of TPACK's SOFTSILICON concept.

TPACK was one of the first companies to provide a fully pre-integrated and pre-tested solution based on SOFTSILICON and is still a leader in this field. This SOFTSYSTEM concept helps telecom equipment vendors to develop new systems much faster, with lower risk, as they know many of the issues have already been resolved by TPACK and with the ability to customize the solution to enable differentiation of their solution and accomodation of new requirements.