Blueprint: Telco Triple Play


	Boosting Link Reliability for Telco Triple Play
Crosstalk is perhaps one of the major factors impairing performance of VDSL2 networks in always-on, triple play deployments. Severe crosstalk noise resulting from the on/off switching of DSL lines can cause link drops or acute performance degradation, which results in service disruptions. To alleviate this problem, service providers need an intelligent and automated technology that will allow them to ensure link integrity and dynamically adapt to optimum data rates in the presence of sudden, and large noise changes without interruption of the service.

	It’s All About Access -- A Comparison of Fiber vs Copper in 2008
Service providers today have one ultimate goal: build a broadband network that enables the delivery of a wide array of new revenue-enhancing voice, video and data services. These multi-play offerings allow a service provider to attract and retain customers during a tenuous period when their fixed line revenue is declining and they are reaching the saturation point in their mobile business.� For a service provider, success ultimately depends on the access network architecture it chooses to deploy. The approach a service provider takes in building its network can vary greatly: from a complete fiber overbuild to maximizing the investment in their existing copper infrastructure. � This article will examine the pros and cons of deploying fiber and copper, while providing an overview of the time, costs and performance associated with each architecture and the characteristics of standards in use today.�

	Reinventing the IAD
The boundary between service provider network and residential subscriber is rapidly blurring. At the heart of this evolution is the vision of the "digital home", which offers service providers an opportunity to generate additional revenue through bundled services and associated service level agreements.

	Enabling Service Awareness in GPON and other Access Networks
The quality of the consumer's experience is of paramount importance to triple play service providers. As IP expands into the realms of video and voice service delivery, the network service awareness requirements are growing and changing. Each type of traffic�voice, video, data�has its own definition of"optimum" as far as the consumer is concerned, so each service has a unique set of service awareness requirements.

	The Road to Convergence: Network Transformation and IP
While the terms video and voice are still used to describe services, no operator today can risk calling itself only a voice provider or only a video provider. IP has caused a shift not only in network architecture and operations, but even more fundamentally in the types of services offered to subscribers.

	Upstream Capacity of VDSL2 Will Drive Consumer-Producer Applications
As carriers weigh ADSL2+ and VDSL2 for their FTTN and FTTC network upgrades, they must also consider the growing demand for upstream bandwidth. Video-sharing sites like YouTube and ClipShack allow consumers to share their home video files. VDSL2's high, bi-directional bandwidth is well-suited for these types of applications.

	GEPON For Today: Key Drivers for Deploying Ethernet at Gigabit Speeds
Everyone appreciates a good horse race-and that tends to affect much of today's analysis of PON technologies. However, those looking to directly compare GEPON to the nascent Gigabit PON (GPON) standard on a feature-by-feature basis are missing the point. GEPON was never intended to provide native TDM transport, native ATM transport, or overlay wavelengths for video. Rooted in the international standard 802.3ah for Ethernet in the last mile written by the IEEE, GEPON provides the simplicity of Ethernet at Gigabit speeds. Rapid uptake in Asia indicates the technology's maturity. Here is an overview.

	Critical Choices for Migrating from UNE-P to More Sustainable Business Models
In March 2004, a decision by the DC Circuit court of appeals overturned the FCC's Triennial Review Order dealing with UNE-P, resulting in negative impacts on competitive carriers operating under the leasing business model. Although the court's overturning of UNE-P requirements was a significant event, in reality competitive carriers were already experiencing severe competitive pressures and significant erosion of operating margins. Although there is no"one-size-fits-all" migration plan that can meet the unique situations facing each carrier, there are some common elements that are critical for success in every scenario.

	Migrating to VDSL2
With international approval of the VDSL2 (G.993.2) standard in May 2005, telcos now have the opportunity to upgrade both upstream and downstream bandwidth to their subscribers and to thereby offer valuable new services such as IPTV, interactive gaming, peer-to-peer file sharing and videoconferencing. So what's the migration plan to get from ADSL to VDSL2? In most cases, migrating to VDSL2 is a simple matter of swapping out ADSL line cards for VDSL2 line cards or inserting new line cards in empty chassis slots.

	VDSL2 for Business Services: A New Frontier for DMT Technology
While there are numerous improvements in performance and reliability, the greatest benefit that VDSL2 promises is unparalleled flexibility to address any loop condition or service requirement from a single modem and in a better way than older technologies. Can VDSL2 achieve the goal of a truly"universal DSL" that can address both residential and business services? Are the VDSL2 benefits significant enough to warrant a change in the way these services are deployed today?

	BPON or GPON? Keeping your Focus on a Moving Target
Many enterprises are now sold on the benefits of Ethernet access for their WANs. Yet they also know they are well-served by investments in heterogeneous legacy infrastructure and services with proven reliability, quality and flexibility. From the enterprise point of view, it is the service provider's task to leverage existing network resources while opening a path to high-quality, lower-cost Ethernet services. Enterprises may give up some"nice to haves" to take advantage of new services, but there are two requirements they will not sacrifice, regardless of savings: (1) The ability of all of their office locations to communicate seamlessly with one another, and (2) the guaranteed QoS they enjoy from legacy ATM, Frame Relay and TDM.

