Profitable IP Cores:  Built from the Edge
(continued)

As service providers evolve to offer new services and as the wholesale model becomes less prevalent, IP service switches need to connect subscribers to multiple service networks. However, IP service switches lack the routing functionality and intelligence required to become part of the IP network infrastructure and route and deliver multiple services beyond mere Internet connectivity.

The Evolution to Multi-service Routers

The future model is to evolve to a multi-service network, connecting customers to multiple broadband services via an intelligent multi-service router.  This device will offer the flexibility to connect customers to multiple services and will contain the routing functionality and intelligence required to become part of the IP infrastructure, as opposed to an appendage, such as the IP service switch.

The Multi-service Edge

There are multiple drivers behind the creation of a new class of multi-service routers with combined functionality.

1)       The session managers described above in the typical architecture scenario were typically used by access network wholesalers (Northpoint, Rythms, Covad) who sold access to multiple ISP networks.  As the service provider market consolidates, this model becomes less prevalent and these functions must evolve to connect consumers to services instead of connecting customers to service providers.

2)       To create more advanced services like content distribution and VPNs, the multi-service router needs knowledge of the core topology and the location of content and remote VPN sites.  This information is distributed among multi-service routers using IP routing protocols.  Without this knowledge of network topology, each customer and service must be statically provisioned end-to-end across the network.

3)       Meeting the SLAs of profitable fast packet services like ATM or Frame Relay over an IP/MPLS backbone requires advanced QoS and flexible mapping of packets onto the service capabilities of the IP core.

4)       Few of the advanced services offered by IP service switches (e.g. firewalling and encryption) are required at every edge interface.  These can be centralized, thereby simplifying the multi-service router and leading to lower operational and capital costs.

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