Evolution of Broadband Network EN AppNote PDF
Evolution of Broadband Network EN AppNote PDF
Evolution of Broadband Network EN AppNote PDF
THE BROADBAND
NETWORK
GATEWAY
INCREASE PROFIT AND LOYALTY
BY DELIVERING RESIDENTIAL
SUBSCRIBERS THE FREEDOM
THEY CRAVE
APPLICATION NOTE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract / 1
What subscribers want / 2
Subscriber freedom today: OTT VoD / 3
OTT Monetization / 14
Enhanced services / 16
Enhanced IPTV / 16
Evolving video services and CDNs / 17
Conclusion / 18
ABSTRACT
Residential service providers today are at odds with the very subscribers they serve.
Along with the liberating experience of Over The Top VoD Video on Demand (OTT VoD)
services that cater to their unique needs, subscribers now want the freedom of a
broadband service without boundaries — one in which they can consume any content
or application, on any device, anytime, anywhere. Challenged by the negative impact of
OTT VoD traffic on network bandwidth and the perceived threat to their PayTV services,
service providers are responding with rigid caps on bandwidth utilization.
There is a better way. Rather than discourage the use of the very service they provide,
service providers can embrace subscriber demands for freedom and enhance their services
to thrive on higher bandwidth consumption. However, realizing these goals requires
change. Centralized Broadband Remote Access Server (BRAS) architectures lack the scale,
performance and service flexibility to thrive in this new VoD-dominated era. Service pro-
viders require a new approach to planning and building residential networks, an approach
that embraces more performance, distributed subscriber management and enhanced
feature capabilities to deliver higher quality, more personalized subscriber services.
Today’s increasingly sophisticated and Internet-savvy subscribers are raising the bar yet
again. They want to remove the boundaries and limitations imposed by today’s broadband
services and customer premises equipment to create a richer, personalized experience that
leverages all that the Internet and the consumer electronics industry have to offer.
CUSTOMER
EXPECTATION
RESIDENTIAL EDGE
OBSOLETE OBSOLETE
ROUTING PLATFORM
For service providers, this represents both a challenge and an opportunity (see Figure 2
and Figure 3). A challenge because a single unicast VoD session consumes the same
network bandwidth as a linear-TV flow delivered to thousands of subscribers through
multicast. A challenge because VoD streaming protocols and applications are relentless;
they adjust to changing network conditions, consuming new network capacity as soon
as it is made available.
The impact on service providers has been rapid, global and significant. In the United
States alone, approximately one third of ISP network capacity at peak times is now being
consumed by Netflix users who represent a small fraction of the total ISP subscriber
base. OTT VoD providers across the globe are creating similar challenges for service
providers in Canada (Netflix), the United Kingdom (BBC iPlayer) and China (Youku.com),
to name only a few.
0 0 0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000
1.07 Mb upload 24.40 Mb download 2.17 Mb upload 1.13 Gb download 2.17 Mb upload 1.13 Gb download
youku.com
Service providers have responded to the OTT VoD bandwidth challenge — and the shift
away from their own linear TV services — by introducing rigid bandwidth caps and
down-speed techniques that limit bandwidth consumption on their HSI services. While
this approach does provide short-term relief, it pits the service provider against their
customer — the subscriber — and damages this all-important relationship. It also reposi-
tions the OTT vendor who fulfills subscriber demands for freedom at the top of the value
chain and popularity polls. There is a better way.
OTT content
and application
Service providers
Consumer electronics ecosystems provider
SP strength Opportunity
• Control network access • Ensure fair-share use with personalized subscriber
plans, monetize OTT apps/content, add Wi-Fi
• Premium linear TV service • Enrich with VoD and web content, add new app services
• Home ecosystem visibility • Use data to personalize subcriber experience, insert ads
Service providers can also leverage their strong relationships with content providers.
They can enrich current linear TV services with VoD and web content to deliver the
blended broadband service experience their customers crave.
Finally, service providers can use their unique ability to gather performance and service
usage data to personalize services and insert personalized ads.
At stake in this battle for the subscriber is hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue
from content alone, and the service provider’s position in the value chain —whether as
a provider of commodity Internet access or as a conduit for value-added services. With
all the limitations of today’s legacy BRAS-based architectures still in place, many service
providers are ill equipped to win their share of the revenue pie.
