Cisco
Systems
As evidenced by SBCs recent $6 billion investment, service providers are
investing heavily in a new digital broadband infrastructure to capture new revenue and
profits from data and integrated data/voice services on packet networks. While the PSTN
has served well as the multiservice network of the past, it is no longer capable of
generating new revenues and profits. As data volume predominates, driven by high growth,
it only makes sense to find a way to merge voice onto data networks.
Service providers with a large installed base of data on todays voice network
(e.g., private lines) must move this data onto their packet networks to enable value-added
services their new profit engine. Providers who choose to retain their costly and
inflexible Old World equipment will also be at a significant cost and
time-to-market disadvantage relative to providers with New World packet networks.
To be successful, packet networks must accommodate multiple transport types with a
common set of services and policies. MPLS will be a key enabler, as it is transport
independent and enables value added service delivery though VPNs, QoS, and traffic
engineering. Open protocols such as MGCP and JAIN will be critical to voice service
delivery.
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Mariposa
Technology
During the AIN era (still underway), the traditional PSTN switch has been
broken into its constituent parts, including intelligence, switching fabric, intelligent
processors, signaling interfaces, and traffic interfaces. What we are seeing now is that
the traditional components are being replaced by next-generation components: Servers,
packet switching fabrics, signaling mediation servers, and edge devices that include
multiplexing and media gateway functionality. In many cases, the edge has been extended to
the customer premise, in the form of a next-gen IAD. In effect, the AIN guys accomplished
the spirit of their mission, but in a way totally foreign to their original expectations.
The next-generation network (NGN) is ATM-based. The Internet is already mostly built on
an ATM backbone, and ATM is still the most effective way to integrate services in the
bandwidth-restricted local network. But ATM is simply a very efficient transport
technology.
The NEXT next-generation network (NNGN) will use IP as the convergence layer. However,
it will be an IP that bears only passing resemblance to yesterdays IP. IP is
gradually developing the toolkit to allow it to provide service quality and manageability
that is required to deliver reliable, high-quality, converged services. It still has a
ways to go, but it will get there. When it does, it will provide new service-creation
capabilities that will fuel a century of innovation.
The next-generation network is being built in parallel with the last generation network
(LGN). It is gradually eroding sales of new LGN equipment... capping the LGN... and
accounting for the largest proportion of network growth. It is very much a work in
progress (see above).
Mediation devices are being built that allow translation of voice and data among the
PSTN, ATM, and IP networks. More importantly, mediation of signaling and network
applications must be accomplished. This is still in very early stages. It will be a long
time before the packet voice network has the service richness of the PSTN (CLASS and
custom calling features, LNP, etc.). It will almost certainly have its own, unique
features first (unified messaging, click to talk, etc.).
As for the capabilities and qualities that must be exhibited by
next-generation switches in order to take the state of switching to the next
level?
- Scalability to terabits... if not the individual devices (in the short term), at least
networks.
- Reliability equivalent to current PSTN (99.999%).
- Service Flexibility user-programmable services that dont have to be
deployed ubiquitously to be useful.
- Manageability the carrier (and increasingly the user) must be able to measure and
manage all aspects, from the physical to the application layer.
- Reverse compatibility with the PSTN.
- Interoperability with other vendor equipment using standard protocols.
All this is fun, but it is going to take decades, not just years. Old technologies
dont just vanish... they become those annoying legacy things that you
just have to deal with. The ideas are exciting and the hype sells magazines and
conferences, but people buy stuff that works reliably and cost effectively. For now, the
cutting edge of reliable and cost effective at least for converged network services
is ATM.
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Lucent Technologies
The switching network of the future will be the ultimate convergence
solution connecting a variety of networks wireless, optical, voice, and data. From
the enterprise to the core of the public network, next-generation switches combined with
high-speed optical interfaces will deliver unlimited scalability to support the exploding
demand for bandwidth.
These multiservice network switches will link any device or protocol to the network
with the unprecedented reliability and quality of service featured in todays voice
network. They will be highly flexible with the ability to handle voice, video, and data
traffic over wireless and wireline networks.
Proprietary carrier class voice switching solutions that work on single platforms are
fast disappearing. Next-generation switches will be better because they will be able to
handle voice, video, and data services seamlessly on a variety of server platforms, all
interoperable with each other.
Next-generation multiservice switches (both hardware and software solutions) will be
able to handle hundreds, perhaps thousands of applications and services from basic
voice calling to exciting next-generation services such as interactive conference calls
and click-to-dial Web services. These intelligent voice/data applications will be
controlled by innovative policy management software that enables administrators to
provision quality of service to meet changing business needs.
