T h e C h a l l e n g e

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2 T h e C h a l l e n g e Going the extra mile to bring carrier-class management to Ethernet in the first mile As a new IEEE initiative Ethernet in the First Mile (EFM) works its way through committee toward ratification as a standard, a significant new revenue opportunity is emerging. For service providers looking to offer first-mile Ethernet broadband services, the metro access market may well represent the single brightest spot in an otherwise bleak telecommunications landscape. Initiatives like EFM gives optical Ethernet credibility in the area of revenuegenerating broadband access services and as the technology of choice to bridge the gap between local- and wide-area networks. This paper will first look at the proposed IEEE 802.3ah standard for Ethernet in the First Mile and the associated operations, administration and maintenance (OAM) support, which will reduce operating expenditures and broaden the appeal of Ethernet as a metro access technology. And then we will examine the OAM support already available in Metrobility s Radiance products, which go the extra mile in delivering value to providers of metro access services. 2

3 Metropolitan networks come in all shapes and sizes and transfer data using a variety of different transports and protocols over a variety of physical connections. But they all need operations, administration and maintenance support features to ensure the maintainability and uptime required to support broadband access services. So, for service providers of all descriptions who are on the line to provide the metro access services that power today s costconscious businesses, that means being able to achieve end-toend simplification of the deployment and ongoing maintenance of the equipment. Nowhere is this more critical than in the all-important first mile between the customer and the public network, where the need for cost-effective, high-bandwidth, easy-to-provision solutions would seem to make high-speed Ethernet the obvious choice. what is the first mile? The first mile is known by many names: first mile, last mile, local loop, metro access and subscriber access network. But by whatever name it s called, it is the critical link between the business or residential end user and the public network. Today most users (or subscribers) connect to the network with DSL, ISDN, cable TV, T1/E1 or T3/E3 lines, using SONET/SDH, Frame Relay and ATM. Current first-mile solutions have significant shortcomings from the customer s perspective, ranging from performance bottlenecks, fixed bandwidth increments, limited scalability, lack of flexibility and provisioning complexity to quality of service issues and a high cost structure. Ethernet resolves the mismatch between current solutions and customer needs. Subscribers have networks capable of supporting tens of megabits of bandwidth, and the metro core supports gigabits of bandwidth. However, the links between the subscriber and the metro run at sub-megabit- or even just tens of kilobits-per-second rates. [Source: Bruce Tolley, Ethernet in the First Mile: Setting the Standard for Fast Broadband Access ] So why isn t Ethernet more widely deployed as a first-mile solution? With its origins as a LAN technology, where best effort delivery and 99.96% uptime were acceptable, Ethernet was never considered to be a candidate for achieving carrier-class status. Nor have the largest network providers been willing to forego all the sophisticated management and troubleshooting tools to which they ve become accustomed in SONET-based networks. The large carriers have been skeptical of Ethernet, continuing to view it as a LAN technology that lacks carrierclass operations, administration and maintenance capabilities which they require to be able to provide the same high-quality support end to end across the entire network. What do large carriers need to be convinced? Well, for a start, they want a high availability (99.999%) solution, with fast failover and restoration. Add to that a need for performance monitoring, fault detection/isolation, alarm notification, NEBS- 3 reliability certification and a clear, manageable demarcation point between the customer premise equipment and the carrier s point of presence. why all the fuss about first-mile connectivity? Money talks, and the opportunity in first-mile access is enormous. With so few bright spots in the telecommunications sector, much attention is now being focused on this source of revenue potential and growth. Market research firm In-Stat/MDR expects the number of subscribers to EFM to grow from 1.3 million in 2001 to over 36 million by CIR, a leading telecommunications industry analyst firm, expects the U.S. optical access market to top $3 billion in [Source: CIR s Access 2003: A Market and Technology Assessment of the Broadband First Mile Report] From a business perspective, carriers and subscribers both stand to gain from the deployment of Ethernet in the first mile (EFM). Users will get better, more cost-effective service with greater bandwidth, while network operators and carriers will gain new sources of revenue, lower their costs, increase margins and will be able to streamline their provisioning process, using less expensive, less complex technology and shortening deployment cycles. From a technology point of view, EFM offers increased bandwidth, incremental scaling, simpler provisioning, seamless LAN/WAN data transfers (end-to-end Ethernet over IP) without protocol conversion and a single, unified standard for copper and fiber topologies. 3