Pay TV Video
(big-screen TV) service edge
Video
servers
External
CPE
CDN or
transparent
Fixed access Aggregation cache
Internet
VoD streams traverse entire network
An overlay architecture is also very expensive to deploy and maintain. Multiple IP service
platforms quickly deplete capital budgets, and the service overlays they spawn result in
complex provisioning and capacity planning in the access and aggregation networks.
As more and more users shift to VoD content consumption, transport costs for video
skyrocket, and the resulting network and server congestion lowers performance and
service availability. With video taking center stage as the killer app for residential use,
central content injection and a central BRAS no longer make sense.
IPv6 migration is also an area of concern for service providers because so many legacy
BRAS routers lack the performance and scale of a carrier-grade network address translation
(NAT) capability to enable flexible IPv4-to-IPv6 migration. And because a BRAS is a
single-service delivery platform (HSI), it lacks the capability to delivery new features or
services beyond basic HSI or reap the operational and cost benefits of service convergence.
IP services edge
Subscriber
More bandwidth and
fewer users per GE port Monetized Video
content cache servers
Service
Internet
eBNG
Fixed access Wi-Fi access
OBSOLETE
Legacy migration
• Enhanced IPTV
• VoD and content • Real Wi-Fi
delivery network • Wholesale Wi-Fi
Enhanced Wi-Fi integration
• Evolution to blended • Wi-Fi data offload
video services
video services for 3G/4G
Service providers can start by monetizing OTT applications, enforcing fair-share access
through personalized plans, offering Wi-Fi access or even enhancing existing video and
application services: the starting point will vary with each service provider. For example,
a service provider with existing linear TV services forming the bulk of their revenue may
choose to begin with enriching their video services through an on-net content delivery
network (CDN), while a service provider with no content experience may start by
optimizing their HSI service with application-based metering to create personalized plans.
Because each service transformation journey is likely to take many twists and turns as
subscriber needs, legislative constraints and even a service provider’s financial position
change, it is of paramount importance that service providers invest in a platform with
the flexibility to accommodate change.
Supporting packet throughput of 400Gb/s, the FP3 provides the performance and high-
bandwidth port density to accommodate this video surge. All features are supported
at line rate so that network operators can create, monitor and control new feature-rich
services without impacting performance. Feature continuity with previous FP generations
enables FP3-enabled equipment to remain backwards-compatible while benefiting from
the latest performance enhancements.
Enabled by FP technology, the 7750 SR has the bandwidth and feature processing scale to
support service convergence and service blending, the benefits of which were described
in the section Market Trends and Challenges. Hundreds of thousands of subscribers can
be supported per chassis simultaneously to access multiple residential (VoD, HSI and
IPTV) or business (Ethernet VPN, IP VPN and business Internet) services.
=
consistency
• Content caching/delivery
eBNG
Internet
Dual stack subscriber
Complete migration
• Carrier-grade NAT
Dual stack CGNAT Dual stack
• Dual stack everywhere
eBNG
Internet
As discussed in the section Market Trends and Challenges, consumers are dissatisfied
with current attempts by service providers to limit OTT VoD consumption, and they
feel HSI plans today are primarily designed solely to protect the service providers, not
to benefit the subscriber. Current HSI plans are perceived as:
• Rigid: all or nothing, lacking personalization
• Confusing: subscriber guesses at data consumption rates, suffers bill shock
• Punitive: link down-speed, automatic fees
• Non-transparent
Service providers are faced with a dual challenge: dissatisfied customers and the inability to
push their own applications with bandwidth caps in place. With the 7750 SR as their BNG,
service providers attain a subscriber-friendly alternative to rigid use caps — personalized
plans that let the subscriber make the trade-offs and get optimal value from their share
of bandwidth.
n E
Per session policy and control ig
xe
De
cute
Per session monitoring
Subscribers and reporting M
o n ito r
Subscriber
Voice VoIP
Video Video
A
Wi-Fi Unified:
Internet Streaming P2P Boosted App • Service management
access
Web AIM • Network management
AA • Policy management
File transfer Netflix
• Reporting and analytics
Subscriber
Voice VPN access YouTube • OSS and billing
eBNG
Video Gaming
B
Fixed access Internet Email
Subscribers
Who are my top users?
