IP Routing and Transport

Cable MSOs Can Learn a Lesson from Kabel Deutschland

Edited By Peter Bernstein on September 9, 2014

By: Mae Kowalke, TMCnet Contributor

Kabel Deutschland (KD), a Vodafone company, is a good example of what cable multiple system operators must do to gracefully manage growing demand and continue to deliver innovative new services by upgrading their network edge for IP services.

As highlighted in a recent TechZine article by Steve Davidson, European Marketing Director for Cable, Alcatel-Lucent, KD’s investment in infrastructure and cable services had already paid great dividends. The company’s initial 100 Mb/s product offering had a take-rate approaching 50 percent. But with this positive consumer response came some new challenges.

Among these challenges were managing cable operator costs and subscriber growth, supporting legacy cable services, and accelerating IP service deployment. How the cable company dealt with these problems and did so in the context of having a vision of its IP services future is worth studying.

Posted in Alcatel-Lucent Technology News, Cable MSOs, IP Platforms, IP Routing and Transport, Next-Generation Communications

Ethernet VPN Brings Distinct Advantages over Its Predecessor

Edited By Peter Bernstein on September 3, 2014

By: Mae Kowalke, TMCnet Contributor

Ethernet services delivery based on the control plane approach hasn’t changed for proven solutions such as MPLS/VPLS and PBB. Layer 2 flooding and learning as an approach to build the forwarding database is still necessary, but this has inherent limitations.

A new approach has emerged that brings many benefits over the control plane approach in the form of Ethernet VPN (EVPN). With EVPN, the control plane and data planes are abstracted and separated. A multiprotocol BGP (MP-BGP) control plane protocol carries MAC/IP routing information, and there are several data plane encapsulation choices.

Posted in Alcatel-Lucent Technology News, Broadband, IP Platforms, IP Routing and Transport, IP/MPLS, Next-Generation Communications

Enterprise Service Gateways Help Operators Extend Their Mobile VPN Offerings

Edited By Peter Bernstein on August 5, 2014

By: Mae Kowalke, TMCnet Contributor

The emergence of cloud computing and mobility, not to mention bring-your-own-device trend (BYOD), has introduced a strong need for mobile virtual private networks (VPNs). Yet, most operators are only able to offer mobile VPNs to larger customers since their fixed-line VPN infrastructure is often separate from their cellular infrastructure.

One solution to this problem, outlined in a recent TechZine article, Mobile VPNs for Enterprises of All Sizes, by Jan Vandehoudt, Principal Consulting Engineer and Patrick McCabe, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Alcatel-Lucent, is for mobile network operators to use an enterprise services gateway (ESG).

Posted in Alcatel-Lucent Technology News, Business Talk, IP Platforms, IP Routing and Transport, IP/MPLS, Mobile Data, Next-Generation Communications, Wireless

Packet Microwave Rings Get Resurgence with New Standard

Edited By Peter Bernstein on July 29, 2014

By Mae Kowalke, TMCnet Contributor

Packet microwave rings are catching on as the network topology of choice for network operators when it comes to microwave backhaul networks.

Daisy chain and tree network topologies have historically been used for packet microwave due to bandwidth inefficiencies associated with the SDH/SONET protocols that historically made ring networks inefficient. All that has change with the introduction of ITU-T G.8032v2, a new standard that takes the place of SDH/SONET networking capabilities.

Posted in Alcatel-Lucent Technology News, IP Routing and Transport, LTE, Mobile Data, Next-Generation Communications

Ethernet VPN (EVPN) - Networks for Ethernet Services

Edited By Peter Bernstein on June 6, 2014

By: Greg Hankins, Senior Product Line Manager, Alcatel-Lucent

I’ve been talking a lot about EVPN recently at network operator conferences around the world, because I’m really excited about this new technology. EVPN offers an alternative to VPLS that integrates both Layer 2 and Layer 3 services, and can run over simple IP networks with ECMP for resiliency and load balancing. EVPN is an interesting new technology if you are providing a Layer 2 infrastructure over multiple sites, delivering integrated Layer 2/Layer 3 services, or providing cloud services.

