Profitable IP Cores:  Built from the Edge

By Steve Vogelsang
Vice President and Co-Founder
Laurel Networks, Inc.
November 19, 2001

It is widely acknowledged that the rapid build-out of IP core networks has slowed.  Instead of buying and building as fast as possible to support unprecedented traffic growth, service providers are now looking to derive as much profitability as possible out of their massive core infrastructures.  They are focusing on the edge of their networks as the place where they can offer compelling new services, and new MPLS-enabled edge switches and routers to provide the platform for creating these services.  

As with every new area of growth, a small army of new and established players is scrambling to reposition their products for MPLS-based services at the edge.  Vendors are marketing their IP service switches for edge applications and repositioning their Internet core and aggregation routers as solutions for a wider range of edge services.

To adequately address both the need for full featured routing found in Internet routers as well as the need for delivering a profitable portfolio of services, a fundamentally different class of product is required.  A device that is designed from the ground up to combine the sophisticated routing control plane found in Internet routers with the multi-service management and transport capabilities found in IP service switches and traditional WAN switches.

Whether these devices come to be known as routers, switches, or something entirely new (and probably optical) will be based on the whims of the market (with the creative license freely exercised by marketers).  Regardless of what these devices are called, they will follow the path of other technologies that have been successfully deployed in service provider networks.  That is, they will contain the features required by service providers to realize tangible business benefits.  These new devices, let’s call them multi-service routers, will include the Internet-class routing found in core routers, the sophisticated traffic management required to transport guaranteed ATM and Frame Relay services, and the service management required to deliver and bill for new and existing services alike.

The Evolving IP Edge

A common network architecture for broadband services utilized IP service switches in front of routers.  The primary role of the service switch was to act as a session manager and connect subscribers to one of multiple single service networks.  This was typically done in a static fashion with very little knowledge of network topology required in the session manager.   This model was most prevalent for connecting wholesale customers to the Internet.  

The Single Service Edge

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