What applications are they consuming?
How much bandwidth is required per application?
What is their usage profile per app?
Peering
Which apps are flowing through my peering points?
How much bandwidth do they consume?
Who are the top users of peering bandwidth?
Network
How do applications flow in my network?
Which applications use the most bandwidth, when?
How do applications perform over time?
What percentage of traffic is OTT?
Armed with this information, service providers can begin offering personalized plans to
ensure fair-share usage in a manner that satisfies each of their subscriber’s unique needs.
An example of a specialized plan is shown in Figure 11.
= + + + +
Basic plan Flexible Specialty app Anywhere Anywhere
(volume/speed) recharge options package Pay TV content access
Prioritized*
Pay TV content
Residential
broadband
Unlimited Gaming, TV guide Voice
service
Facebook Video
Internet
Metered
Other
Unlimited (off-peak)
Premium content is blended into the Internet service so that the subscriber can access
it from any device in the home or through a community broadband link. The service
provider offers this feature as an add-on to a basic metering plan. All content related
traffic — including the content itself, the television guide and any related side-bar
content — is identified by its application signature and is zero-rated (that is, not applied
against the subscriber’s cap).
Other selected applications, such as Facebook, are zero-rated for a nominal fee or
provided as a promotional incentive. OTT video applications such as Netflix are identi-
fied by their application signature and are metered.
Add-on features, such as unlimited Netflix off-peak, volume Netflix packages on-peak
or guaranteed high-quality boost for a period of time, are used to either minimize OTT
traffic concurrency at peak times or to monetize the flows.
OTT MONETIZATION
In the previous section, the AA capability of the Alcatel-Lucent 7750 SR allowed popular
OTT applications such as Facebook and Netflix to be monetized or used for promotional
purposes through specialized metering, billing and QoS arrangements. This is only a first
step in changing subscriber perception of the service provider as the provider of commodity
bandwidth to a provider of value-added services.
Service providers can extend the concepts and 7750 SR tools used to achieve personal-
ized plans to develop a whole range of new application services. Service providers can
work with content providers, advertising providers, application providers and retailers
to set up specialized monitoring and control of their applications and services in a way
that adds value to subscribers. New revenue can be generated through revenue-sharing
arrangements with OTT vendors.
For those with mobile subscriptions, the limited bandwidth of today’s 3G data plans are
far too punitive and restrictive to satisfy their needs, and there is no link to their residen-
tial services and content. While Wi-Fi hot-spots are popular alternatives, they come with
many problems and limitations, including:
• No simple access: The customer needs to select access from a list of cryptic service set
identifiers.
• No QoS guarantees: Performance is variable with video quality that is often
unwatchable.
• No strong security: Lack of security opens up the device to security threats.
• No service bundling: Wi-Fi hotspots are an added expense for the customer and a
missed opportunity for the service provider.
• No unified billing: This adds complexity for customer.
• No “my service everywhere”: Wi-Fi is a not an extension of the residential
experience.
Residential subscribers within range of their service provider’s Wi-Fi hotspots can trans-
parently connect to their service provider as if they were at home — simply, securely, with
access to all their services and content and with a familiar QoE. Transparent Wi-Fi access
allows residential broadband providers to offer subscribers freedom in the truest sense.
For service providers with both mobile and residential business units, the Wi-Fi access
infrastructure and WLAN gateway on the 7750 SR can also be used to transparently hand
off mobile data connections to the mobile data network. Mobile business units can realize
significant reductions in radio network costs and operational complexity by transparently
moving data connections off the radio network to the Wi-Fi aggregation network whenever
a mobile handset is within range of a Wi-Fi hotspot. For the consumer, unlimited data
access through Wi-Fi encourages usage off the radio network and breeds customer loyalty.
