Carrier Ethernet Business Services
Using a two-phased migration plan, this example shows how TPACK SMARTPACK Solutions can be used to implement Carrier Ethernet Business Service delivery solutions.
Carrier Ethernet Services are defined by the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) as:
- E-Line: Point-to-Point Carrier Ethernet connectivity service
- E-LAN: Mutlipoint-to-Multipoint Carrier Ethernet connectivity service
- E-Tree: Point-to-Multipoint Carrier Ethernet connectivity service
Each service is defined by:
- A User Network Interface (UNI) definition
- A set of minimum performance parameters in support of standard SLAs
Conformance to MEF recommendations for each service can be tested and certified both by Telecom Equipment Vendors and Carriers.
TPACK SMARTPACK Solutions have been certified. See more info here.
It is important to note that the MEF does not stipulate how Carrier Ethernet Services are implemented. There are thus a number of technologies that can be used.
TPACK proposes the following migration path for Telecom Equipment Providers and Carriers that makes maximum re-use of existing investment and ensures a smooth transition to a fully packet-based network:
- Phase 1: Use SMARTPACK NG-SONET/SDH and NG-PDH solutions to delivery Carrier Ethernet Services over existing SONET/SDH and PDH networks
- Phase 2: Use SMARTPACK PBT or SMARTPACK T-MPLS to deliver Carrier Ethernet Services over Connection Oriented Packet Transport
In phase 1, a combined aggregation solution can be used to offer Carrier Ethernet Services over both NG-SONET/SDH and NG-PDH. Both of these technologies use ITU-T defined Generic Framing Procedure (GFP), Virtual Concatenation (VCAT) and Link Capacity Adjustment Scheme (LCAS) to efficiently transport packet data over existing SONET/SDH and PDH infrastructure. See more here.
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In the diagram above, the TPACK SMARTPACK NG-PDH Solution is shown, which combines NG-SONET/SDH and NG-PDH aggregation in a single line-card solution together with a Carrier Packet Engine for advanced layer 2 processing and traffic management. The TPX2530 Carrier Packet Engine provides an integrated packet processing and traffic management solution that supports multiple packet technologies, while the TPW48-P Ethernet over NG-PDH/SONET/SDH aggregation packet mapper offers complete flexibility in delivery of services.
This combined solution can support delivery of all Carrier Ethernet Services by simply adding a linecard to an existing SONET/SDH Add Drop Multiplexer (ADM) or Mulit-Service Provisioning Platform (MSPP).
In phase 2, the SONET/SDH network is replaced using Connection Oriented Packet Transport technologies, such as PBT/PBB-TE and T-MPLS. These technologies are designed to resemble SONET/SDH in behaviour with:
- End-to-end tunnels
- Provisioned and traffic engineered using a central management system
- End-to-end monitoring using Operation, Administration and Maintenance (OAM) packets
- End-to-end sub-50 msec protection switching to a pre-defined backup tunnel
This allows a smooth migration exploiting the familiarity of SONET/SDH operation and procedures, but adding the scalability and flexibility of packet.
PBT/PBB-TE and T-MPLS are currently defined to support Point-to-Point services and are thus well suited to support E-Line Carrier Ethernet Services. Work is ongoing to define a point-to-multipoint solution for both technologies in support of E-Tree.
For E-LAN services requiring multipoint-to-multipoint connectivity, it is possibly to exploit the fact that both PBB-TE and T-MPLS can support Virtual Private Line Service (VPLS) and Pseudowire concepts.
A pseudowire is an emulation of a native service over a packet switched network. The native service can be legacy services such as TDM or other packet services such as ATM and Frame Relay. A pseudowire can thus be used to support existing service interfaces or to implement the Carrier Ethernet Services themselves using Connection Oriented Packet Transport as a pure transport service.
VPLS uses pseudowires to establish a LAN emulation service. It can thus be used to implement E-LAN Carrier Ethernet Services independently of the Connection Oriented Packet Transport network.
The TPACK SMARTPACK PBT & SMARTPACK T-MPLS Solution supports MPLS, VPLS and Pseudowires allowing full deployment of Carrier Ethernet Services.