Lucents vision for next-generation switches is to build universal platforms that
support circuit and packet switching technology, using open protocols or Applications
Program Interfaces (APIs) such as TSAPI, and developing software that is flexible enough
for the switching technology to meet the demands of users who want bandwidth immediately.
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CopperCom
The next-generation network is already here. It has been brought about
by the influx of new technologies into a deregulated telecommunications environment. Three
trends are emerging: A packetized local loop extending all the way to very small
businesses and homes, open softswitch architectures which divide call processing
intelligence from the underlying transport and switching, and packet voice trunking, which
is reducing the overall cost of switching and transmission. The PSTN network is evolving
rapidly from a closed system to an open network architecture with hooks for new service
offerings provided by open software platforms.
Packetized access in the form of DSL, cable modems, wireless local loop, and powerline
technologies has democratized the choice of service and service providers. These
technologies in a deregulated environment are the on-ramp to the new network. Originally
targeted for packet data, these access networks are rapidly being transformed into
multiservice networks with support for voice and other services.
The edge of the network has also evolved. Call control, which has typically been
embedded in the network hardware, is being ported to open platforms. There is substantial
progress being made to standardize common call control for both packet and
circuit-switched networks. This will unite the new network with the legacy network and
create an environment for standard service delivery as well as new service creation with a
common language for handing services off between networks. CORBA is being adopted widely
as an open object-based protocol for developing the service creation and service assurance
applications, which will bring scale and reliability to these networks.
Packet voice trunking enables service providers to freely mix voice and data networks
on a common high-speed backbone with dynamic bandwidth allocation and increasing quality
of service.
These three trends are being manifested in the network today. The network is already
different and in its next generation. The coming years will continue to see
evolution along these three basic lines towards a single network for all services.
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Avici Systems
The switching market is evolving in a number of directions, with a single
central theme: As silicon becomes more capable, the depth of function and speed of
operation continue to skyrocket. In both the LAN and the WAN this is evident in the rise
of multi-layer capabilities, which allow switches to provide QoS at wire rate to diverse
network flows. The next trends are going to be increasing interoperation of the IP service
layer and the underlying optical layer.
The next generation network is here. A number of carriers are either rolling out or
trialling new networks built with IP running directly on top of an optical core, without
the intervening layer of SONET equipment.
The biggest help to a smooth migration is the deployment of DWDM (dense wave division
multiplexing) on existing fibers. This allows carriers to run parallel networks
legacy and next-gen concurrently. As the next-gen network picks up an increasing
percentage of the traffic, the legacy traffic can be migrated onto the new network.
Next-generation networks will be increasingly auto-provisioned. As the intelligence in
switches increases, the switch hardware will be able to detect network bottlenecks and
increase service capacities in real time. The end result is that switches will need to be
scalable, reliable, and have the ability to dynamically add or redirect bandwidth as
network load changes.
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Nortel
Networks
Convergence in a data-centric telecommunications world has resulted in service
providers Points of Presence (PoP) starting to look more and more like large campus
backbones based on Ethernet switched architectures. Layer 2 gigabit Ethernet switches are
providing low-cost connectivity, scalability, and simplified connection management (over
point-to-point architectures). This is enabling service providers to meet the challenges
of burgeoning bandwidth demand, and of provisioning new services profitably.
As demand skyrockets for Internet telephony applications and the delivery of managed
services, Ethernet switches in the next-generation service provider network will require
10 gigabit Ethernet interfaces that address capacity requirements and ensure compatibility
with carriers and service providers optical infrastructure. These 10-gigabit
Ethernet WAN-compatible interfaces will forego the creation of additional delays and
infrastructure costs where data and optical networks meet, thus enabling seamless
integration of local-, metropolitan- and wide-area networks (LAN, MAN, WAN) based on a
common technology. Among market segments to realize the greatest benefit from this type of
10-gigabit Ethernet switched PoP is the application service provider (ASP) industry. ASPs
will provide outsourced enterprise eBusiness solutions that require a tighter bond between
the private and public worlds of telecommunications.
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Lara Technology
Throughout the Internets existence, its traffic load has steadily
increased at an average monthly rate of 10 percent, and its currently projected to
double every three to six months. Much of this Internet data explosion is now being fueled
by the combined effects of millions of new users, far richer content (e.g., multimedia),
and the migration of corporate traffic onto the Internet. Overall traffic (both voice and
data) is predicted to continue to increase rapidly throughout the next few years. As
escalating Internet traffic demands push beyond the limits of todays switching
architectures, an entirely new generation of highly scalable switches will hold the key to
successful evolution of the network infrastructure to meet tomorrows requirements.
