Intelligent Next-Generation Bearer Networks Create New Value

Developments in telecommunication technology have changed people's lives. The move from 2G to 3G/LTE has enabled people to see mobile communications rather than just hear them, and the move from broadcast television to interactive television has enabled people to use television rather than passively watch it. The advancement from fixed Internet access to mobile Internet has enabled people to share and access information flexibly anytime and anywhere. With the development of the Internet, Internet of Things and cloud computing, telecommunication technologies have permeated into fields as diverse as transportation, medical care, energy, homes, and agriculture. 

In the area of rich services, the value of the whole industry chain is moving towards terminals and services. Bearer networks are becoming transparent, and operators are becoming mere pipe providers. OVUM predicts that the compound annual growth of mobile broadband subscribers from 2009 to 2015 will be 31%, whereas the compound annual growth of mobile broadband services will be just 22%. This means that the growth of subscribers is faster than the growth of business revenue. Market research conducted by Analysys Mason on the Norwegian mobile broadband market shows that traffic from data cards increased by 175% in 2009, whereas revenue increased by only 75% with a 48% decline in unit yield. The traffic from data cards is 10 times the Internet traffic from mobile phones, whereas the unit yield of the former is only one ninth that of the latter. This means higher CAPEX and lower unit yield. It means that operators are building communication pipes but are not benefiting from the growth in profit brought about by business development. They must provide high-bandwidth and high-quality bearer pipes that provide good service. But without a corresponding increase in profit, this can be costly. 

To deal with challenges encountered in bearer networks, ZTE proposes an intelligent next-generation bearer network with intelligent bearers, converged bearers, broadband bearers, high-reliability bearers and IPv6 evolution. This helps operators build high-bandwidth, low-cost, visible, controllable, manageable and evolvable bearer networks in order to create added value.

Intelligent Bearer

An intelligent bearer network provides differentiated services and open platforms. It guarantees high-value services and restricts low-value services. It also opens network resources to partners so that operators have a sound secondary operation environment to increase their value and create win-win situations with partners. The intelligent bearer network proposed by ZTE includes:

  an intelligent optical network. Automatic creation of optical paths, quick deployment of end-to-end services, and automatic topology discovery simplifies network OAM. Various protection and recovery modes are adopted to improve network security and differentiated service capabilities. New services are provided quickly in optical transport networks, dynamic circuit requirements of IP networks can be met, and the structure of the transport network can be optimized and evolved. 

   optimized OAM. Data are collected through deep packet inspection and traffic probing at the front end and are analyzed by the traffic and behavior analysis system at the back end. Inspecting services, defining user behaviors, and automatically discovering user behaviors are necessary in building an intelligent multidimensional communication pipe that can control services. Statistics on user status, online user type, user distribution, and network resource allocation make networks visible. Differentiated services, access, and charging modes makes users manageable. Visible, controllable, and optimized management of bearer networks can be realized. Network resource allocation can also be optimized and the value per bit maximized in bearer networks.

Converged Bearer

Convergence is the core of intelligent full-service bearing networks. A converged bearer not only reduces network construction costs but also allows for network expansion and evolution. The key to a converged bearer network is equipment convergence. This unifies multiservice bearing, adapts to development trends of telecom technologies, and protects operator investments. The converged bearer network proposed by ZTE covers converged access and converged IP and optical network.

In mobile backhaul, IP/MPLS and MPLS-TP are gradually being converged. IP/MPLS enhances OAM and network protection, and MPLS-TP enhances L3 VPN. Based on a unified software and hardware platform, ZTE’s converged transport network equipment, ZXCTN, enables both IP/MPLS and MPLS-TP, protects network investments, and supports smooth evolution.

