Revisiting Access and Aggregation Network Architecture

International audienceOptical technologies allow the end-user to take advantage of a very high bitrate access. This in turn modifies traffic patterns to be supported by access and aggregation (metro) networks. The present paper first proposes tentative traffic scenarios to assess future capacity requirements for these networks. It is shown that the current aggregation architecture based on primary and secondary aggregation rings should be reconsidered to limit potential bottlenecks and to take account of both infrastructure costs and potential energy savings. The paper then presents alternative architectures to revise and move the boundaries existing today between access and aggregation networks. A first alternative architecture is fully centralized and performs traffic aggregation in a central location. The second alternative architecture proposes to locate the first aggregation points (called "Next Generation Points of Presence") on the primary aggregation ring and to centralize control functions

Status Reporting versus Non Status Reporting Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation

International audienceOptical access technologies allow service providers to propose high bandwidth services in both directions (upstream and downstream) and thus to develop values added services. Passive Optical Network (PON) technologies offer, in the upstream, a controlled access to a shared media. Dedicated control mechanisms to the upstream channel have been proposed by ITU-T for Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Network (G-PON) and 10 Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Network (XG-PON1). Such mechanisms rely on Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation (DBA) procedures that manage bandwidth allocation according to customers requirements. This paper focuses on comparing two such DBA algorithms: Status Reporting (SR) in which the customer explicitly reports its backlog, and Non Status Reporting (NSR) in which the Optical Line Termination (OLT) infers customers' requirements by assessing how previously allocated resources were used. We develop several models in order to illustrate the respective performances of SR and NSR

Multi-Criteria Comparison Between Legacy and Next Generation Point of Presence Broadband Network Architectures

International audienceDevelopment of new applications and the introduction of innovative technologies can lead to revise network architectures in order to build sustainable broadband infrastructures. The present paper describes the main drivers and enabling technologies leading to change the current fixed and mobile network architectures. The limitations of the aggregation network are briefly shown by a description of the legacy network architecture. The advantages of optical access technologies are also depicted. In order to avoid certain bottlenecks in the aggregation segment, an advanced solution called Next Generation Point of Presence (NG-PoP) is presented. The main idea of NG-PoP architecture is to move the existing boundaries between access and aggregation networks. Finally, the NG-PoP architecture is analyzed and compared to the legacy network one according to several criteria such as Quality of Service (QoS), cost criteria, power savings and Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) features

Internet traffic analysis: A case study from two major European operators

International audienceNetwork and service operators nowadays use probes located in their networks in order to improve their knowledge on traffic evolution. The limited set of managed services like IPTV enable the use of well controlled rules for network dimensioning but this is not the case for public Internet originated traffic. Due to the growing success of services delivered by Internet players, a close attention given to customers' usage is mandatory to make accurate forecasts in order to avoid future network congestion. The present paper proposes a detailed analysis based on real Internet traffic captured on fixed (xDSL, FTTH) and mobile networks of Orange France and Telefónica operators. Internet traffic profile (traffic evolution over the time) for fixed and mobile networks is described. The paper discusses the relation between access technologies and traffic profiles. Additionally, it clarifies how both fixed and mobile residential customers access Internet services. This provides insight on the applications generating the major part of the traffic (i.e. video streaming, peer-to-peer, file downloading, etc.) and on the proportion of traffic generated by the "heavy users"

Fixed and Mobile Convergence: Needs and Solutions

The drivers of Fixed and Mobile Convergence (FMC) are discussed. A reference framework for FMC proposed by European project COMBO is then presented. Some use cases of FMC are described, showing the needs for mutualization and convergence of fixed and mobile broadband networks. Five network scenarios providing technical solutions to FMC use cases are proposed. They target an optimal and seamless quality of experience for the end user together with an optimized network infrastructure ensuring increased performance, flexibility, reduced cost and reduced energy consumption