Ethos-Networks

Market Needs

The significant growth in mobile traffic drove the evolution of new radio technologies such as: HSPA, EVDO, LTE and WiMAX, enabling broadband connectivity to mobile handsets. However, the increased air traffic has moved the bottleneck to the backhaul segment, connecting the base stations to the core of the network. The increased capacity for backhaul connectivity drove service providers to look for scalable and affordable alternatives, with carrier Ethernet emerging as the ultimate choice: simple, scalable and low cost. But to ensure voice quality for the mobile telephony “cash cow”, as well as for the emerging video applications, carrier Ethernet transport must comply with strict jitter, delay and packet loss requirements, with tighter limits than originally defined for metro networks. For example, service availability should achieve 99.999% (downtime of less than 5.3 minutes/year) vs. 99.95% (or 263 minutes/year) specified by MEF3, while inter-frame jitter should be limited to 3ms vs. 10ms allowed by MEF3. Moreover, the transition to pure packet networks requires delivery of synchronization data over the packet networks, imposing even tighter limits on the transmission characteristics.

Service Providers’ Challenges

• What is the right packet technology providing the appropriate transport characteristics while maintaining simplicity and low cost?
• How to enable smooth, gradual migration from current SONET/SDH backhaul to packet backhaul?
• How to maintain “TDM-style” control on the network, with deterministic behavior and comprehensive, yet simple network management solution?
• Since revenues from data services are not proportional to the increased bandwidth demand, how can the cost of deployment and operation be reduced, while functionality and bandwidth be increased?

Ethos Networks’ Solution

Ethos Networks Carrier Ethernet transport (CET) solution allow service providers enjoy the benefits of pure-packet networks while maintaining the attributes of simplicity, determinism and cost effectiveness they experienced in the legacy TDM networks. Ethos Networks’ unique combination of high quality-of-service (QoS) CE switches and a comprehensive, yet simple to use Domain Management System (DMS), allows SPs to simply plan, provision, maintain and optimize Ethernet transport with guaranteed, pre-defined transmission characteristics, including bound delay, jitter and packet-loss and five 9s (99.999%) service availability. To better serve mobile backhaul applications, SPs can utilize Ethos Networks’ solution to accommodate the various requirements of their backhaul network during its evolution towards all-packet architecture.

 While SPs have started using a TDM-based infrastructure, carrying both voice and data traffic, most of them have started by now migrating towards the next phase. The growth of smart, bandwidth-hungry applications and devices such as Apple’s iPhone and similar competitive products drove SPs to start offloading their TDM network of the data traffic onto a dedicated packet-based network. The use of Carrier Ethernet infrastructure for such data network enabled scalability and significant cost reduction compared to TDM backhaul. However, to further improve their CAPEX and OPEX savings, Ethos Networks enables SPs build a CE transport backhaul network that will safely and reliably carry also the critical voice services, either through circuit emulation (a.k.a Pseudowire) or natively as VoIP.

With Ethos Networks’ solution, data can be categorized and handled separately depending on its transport requirements:

• Carry voice services to the voice switch over dedicated, connection-oriented Ethernet tunnels, defined as low-jitter/delay services with highest priority to ensure error-free delivery.
• Video applications shall be carried as either connection-oriented or connectionless Ethernet services, with high priority and low-jitter/delay, ensuring quality of experience (QoE) for the mobile users.
• Data applications can be provisioned as connectionless Ethernet services, enjoying multipoint to multipoint connectivity and ability to utilize all available bandwidth with optional oversubscription to effectively carry maximum traffic load.

When SPs migrate to the ultimate all-IP solution with LTE technologies, the timing information must also be carried over packets. Ethos Networks E-series switches are designed to support such requirements, using IEEE 1588v2 and Synchronous Ethernet, enabling high-quality, service guaranteed transport. The 1588v2 timing frames can be configured to be carried as highest priority on guaranteed-performance tunnel, ensuring the demanding 50ppb (parts per billion) accuracy requirement of mobile networks.

Solution Benefits:

• High-quality Ethernet transport, with transmission attributes equivalent to SONET/SDH
• Guaranteed service - five 9s availability (99.999%)
• 50ms Service restoration in case of network failure
• Bound delay, jitter and packet-loss
• Simple network planning, service provisioning and service assurance – as simple as experienced in legacy TDM networks – reducing operational and training costs.
• Network optimization to maximize assets utilization
• Cost effective and simple solution; pure Ethernet without the limitations of legacy design or the burden of complex routing protocols.