NTT Group to Test Carrier Ethernet

In order to address the shortcomings of IP, and to minimize service disruptions for VoIP and IPTV services, Japanese telecommunications giant NTT Group is set to put carrier Ethernet technology PBT to the test in early 2008. In so doing, NTT will be joining a growing number of service providers intrigued by the potential of carrier Ethernet (also known as Provider Backbone Bridging-Traffic Engineering within the IEEE). Already, BT Group, Verizon, Deutsche, Telefonica SA and France Telecom have all talked of testing or actually rolling out the technology.

PBT is an early implementation of Ethernet that is expected to compete with T-MPLS as a layer-two technology for packet transport (see “Standards Watch” column in March/April B/OSS Magazine). While both T-MPLS and PBT strive to augment or trump the traffic engineering capabilities of SONET/SDH transport technologies, some believe PBT might do a better job of preserving existing OSS and back-office investments. That could lower the cost of migrating to newer transport technologies, as layer-two Ethernet-based PBT would eliminate the need for expensive MPLS-aware routers at layer three.

Since PBT is implemented via switches, PBT champions like Nortel and the 22-member Carrier Ethernet Ecosystem claim PBT could be as much as 33 percent cheaper than its MPLS competitor. While some industry experts believe the Ethernet derivative will bring connection-oriented characteristics and deterministic behavior to Ethernet in a more cost-effective manner than its MPLS-based brethren, there are those who are not so optimistic.

Alcatel-Lucent and others in the MPLS camp, such as Cisco and Juniper, have pointed out that using MPLS for IP routing is a more mature and proven option. Alcatel-Lucent, for example, has an Ethernet switch and metro service edge router. The company believes MPLS should exist in the metro so that Ethernet can behave as a carrier-class technology. Alcatel-Lucent has pointed out that the delivery of multiple services usually involves meshed, not point-to-point services (such as video and VoIP). Because PBT is a point-to-point technology, addressing issues in the control plane, Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco and Juniper contend PBT is less effective in merging services at layers one through three. They believe MPLS is the most scalable way to address multicast needs.

Despite the criticisms, the interest by NTT and other Tier 1s reflects a curiosity about the potential for Carrier Ethernet. According to recent research conducted by Infonetics Research, worldwide Ethernet services revenue will grow to $69.2 billion by 2009, with approximately $28.9 billion to come from the Asia Pacific (APAC) region.

“The drive to reduce the capital expenditure on network infrastructure and accommodate the explosion in bandwidth demands will lead to the increasing deployment of Ethernet as the transport technology and connection method of choice,” believes Clive Deakin, senior product manager for Cramer’s Amdocs OSS division. He attributes the drop in hardware costs as a major driver behind uptake in Ethernet, as it moves from its LAN origins to WAN. “Hardware vendors are exploiting this revolution by extending Ethernet support from the traditional LAN devices to a multitude of WAN devices, such as routers, SDH, and DWDM,” says Deakin. He believes that will challenge OSS vendors to support a broader array of devices and services.

Dharmesh Syal, vice president of telecom practice at Satyam Computer Services, agrees Carrier Ethernet is on its way to becoming the “technology of choice” because of the potential for improved cost management, ease-of-use, and interoperability. “OSS companies must now be engaged in analyzing how the cost, performance and ease of management can be vastly improved across OSS functions including provisioning, fault management and service performance.” Syal notes Satyam engineers are currently comparing key performance indicators (KPIs) for MPLS, Ethernet and traditional TDM distribution and traffic management technologies.

Indeed, OSS vendors will race to ensure their platforms can deliver out-of-the-box functionality through toolsets that monitor Ethernet Service and ensure right-the-first-time service enablement.

“Next-gen OSS systems will have to provide sophisticated service management designed to simplify the addition of new technologies, such as Metro Ethernet to the mix of supported access technologies,” says Rick Mallon, vice president of product management for Sigma Systems. “Service providers should be able to think of it as adding a new ‘service blade’ to the OSS platform, versus creating a brand new one-off, special-purpose Metro Ethernet OSS system.”