In the backbone network, IP networks are heavily burdened. Expanding traditional IP networks greatly increases costs and cannot solve the problem of traffic congestion. How to use relatively low-cost optical networks has become the focus of operators. The appropriate solution is to fully converge the service planes, control planes, and management planes of IP and optical networks. This is an important development trend of bearer networks. ZTE proposes a converged IP and optical network. By using PCE and network planning tools at the optical and IP layers, the two layers can share network resources, plan collaboratively, optimize traffic paths, improve backbone network resource use, and improve transport efficiency. The problem of risk sharing can also be solved to improve backbone network stability. For fast service deployment and quick fault locating, unified end-to-end network management is performed for the IP and optical layers. This improves operating efficiency and reduces TCO.

Broadband Bearer

High bandwidth is the basis of an intelligent bearer network and is important for improving user experience. Developing high-bandwidth bearer networks has become a main concern of operators. Cluster systems and 100G are hot technologies that have attracted much attention in the industry. ZTE has participated in drafting IEEE 100GE, ITU-T 100G ODU4 and 100G WDM standards. ZTE’s data and optical network products all support 100G platforms. The ZXR10 T8000 100G cluster router has the largest capacity in the industry. By using an innovative virtual cluster control technique, a cloud computing-based control plane, and high-performance 100G chips, the cluster router can support at most a 16+64 multichassis system and 200Tbps switching. This provides high-speed bearer channels for intelligent bearer networks. ZTE’s end-to-end 100G bearer network solution provides ultra-high speed across the network—from convergence layer to backbone layer and from transport layer to IP layer. The solution greatly increases network capacity, enriches operator services, optimizes network architecture, and enhances an operator’s competitive edge.

High-Reliability Bearer

High reliability is the key to the stable running of bearer networks. ZTE proposes a plane-independent network architecture for service bearing. The public service plane carries high-speed Internet access and dedicated Internet access services, and the telecom service plane bears differentiated services such as mobile service, government and enterprise VPN, and self-operated service. Plane-independent protection technologies are also deployed to ensure reliable service bearing. On the public service plane, ZTE’s ethernet smart ring, ethernet smart switch (ZESR/ZESS), and link aggregation group (LAG) are deployed to protect networks at the convergence layer. Virtual router redundancy protocol (VRRP) is deployed to protect gateways, dual-node cluster hot backup is deployed to protect the service control layer, and IP fast re-route (IP FRR) is deployed to protect routes at the IP layer. On the telecom service plane, 1+1/1:1 path protection, ring protection, traffic engineering (TE) protection and LAG are deployed to protect backhaul services. VRRP, dual-node cluster hot backup, TE FRR/VPN and FRR/IP FRR are deployed to protect the MAN service control layer and backbone layer. At the transmission layer, optical path shared protection, optical multiplex section shared protection, 1+1 optical path protection, 1+1 optical multiplex section protection, and 1:N optical path protection are deployed for high network reliability.

IPv6 Evolution

Because the IANA IPv4 address pool was exhausted in February 2011, and the addresses of the Asia Pacific Network Information Center (APNIC), which allocates addresses in Asia Pacific, will soon be exhausted, operators in Asia Pacific will be unable to obtain IPv4 addresses for business development. IPv6 has therefore been introduced to solve this problem. With the advantages of mass address space, end-to-end QoS, mobile IP address, network security, and plug and play, IPv6 meets the requirements for service development and has become the core of next-generation Internet.

ZTE has been involved in developing IPv6. It has worked closely with France Telecom, China Telecom, and China Mobile to develop quality products and solutions for smooth evolution to IPv6. ZTE’s end-to-end network solution for evolution to IPv6 supports DS-Lite, 6RD, NAT64 and NAT444 without affecting existing services.

Its intelligent next-generation bearer network solution provides residential users with access control, automatic bandwidth adjustment, and enhanced video experience. It provides government and enterprise users with differentiated services and intelligent resource management. And it provides mobile users with smart pipes for end-to-end QoS, protection, and OAM. The solution also supports smooth evolution to IPv6.

ZTE has been researching the latest technical standards. Cutting-edge technologies are driving the development of bearer networks and are helping operators build future-proof bearer networks. ZTE is ready to join hands with operators to build intelligent, converged, reliable next-generation broadband bearer networks that bring added value.