Currently, the convergence of two major trends is dramatically changing the basic nature
of the switching environment. First, the emergence of Internet Protocol (IP) as the de
facto choice for carrying the whole range of network traffic, from data to voice, is
laying the foundation for a seamless internetworking environment.
We feel the communication industry is undergoing phenomenal changes and in our opinion,
a big communications tornado is forming on the horizon. It is bigger than the worlds
telephone network and will offer services and applications beyond what we can imagine
today.
As a result of this tornado we expect a widespread deployment of a broadband,
packet-based public network. We believe it is currently undergoing the early adoption
phase and will be ready to take off in the tornado mode within the next few years.
This next-generation switching architecture must be based on an entirely new approach
to delivering services that is specifically designed to accomplish the following:
- Deliver robust switching functionality at a cost that is an order of magnitude lower
than traditional, proprietary Class-5 switches.
- Distribute switching functionality to the edge of the network to protect existing
investments by supporting all current analog and digital network standards, interfaces,
media, and service elements.
- Reduce the number of network elements by combining a range of telephony, application,
and service-delivery functions to enable new service creation through programmability and
the flexibility of an open application programming interface (API).
- Provide a high degree of scalability, enabling network operators to expand their
subscriber base rapidly and cost-effectively.
- Promote extensibility through open architecture design and, thus, take advantage of
future technological advances to redefine true, carrier-class design for maximum fault
tolerance and zero downtime.
- Reduce operating costs by employing advanced remote maintenance and diagnostics
capabilities.
- Increase revenues by shortening time to market, reducing up-front costs, and providing
remote management capabilities.
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Convergent
Networks
The movement to the new public network is the single most important
development in communications since the creation of the telephone itself more than 100
years ago. In the past, communications services have been delivered through devices that
operate over a series of independent networks. In the future, communications services will
be delivered through an entirely new set of devices that operate over a single integrated
network. The simple elegance of the new public network benefits service providers and end
users alike.
But this future will only be realized, and tolerated, if the new public network
provides communications services with the same level of quality that consumers expect from
the PSTN today over technology that provides carriers with a significant return on their
investment. As a result, next-generation switching equipment must meet particularly high
standards for reliability, scalability, and flexibility. Next-generation switches need to
achieve the same five 9s of availability and high QoS of traditional switches.
In addition, next-generation solutions must scale to unprecedented heights and achieve new
lows in per-port cost to justify the needed investment. Finally, next-generation equipment
must be useful for multiple applications and must interoperate with the existing PSTN.
Flexibility will allow service providers to further justify their investment, and
interoperability will provide a smooth migration path from old to new.
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Performance
Technologies, Inc.
Just a few years ago, advances in switching were mainly concentrated in the enterprise LAN
market. With the passing of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, the wide area and
metropolitan area communications markets are now experiencing the same level of dynamism.
Convergence is the WAN buzzword with new start-ups being minted monthly. In
the LAN space, many switch vendors are addressing needs for load balancing, QoS, and total
fault tolerance. Many companies are swapping old hubs for layer 2 and 3 switches to
improve performance and simplify overall IT services management. Going from 10 Mbps to 100
Mbps is a no-brainer and adding gigabit Ethernet wont strain the systems
administrators support and training budget. Another trend is the move toward server
farms and creation of SANs (Storage Area Networks), the driving force being the need to
gain better control over the server environment in terms of data reliability while
improving the overall management.
In the past, bandwidth was extremely expensive in the WAN, less so in the LAN. But with
the emergence of DWDM (Dense Wave Division Multiplexing) and terabit switching for the
WAN, we are about to enter a new era of bandwidth economics where demand for raw bandwidth
may no longer outstrip supply. Trusted industry analysts forecast a $4.5 billion
investment in long-haul DWDM networks by 2002 as many network operators face fiber
exhaustion in specific locations. Further, fundamental breakthroughs in optical physics
will radically change the WAN landscape, with implications for switching technology,
architecture, and economics. Lastly, IP telephony will become an enormous growth market as
service providers rush to develop new services for packetized voice.
For reasons of pure economics, carriers are not about to rip out decades of installed
equipment. But they are prepared to build overlay and bypass infrastructures while
maintaining the existing equipment as they transition to a new service paradigm. Many
telecommunications vendors are building gateways and conversion products to solve the
vexing problem service providers experience operating and maintaining multiple networks
while trying to provide new types of services. The new breed of service provider does not
have the baggage of the traditional carrier, but must deal with the existing network and
is therefore not immune from interoperability requirements. As the public network evolves
from todays circuit-switched PSTN to the IP-centric packet network of tomorrow,
there will be ample opportunity for vendors to build bridge products of all
types to ease this transition.