	Leverage Virtual Network Elements to Integrate Carrier Management Silos
Multi-Service Access Platforms enable new IPTV and packet voice services, and they lower capital costs by reducing the number of separate boxes needed to provide the various functions. But the very integration that makes MSAPs so attractive also causes problems for the legacy side of telco operations. The solution is to use software to abstract non-integrated, virtual views of the MSAP's functions from its integrated hardware.

	Taking a Page from Cable's Book
The higher a service's bandwidth, the shorter its reach over the copper infrastructure. Every cable company and telecommunications carrier knows this: every time they offer a new service they have to determine how deep into the access network they must deploy active electronics. Over the past decade, cable companies have developed a deployment model that calls for dividing cable access networks into smaller and smaller serving areas and placing active electronics within a few thousand feet of subscribers' homes. This model enables cable companies to pass tens of millions of homes and deliver advanced broadband services such as High Definition TV (HDTV), Video on Demand (VOD), and the triple play of voice, data, and video to almost all of their subscribers.

	Implementing Robust Traffic Processing in Converged Access, Next-Gen DSLAMs
As increased packet processing and throughput requirements are imposed on DSLAM architectures, it becomes apparent that the best solution to the problem is a distributed architecture in which much of the traffic processing requirements are performed at the line card level. Network architectures need to move far beyond the current architecture that supports only best-effort traffic; to a multi-service architecture that supports a rich mix of enhanced,"triple-play" services enabled by advanced traffic processing and QoS. As DSLAM traffic processing requirements become greater, there are good reasons to move to a distributed architecture, which moves much of the protocol processing and traffic processing from the uplink card to the DSLAM line card.

	How to Avoid the ATM Cell Tax in the Local Loop
Not much attention has been paid to how to migrate from ATM to IP in the last mile between the Central Office (CO) and the subscriber's home or office. A 10 to 15% efficiency penalty on a 24 Mbps ADSL2+ loop translates to enough bandwidth to service a full stream of video. The full benefits of IP will not be available to everyone until carriers and providers migrate to a true end-to-end, IP from subscriber through to core network.

	VDSL2 and UDSL – Ultra High Speed DSL Technologies for FTTN Deployment
New high-bandwidth DSL technologies, VDSL2 and Uni-DSL (UDSL), are likely to drive the next wave of advanced broadband services. These ultra high-speed DSL technologies are backwards compatible with operators' existing DSL deployments and will make it possible to add competitive video service revenue to existing data and voice service revenues.

	New VDSL2 Standard will Bring Fiber-Fast Broadband
Very-High-Bit-Rate Digital Subscriber Line 2 (VDSL2), a standard currently under review by the ITU-T, is emerging as an opportunity for carriers to quickly gain a competitive advantage over cable operators. Currently, VDSL calls for a spectrum allocation of up to 12 MHz and leaves a higher spectrum of 30 MHz as an option. The proposed VDSL2 standard increases the spectrum allocation to 30 MHz, enabling fiber-fast broadband at speeds of up to 100 Mbps symmetrical.

	Security in Broadband Access Architectures
Security in the local loop hasn't been an issue up to now. Local operating companies have deployed dedicated cabling with multiple twisted pairs to each subscriber and MSOs have installed high speed co-ax cabling for TV services. It's common for home workers to set up IPSec tunnels to protect corporate information assets. Access networks must be secure, without inadvertent distribution of data to the wrong subscriber or deliberate theft of service. This requirement effectively eliminates broadcast and select architectural schemes.With the proliferation of high-definition programming and lower priced HD sets protection of high-value video content is critical to the continued growth of this industry. Providing separate physical drops or technologies for different services is inefficient, as is separate drops or technologies for different formats, protocols and bit rates. Optically switched Ethernet is a solution.

	Gigabit Ethernet and IPTV: Ready for Prime Time
Datamonitor predicts that approximately 15 million households will purchase IPTV services by the end of 2007, generating global revenues in excess of $7.5 billion. Skeptical readers may be tempted to note (correctly) that IPTV was supposed to be the �next big thing' a few years ago. What, if anything, has changed to finally enable mass-market deployment of these services? There are actually two very important changes that have occurred: faster access technologies have arrived and the transport/backhaul portion of the network has improved.

	Active Ethernet FTTx Holds Edge Over Passive Technologies
Last mile fiber access, aka FTTx, got its foot in the door thanks in large part to growing consumer interest in broadband Internet access and competing service providers wanting to turn the triple-play bundle of voice, video and high-speed Internet services into a home run for the bottom line. Active Ethernet fiber solutions offer several major advantages that do not exist in passive FTTx technologies such as APON and BPON -- including well-understood standards, costs, and bandwidth.

	A New Topology for Deploying Triple-Play Services
Initially, triple-play deployments were designed two to three Standard Definition TV (SDTV) video streams to each household from a lineup of 100 to 200 channels and delivered little or no Video On Demand (VOD) service. Today's fast-emerging triple-play service model requires support for up to four video streams per home and offer a much larger percentage of VOD. Ultimately, each household may have the ability to customize its own video service to suit its individual tastes.