4 the longest mile from a customer perspective While it was once called the last mile, the IEEE is now calling it the first mile in acknowledgement of the importance of looking at it from the customer rather than the vendor perspective. For service providers and their customers, it often seems the longest mile. Why? Because it s the most important distance in terms of its greater impact on operating expenses and capital expenditures than all other network miles combined and yet there have, until recently, been no real initiatives to standardize OAM (operations, administration and maintenance) support required for Ethernet broadband access in this most-critical MAN mile. OAM features are critical to accelerating the adoption of Ethernet as the first-mile technology of choice, because without carrier-class operations, administration and maintenance support, it will be difficult to convince large carriers of the viability of Ethernet as a first-mile technology. in the beginning The EFM initiative began in November 2000 when the IEEE formed an Ethernet in the First Mile Study Group. In the third quarter of 2001, the IEEE Ethernet Working Group created the 802.3ah EFM Task Force to begin work on a standard describing support for subscriber access topologies, provide physical layer specifications for both fiber and copper connectivity and define operations, administration and maintenance support features. Although the original 2003 target date for ratification of the IEEE 802.3ah standard is not expected to be met, a great deal has already been accomplished and a new ratification target in mid-2004 has been set. IEEE 802.3ah Ethernet in the First Mile Proposed Standards The EFM standard will define: subscriber access topologies, physical layer specifications for both fiber and copper connectivity and common EFM OAM (operations, administration and maintenance) support. Physical layer (PHY) specifications and access topologies Physical layer specifications (PHYs) for both copper and fiber are part of the proposed EFM standard: 1000 BASE-X PHY over single-mode fiber, the EoVDSL PHY for single-pair copper, and the EPON PHY for optical fiber with 16:1 split ratio. Three access topologies are also being defined as part of the 802.3ah draft standard: Point to point copper over existing Cat3 copper at speeds of 10 Mbps and distances up to a 750-meter minimum (also referred to as Ethernet over VDSL or EFMC). Point-to-multipoint optical fiber over optical fiber at 1Gbps for up to 20-km distances is also known as P2MP Fiber, EFMP or EPON, Ethernet Passive Optical Network. Point to point fiber (also called P2P Fiber or EFMF) over single-mode fiber at speeds of 100 Mbps and 1000 Mbps over a distance of at least 10 kilometers. IEEE 802.3ah Access Topologies P2P Fiber 100Mbps - 1Gbps P2MP Fiber 1Gbps EoVDSL 10Mbps Point-to-point fiber Up to 100km Best long-term choice for new installations Point-to-multipoint fiber (passive optical network) 1Gbps and 20km Less costly than P2P, higher maintenance costs Ethernet over VDSL 10Mbps and 750m Least costly and complex Lacks capacity to scale in bandwidth and distance 4