Figure 12. New retail and wholesale revenue opportunities with Wi-Fi
Wireless
business unit
MVNO
IP services edge
Enterprise
Copper
Wireline IP backbone
Internet
Hot spots eBNG
Residential
Fiber
ENHANCED SERVICES
Enhanced IPTV
For many service providers, the first step in enhanced video services with enhanced
BNG capabilities will start with IPTV. The Alcatel-Lucent 7750 SR supports multiple new
features that allow service providers to monetize and increase the quality of the IPTV
viewing experience:
• PerfectStream video conditioning: The BNG sends two copies of the IPTV stream and
uses information from both to reconstruct a perfect stream with the highest possible
quality in cases of data loss or corruption.
• Industry’s fastest channel change: IPTV content is copied onto a running cache on
the BNG and forwarded to the subscriber when the channel is changed. This ensures
that the screen is not empty in the several seconds it may take to switch channels
when using the latest video compression formats.
• Retransmit on error for high QoE: The information in the above cache is used to
reconstruct the multicast stream in case of error. This process ensures high video
stream integrity.
• IGMP-based intelligence gathering: Requests for video content are redirected and
stored to augment business intelligence. This allows service providers to better
monetize and tailor their services and advertising campaigns to subscribers.
Providers with IPTV services can leverage these 7750 SR features to continue generating
revenue and enhancing their offerings while preparing for a blended video experience
that brings in VoD and Internet content.
Figure 13. Video service fusion and optimized VoD delivery with distributed caching
External
CDN or
transparent
cache
Linear TV
and VoD
origin
servers
Content
cache
The introduction of a CDN moves the video streaming origin point — and associated
bandwidth load — from centralized video servers to distributed caches in BNGs located
in Tier 1 and Tier 2 COs. The decision of what content to cache is based on dynamic
demand, with stale content flushed as demand popularity declines over time. The
Studies show that a distributed caching model based on a Velocix CDN results in a
70-90 percent bandwidth reduction between centralized video storage and distributed
caches during peak times. And because the content travels a shorter distance to the
subscriber, the QoE is far beyond anything an OTT provider can provide through their
Internet-based streaming servers.
Even though a distributed architecture greatly reduces the burden on the streaming origin
points, traffic at Tier-1 and Tier-2 COs is still expected to consume dozens of 100GigE
ports as these routers are tasked with pushing the content to individual subscribers
through the residential access network. 100GigE+ with features is far beyond the capacity
of many BNG routers in the marketplace today but well within the range of an FP3-based
Alcatel-Lucent 7750 SR.
The CDN delivery model can be used in a complementary role to the IPTV delivery
infrastructure to support both live broadcast and on-demand content requirements while
meeting user expectations for quality, availability and reliability. Service providers can
enhance their linear IPTV service with broader content choices and evolve the traditional
IPTV experience to an on-demand TV model as viewing habits evolve. Content can
be acquired by extending private content peering arrangements with a broad range of
content providers or through content federations.
CONCLUSION
To best meet subscriber demands for a broadband experience without boundaries while
achieving long-term network scale, service providers require a distributed residential
network and a new high-performance BNG. The Alcatel-Lucent 7750 SR is uniquely
qualified for this role by combining high-performance and industry-leading subscriber
management with a range of enhanced capabilities that allow service providers to truly
monetize subscriber freedom:
• Industry-leading enhanced subscriber management: Resolves BRAS obsolescence
issues with the industry’s most flexible, feature rich and robust subscriber
management platform.
• Massive scale and performance: Delivers the sustained high throughput required to
support VoD growth and a converged residential IP edge that enables service blending
flexibility and lower network TCO.
• Distributed service intelligence: Enhanced BNG capabilities based on integrated high-
touch processing enable long-term scale and lower cost per bit for video transport, a
higher-quality and personalized experience for subscribers, and the ability to quickly
leverage new service opportunities.
• Universal gateway: A truly unified Service Routing Operating System (SROS) enables
the 7750 SR to bring in additional services and service access networks to a BNG
platform. This opens up additional opportunities for service providers to monetize
subscriber freedom through retail or wholesale Wi-Fi access or to reap the benefits of
convergence through a unified IP services edge for residential, business and wireless
services (see Figure 14).
Billions of dollars in revenue and the service providers’ position in the services value
Figure 14. Extending freedom, service uniformity, simplified operations and platform re-use across
residential, mobile and business customers.
LINEAR
TV
7750 SR WEB
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