	Telco Deployment Strategies for Optimizing Video Delivery
Because MSOs must live with their legacy past and build upon existing infrastructures, telco providers actually have a significant"Greenfield advantage" which allows them to tailor new deployment models for maximum flexibility and performance. Telco service providers can best leverage this advantage by balancing the overall network to optimize last-mile bandwidth efficiency and core transport effectiveness. It becomes a very straightforward proposition to centralize specialized services, such as video-on-demand servers, anywhere within the network and to build an efficient carrier-grade transport network between these service content stores and the intelligent subscriber edge access points.

	Optimizing Fiber for FTTP
Congratulations, you have decided to deploy or specify the broadband access technology for the 21st Century: Fiber to the Premises (FTTP). Once this decision has been made, a key question is which optical fiber should be used? Does the fiber choice vary for different architectures? And what passive optical components, such as connectors and splitters, should link the optical fiber segments throughout the network?

	Consider Fiber Extenders to Boost Reach of Full Rate DSL
Remote DSLAMs and DLC upgrades provide a means of extending the reach of broadband services. New fiber extension technology offers another option for providing full-rate ADSL to every line.

	UTOPIA: A Public Network based on FTTP, Layer 2 Ethernet Access and the "OSPN" Model
The UTOPIA project, a community backed project in Utah, is building a fiber access network to reach some 250,000 homes and 35,000 businesses. The project uses an "Open Service Provider Network" (OSPN) model, under which cities or groups of cities provide funding and then lease the network to any carrier or service provider. It also features an active fiber archictecture providing 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps of Layer 2 Ethernet connectivity per home.

	Video: By Broadcast, or IP?
Modern fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) systems are the first network architectures with the technical capability to deliver both broadcast video and IP video, if desired. This article outlines the two options and discusses pros and cons of each.

	Passive Optical Networks Empower The Triple Play Telco
ADSL is pushed to its limits and beyond in delivering sufficient bit rates for TV quality images. Full service broadband � video, voice and data � requires a faster last mile technology. Passive optical networks (PONs) offer the answer to the triple play riddle.

	Deep Fiber FTTC Deployment: Cost Parity with PMO
In high-take-rate, greenfield and overbuild applications, Fiber-to-the-Curb (FTTC) networks not only provide the same service delivery capability and capacity as Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) networks, but also are unmatched in cost effectiveness, meeting the same CAPEX constraints as a pure copper network. This article outlines an example network based on actual service provider deployment guidelines.

	Local Loops Were Not Created Equal
Local loops around the world were not created equal. In countries like Japan with a high population density, distances from the telephone Central Office are much shorter than they are in North America. Many assumed that this would make it easier to deliver DSL broadband in Japan, but in fact it was more challenging.

	ILECs Can't Wait for Fiber -- Extend DSL's Reach Now
The broadband market is taking off and with the MSOs grabbing ever greater market share the ILECs cannot afford to wait for fiber. Here is a new proposal for extending DSL to 100% coverage now.

	Defining the Telco Triple Play
The financial risk remains considerable, but better encoding technologies and improved DSL standards make Telco Triple Play technically feasible. One alternative to fiber trenching, is to leverage the existing copper infrastructure as the backhaul for access equipment deployed close to subscriber homes.

	Ethernet in Service-to-the-Subscriber (STTS) Architectures
The nature of telco service delivery is changing, and the hunger for bandwidth at low prices will drive Ethernet into the local loop and shape the Service-to-the-Subscriber (STTS) architecture in the twenty-first century. Ethernet offers carriers a long list of benefits, including cost advantages and ease of use. This will result in the integration of Ethernet into the Local Loop.

	FTTP CPE Components - The Current and Future View
The current architecture and components for triple-play CPE meet functionality and performance requirements but are too expensive, creating a major barrier for mass deployment. The evolution of new optics technologies and the ability to integrate more functionality into a single IC, both for digital and analog needs, will address this cost problem.

	Copper and Fiber in the “Broadband Era” of Access Network Modernization
Fiber continues to be pushed deeper into the access network, in a trend that holds both significant opportunities and major challenges for telecom carriers. The question is not if fiber deployment will migrate closer to end-users, bringing higher�speed services to subscribers, but rather the main questions are how and how soon. There is not a universal, one-size-fits-all blueprint or single architecture that can be applied to any and all fiber-upgrade projects. However, there are a number of common issues worth considering.

	New Flavors of DSL Offer Better Copper Loop Upgrade Options
ADSL has a large deployed base, proven field performance, and the most cost effective implementation (having been refined over multiple generations of product). As a result, a reliable and cost effective way to achieve higher data rates and extended reach is to build on ADSL. In the near-term, ADSL extensions will provide LECs with technology to compete with cable MSOs. In the long term, as loop lengths are made shorter by further build-out of the fiber network and broadband digital loop carriers (BBDLC), VDSL will provide additional improvements.

	Building on the Success of DSL
Exciting advances in broadband DSL technology, architecture, services, and applications are paving the way to the DSL Forum's vision of the future�200 million DSL subscribers worldwide by 2005. Some important DSL advancements are just emerging, and are laying the groundwork for sustained future growth.