We are starting to reach the limits of speed and performance with silicon.
Next-generation switches must be all-optical. To get to the next level, photonics must
replace electronics. This will provide the ultimate jump in reliability and corresponding
drop in cost for building and operating the next-gen nets. One of the most significant
benefits of an all-optical switch will be increasing the velocity of provisioning an OC-48
or OC-192 circuit, shrinking from todays typical 80 to 90 days down to but a few
days over the next year. The economic ramifications of this are enormous, not to mention
the enhanced customer satisfaction and increased loyalty for the competitive service
provider.
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Merlot
Communications
Much attention has been paid to the Softswitch Revolution and
the development of new-generation networks. However, what is really exciting about this
transition is what it enables a new breed of service provider. Prior to the
emergence of new-generation networks, carriers were required to provide both transport and
services. Thanks to the advances in softswitch networking, service providers can provide
just that: Services.
Carriers are migrating to packet-based (cell or frame) networks for two reasons: Cost
and regulatory pressure. This process will not be immediate and for some time there will
be a mix of PSTN, ATM, and IP networks. However, this is merely the first step. This
migration is causing the commoditization of network transport, opening the door for
new-generation service providers to focus on providing customized enhanced applications
and services and merely reselling transport from the lowest cost provider. This
dramatically lowers the cost of entry since capital expenditure is limited to intelligent
premises-based softswitches and a centrally located feature repository. Together, these
elements comprise what is envisioned as a ServicePage Architecture.
In this architecture, service providers can define features to suit specific industries
or even specific customers and store them on the feature repository (or server) as
XML-based Web pages known as ServicePages. When a customer requests a particular feature,
the premises-based equipment accesses the appropriate feature definition on the feature
repository and executes it. This model is transport agnostic; it will work whether the
network is IP, ATM, or even the PSTN. These new service providers that leverage this
ServicePage Architecture are now able to differentiate themselves on the basis of the
applications and services they provision rather than just their transport methods and
costs.
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Salix
The rise of the Internet along with such business, regulatory, and technology factors as
IP telephony, local competition, and next generation data-centric service
providers, has started a revolution in telecommunications markets, services, and
infrastructures. The next generation of services is enabled by the convergence of packet
and circuit networks and services, which will continue to gain momentum into the next
century. SALIX envisions a highly competitive service provider environment that will
demand rapid and cost-effective deployment of innovative services based on
evolving customer needs and requirements.
Driving this evolution is the concept of Class Independent Switching. With Class
Independent Switches, traditional services can be merged with communications services
based on the more flexible Internet protocol, enabling the delivery of services never
before possible all while maintaining quality and reliability.
Class Independent Switches make the deployment of cost-effective, unified voice, data,
and video services possible. Converged network infrastructures will replace
service-specific networks and provide integrated services on demand. Unified service
packages, tailored for specific markets, will enable service providers to rapidly address
new markets with custom applications.
As we move forward, scalability and flexibility of the Class Independent approach will
provide the investment protection and robust technology required to deliver new services
well into the future.
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Spring
Tide Networks
Switching means different things to different people: Frame relay, ATM, or perhaps
Ethernet if were talking about the LAN environment. ATM was a great innovation,
because it allowed us to perform switching in hardware, rather than software, for the
first time. Over the last few years, weve seen a move to perform IP forwarding in
hardware as well. For a time, cell switching was the low cost way to move data, but with
the new packet hardware, weve seen the switching costs on the packet side come down
dramatically. From our perspective, were all about applying service functions
uniquely to individual IP user flows, based on a user-level policy.
Things are changing very rapidly. In the transmission network, we see things moving
away from legacy SONET ring architectures to partially meshed topologies than leverage
DWDM. Soon we expect to see wavelength routers, which can find a best path for an
individual wavelength across a complex network topology. At the edge of the optical
network, there will be mediation platforms that map traffic from various edge service
platforms. Of most direct interest are the emergence of the new IP services layer, which
needs to exist between the core switch/routers and the edge aggregation gear (RAS boxes,
DSLAMs, edge routers, FR/ATM switches, etc.). It will be from this strategic location that
value-added IP services get delivered.
This means having the right interfaces and software features, so that you can deploy a
next-generation network element in an existing network architecture. It also means having
the right set of instrumentation so that the equipment can be managed and monitored using
the existing set of OSS tools and operator skills. For us, this means performing multiple
functions: User authentication and authorization, service selection, virtual routing,
encryption, compression, address management, firewall, and QoS services.
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