5 Each of these topologies has certain advantages and disadvantages. Copper is ubiquitous, making point-to-point copper the least costly and complex technology to implement today, and it can coexist with current solutions, but lacks the capacity of fiber to scale in terms of both capacity and distance. It works well for both MTUs and MDUs (multi-tenant and multi-dwelling units). Point-to-multipoint fiber (more commonly referred to as EPON or P2MP) offers connections that are both higher speed than copper and less expensive than P2P fiber in the near term, because the amount of fiber required is minimized. But over the lifetime of the infrastructure, the higher cost of maintenance and troubleshooting associated with P2MP may offset its shortterm cost advantage. Point-to-point fiber (P2P Fiber) topology supports both higher speeds and greater distances than copper by using single-mode optical fiber. The Ethernet in the First Mile Alliance (EFMA) believes that for greenfield and overbuild applications, new office buildings with fiber inside and out, it may well be the best fiber choice. Offering a direct P2P connection between the customer premises and the CO or POP, products like Radiance that support this topology offer a viable alternative to existing T1/ T3 lines, which are both expensive and bandwidth constrained. The bandwidth demands of high-intensity commercial applications may also require the scalability of P2P, which will tend to have a longer lifecycle over which it can satisfy those demand. P2P fiber may also offer better future-proofing than other EFM topologies. [Sources: EFMA, Making Universal Broadband Access A Reality; IEEE web site; Bruce Tolley, EFM Setting the Standard for Fast Broadband Access ] will the promise of EFM OAM support lead to the MAN of your dreams? The promise of OAM support for the First Mile may well do more than anything else in the proposed standard to accelerate the adoption of Ethernet as the metro access option of choice since it addresses the costly operating expenses that a carrier needs to reduce. The challenges and requirements of OAM are to reduce the overall cost of ownership (both capex and opex), accelerate time-to-revenue and increase customer satisfaction in order to encourage network providers to adopt and deploy EFM. Operations support allows simplification of service deployment activities, while the administration features allow reduced cost of services. Maintenance (or management) allows the remote monitoring and troubleshooting of equipment and configurations through alarm detection and notification. Expenditure constraints, low cost of ownership demands and new standards are driving equipment decisions in the first mile. With the RA21, Metrobility has created a solution that makes Ethernet in the First Mile simple, manageable and affordable, providing a strong value proposition for service providers looking to roll out new Ethernet services to customers. Metrobility is well-positioned in the access space with its new line of EFM OAM Feature Ready products, which provide immediate benefit to service providers by enabling the easy implementation of new standards for operations, administration and management. Michael Kennedy, co-founder and president of Network Strategy Partners Radiance is a bright spot Over two years ago, Metrobility Optical Systems understood the need to provide the operations, administration and maintenance (OAM) support that is such an important piece of the new EFM draft. And because of that foresight, the P2P-focused Radiance product suite not only implements all the important OAM features called out in the emerging standard, but already offers capabilities that go well beyond the initial feature set being proposed and even offer provisioning capabilities. (See Table 1). Metrobility s strategy with its EFM OAM-ready products is to enable optical Ethernet to be a true wide area networking solution. First-mile broadband services represent a significant revenue opportunity for service providers looking to offer new services, making the metro access market one of the most interesting in the telecommunications sector. Metrobility is the only company already delivering comprehensive Ethernet in the First Mile OAM products that implement important features of the new standard. 5