Posted in Alcatel-Lucent Technology News, Business Talk, IP Platforms, IP Routing and Transport, IP/MPLS, Next-Generation Communications

Kabel Deutschland Simplifies its IP Edge

Edited By Peter Bernstein on June 3, 2014

Mae Kowalke, TMCnet Contributor

IP address exhaustion is an issue every Internet service provider must face. With the dwindling of IPv4 addresses, operators must migrate to IPv6 and seamlessly if they are to meet the needs of commercial, residential and mobile services.

For Vodafone Company Kabel Deutschland (KD), Germany’s largest cable operator, it was no question whether the move to IPv6 would be a bolt-on solution or something more integrated. A bolt-on solution would not do for KD, according to a recent Alcatel-Lucent case study on KD. The company needed to address the issue of flexibility to accommodate long-term growth and next generation service delivery without compromising its reputation for high-performance and high-value service.

Posted in Alcatel-Lucent Technology News, Broadband, Business Talk, IP Platforms, IP Routing and Transport, IP/MPLS, Next-Generation Communications

Metro Transport Networks in Trouble?

Edited By Peter Bernstein on April 1, 2014

Mae Kowalke, TMCnet Contributor

Spoiler alert: The added capacity of 100G-capable transport systems will not be enough to meet the coming demand within Metro Transport Networks.

First, there are numbers that have service providers worried. A recent Bell Labs study showed that metro traffic will grow by more than 560 percent by 2017, twice the growth of backbone network traffic. The biggest drivers will be video and cloud traffic. Bell Labs also predicts that while 57 percent of network traffic terminated in the metro back in 2012, by 2017 a full 75 percent of traffic will terminate within metro networks.

Posted in Alcatel-Lucent Technology News, Bell Labs Innovation, Broadband, IP Routing and Transport, Next-Generation Communications, Optical Networking

Advancing Utility IP Migration Takes Time and Care

Edited By Peter Bernstein on February 19, 2014

Mae Kowalke, TMCnet Contributor

This is the third in the three part series looking at how IP, which has been playing an important role in business transformation for some time, now has become critical to the utilities industry as it is leveraging the transformation of communications networks to IP to maximize smart grid deployments. In short, taking full advantage of things like smart metering and big data means to improve usage, real-time information and improved interoperability.

The future of the smart grid has unfolded slowly partially because adoption is more than a technology issue, and because while businesses want reliability, utilities demand it; a cautious IP migration is almost a given. In fact, part of the path to adoption goes through social challenges, not just technology investment.

Posted in Big Data, Broadband, Business Talk, Fixed Networks, GridTalk, IP Platforms, IP Routing and Transport, IP/MPLS, Next-Generation Communications, Smart Grid

IP Migration Picking Up Speed among Utilities

Edited By Peter Bernstein on February 11, 2014

Mae Kowalke, TMCnet Contributor

A few years ago, the idea of a smart grid and things such as smart metering was the stuff of science fiction. But thanks to recent innovations, a utility that is not working on a migration to IP is behind the curve.

In this second of a three-part series on the value of the migration utility infrastructure to IP as the means to enable and enhance the value of smart grids, we look at an expert’s view of the challenges as highlighted in a recent GridTalk posting by Bart Vrancken, utilities solutions architect at Alcatel-Lucent, who noted, “Utilities telecom used to be very simple, handled in the background with a very small team…The explosive growth in intelligent grid devices with communication capabilities was not foreseen at all several years back. But now we see numerous examples of customers deploying these technologies.”

Posted in Alcatel-Lucent Technology News, Broadband, Business Talk, GridTalk, IP Platforms, IP Routing and Transport, IP/MPLS, Next-Generation Communications, Smart Grid

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