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

An Open Access LTE Approach Offers Advantages

Edited By Peter Bernstein on March 18, 2014

An Open Access LTE Approach Offers Advantages

Mae Kowalke, TMCnet Contributor

I must admit that currently I don’t use LTE as much as I write about it. However, this is not for lack of wanting LTE, but rather because I live in the woods where there is not enough coverage. It is more a failure of policy than a failure of technology.

I’m not alone, and the question of how to bring LTE and the societal benefits of comprehensive mobile broadband coverage to the US and other countries is an important discussion.

Recently Bell Labs Advisory Services, the research arm of Alcatel-Lucent, looked at the various models for rolling out LTE in hard to reach places in an interesting paper, Open Access LTE: Reducing LTE Deployment Costs for Rural Broadband Coverage. What it found was that open access LTE, where a single entity owns the spectrum and deploys a nationwide LTE network that then is rented out to mobile network operators, offers significant advantages.

The research showed that adopting an open access LTE strategy could deliver up to a 50 percent increase in adoption over the traditional approach of having each mobile network operator build out their own system.

Posted in Alcatel-Lucent Technology News, Bell Labs Innovation, Broadband, Next-Generation Communications, Wireless

Tuck Telekom with Alcatel-Lucent Help Achieves Data Transfer World Record with 100G Optical Transport

Edited By Peter Bernstein on March 5, 2014

Mae Kowalke, TMCnet Contributor

How much data can be pushed along a single fiber cable in a commercial network? The answer is roughly 8 Terabits per second, according to a new Guinness World Record.

Türk Telekom, Turkey’s leading telecom service provider, broke the record with help from Alcatel-Lucent Agile Optical Networking technology, according to a recent Alcatel-Lucent post. The record, which is the equivalent of transferring 250 high definition movies across the cable per second, relied on Alcatel-Lucent’s 100G optical technology. The transmission took place between Ankara and Istanbul on the Türk Telekom dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) backbone network in the summer of 2013.

Posted in Alcatel-Lucent Technology News, Broadband, Next-Generation Communications, Optical Networking

Metro Transport Networks Need to Get More Efficient or Choke on Tomorrow's Data

Edited By Peter Bernstein on February 25, 2014

Mae Kowalke, TMCnet Contributor

Metro transport networks are in for a rough ride in the next few years if steps are not taken to ameliorate the impending bandwidth challenge they will face.

Metro networks are expected to grow in traffic by 560 percent by 2017, according to a recent Alcatel-Lucent TechZine post, Retool Metro Transport Networks with Packet-Optimized WDM. That’s because, thanks to the cloud and increasing video usage, the percentage of overall network data is increasingly happening in metro networks. In 2012, 57 percent of data traffic terminated in the metro network. By 2017, according to Alcatel-Lucent estimates, 75 percent will terminate in metro networks.

The short-term solution is to add bandwidth through the addition of higher capacity 100G-capable transport systems. But this is only a quick fix.

Posted in Broadband, Business Talk, LTE, Next-Generation Communications, Wireless

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

IP Network Investments Enable Enhanced Smart Grid Value

Edited By Peter Bernstein on February 4, 2014

Mae Kowalke, TMCnet Contributor

The future of the smart grid looks bright. Innovations such as IP/MPLS network connectivity and the desirability to all potential stakeholders in smart cities projects have helped propel smart grid spending in general and investment in the enabling networks. In addition, government programs such as the U. S. Smart Grid Investment Grant Program have pumped $7.8 billion into smart grid systems with accelerated activities taking place around the world. In fact, driven initially by government stimulus, investments by the electric power industry in IP technology is accelerating, with US$200 trillion projected in global expenditures by 2030.

In short, the networking piece of smart grid deployments is critical, as the migration of utility infrastructure to meet the needs to remotely monitor and manage their grids grows in complexity. “The new IP/MPLS technologies offer a great deal of benefits within the utility in cost savings, operational efficiency and cost savings, and they also mandate a new way to operate, bridging those traditional organizational silos,” noted Mark Burke, VP of Intelligent Networks and Communications for DNV – GL, in a recent GridTalk posting.

Posted in Alcatel-Lucent Technology News, Broadband, Business Talk, Eco-sustainability, IP Platforms, IP/MPLS, M2M, Next-Generation Communications, Smart Grid

Enterprises Need a Converged Network to Meet Current and Future Requirements

Edited By Peter Bernstein on February 4, 2014

Mae Kowalke, TMCnet Contributor

Bring-your-own-device, mobile video, virtualization and a greater need for quality of service have prompted the need to rethink the network. In fact, the exponential increase in traffic has added a sense of urgency on the part of enterprises to upgrade their networks.

What’s needed is a converged network, according to a recent paper by Alcatel-Lucent (ALU). Enterprise Converged Network Solution, which carries the subtitle, Deliver a Consistent and Quality User Experience, Streamline Operations and Reduce Costs. With a long and deep history of providing state-of-the-art enterprise networks, ALY is advocating a converted, application-aware network that accounts for the latest evolutions in computing, yet is a resilient enough to meet both today’s needs and those of tomorrow.

Posted in Alcatel-Lucent Technology News, Broadband, Business Talk, Cloud, Customer Experience, Enterprise, Next-Generation Communications, Video

Cable MSO Discovers the Benefits of 10G EPON

Edited By Peter Bernstein on February 4, 2014

Mae Kowalke, TMCnet Contributor

Bright House Networks loved its 1G Ethernet passive optical network (EPON). But there was just one problem: demand was increasing, and 1G EPON was quickly becoming not enough.

The cable multiple system operator, the sixth largest owner and operator of cable systems in the United States, serves roughly 2.5 million subscribers with its video, high-speed data, home security and automation and voice services.

Bright House Networks is a proponent of EPON because it allows the company to provision multiple customers onto one fiber and still provide dedicated bandwidth without oversubscription. It is their preferred way to accelerate the transformation of their network to an all IP ultra-broadband infrastructure.

Posted in Alcatel-Lucent Technology News, Broadband, Business Talk, Cable MSOs, Customer Experience, Fiber Optics, Next-Generation Communications

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