6 Table 1 - Proposed 802.3ah Standards Receive Failure Indication (RFI) Metrobility 802.3ah Receive Path Failure (RPF) Yes; FEF Yes; RPF P2P Links Yes both ends Yes both ends Dying Gasp Remote loopback Line quality monitoring Yes; by threshold on voltage, temperature or optical power Yes managed end initiates and remote end loops Yes; but parameters not defined RMON group 1 Yes CMIP equivalent Optical Power Meter Yes No Errored Symbol Period Planned Yes Errored Frame Seconds Planned Yes Errored Frame Period Planned Yes Errored Frame Seconds Summary Planned Yes Equipment quality monitoring Temperature Yes No Voltage Yes No Bandwidth management Yes No Active end can initiate both active and passive can loop Radiance products provide the ability to reach across the metro area to communicate, test and reconfigure an unmanaged remote device, without reducing the available bandwidth to the customer site. Radiance technology supports the highest level of manageability including remote loopback testing, real-time Quality of Line statistics, Quality of Equipment Monitoring, Quality of Optical Amplitude Monitoring, and dynamic bandwidth provisioning. Remote loopback testing is a valuable remote troubleshooting tool that significantly reduces operation costs. Network operators can eliminate the need for many costly truck rolls, because they can troubleshoot a fiber link without going onsite. Up-to-the-minute Quality of Line (QoL) information is provided by the real-time data collected by the Radiance Access Line Card. QoL information on an Ethernet fiber link is collected in real-time to enable service providers to analyze customer needs and make dynamic adjustments to accommodate traffic. Quality of Equipment Monitoring (QoE) ensures high availability and is used for remote monitoring of power levels and temperature of Metrobility s equipment, so that potential problems can be detected and corrected proactively. Equipment health information such as optical receive power level measurement, optical transmit power level measurement, and Radiance voltage and temperature measurements is retrieved for OAM purposes. The Quality of Optical Amplitude Monitoring feature in Radiance line cards allows the remote measurement of the optical power on singlemode fiber links and supports remote monitoring of the quality of optical amplitude. This serves to decrease service time, reduce the number of onsite service calls and increasing uptime by discovering potential problems before they occur. This minimizes the requirement to visit a remote site and open the connection to insert a piece of test equipment. Disconnecting the optical link can introduce moisture, dust or other contaminants, or fracture a fiber connection and thereby introduce additional problems. Radiance s ability to continuously monitor the optical power level minimizes this problem. Dynamic bandwidth allocation with no disruption in traffic flow and remote bandwidth provisioning are additional key features that reach beyond the draft IEEE 802.3ah OAM proposal to bring OAM features to Radiance. Metrobility s management features even detect version numbers of Radiance hardware or software/firmware at remote equipment. This includes: part number, serial number, manufacture date, PIC revision and hardware revision. 6

7 Let Metrobility go the extra mile for you Metrobility has consistently been a leader in providing sophisticated connectivity, provisioning and troubleshooting tools that simultaneously fulfill the technology and ROI objectives of both service providers and their customers. With the EFM standard targeted for ratification in 2004, the operations, administration and maintenance features that Metrobility has been offering customers for the last two years will be standardized for general deployment by the vendor community. The Radiance product line will be fully compliant with the OAM features defined in the 802.3ah initiative as soon as possible after the standard is ratified and will still offer sophisticated OAM-type capabilities that are not yet addressed by the IEEE standard. We will continue to use our insight into customer and service provider needs to support additional advanced features to facilitate first-mile operations and maintenance and approach carrier-grade Ethernet services for subscriber access. Optical Ethernet is finally coming into its own as a solution that even a carrier can learn to love. Metrobility enables customers and service providers alike to enjoy the best of both worlds carrier-class services and troubleshooting capabilities at the lower cost, easier deployment and data-optimized transport of an Ethernet infrastructure. Our WAN-manageable Radiance products provide everything that the metro access provider has come to expect in the area of OAM and more! Dramatically Lowers Service Deployment Costs Virtually Infinite Scalability Eliminates Costly, Often-Unnecessary Onsite Troubleshooting Significantly Increases Availability Reduces Bandwidth Costs Supports Proactive, Non-Intrusive Management Faster Deployment Cycles Accelerated ROI Equation Committed to delivering competitive advantage, we continually seek to give our service provider customer the necessary tools to realize new revenue opportunities, deliver services more quickly, reduce the cost of service, do more with the existing technical staff and pass these savings along to their subscribers. This is a model from which everyone benefits. And although we re committed to supporting all EFM standards as they are finalized, we cannot sit back and wait for others in the vendor community to take the initiative. Our first responsibility remains to support our customers by extending our ongoing development of carriergrade operational, troubleshooting and provisioning features to create more efficient, more reliable and more manageable metropolitan network infrastructures. For additional information on utilizing optical Ethernet in the First Mile, please contact: Metrobility Optical Systems 25 Manchester Street Merrimack, NH Copyright 2003 Metrobility Optical Systems. All rights reserved 7

8 Metrobility The ability to bring carrier-class wide area networking capabilities - remote management, connectivity, access and concentration - to the metropolitan area network. 8