Gigabit Ethernet Aggregation Services

Transcription

1 Gigabit Ethernet Aggregation Services

2 Aggregation Services and Their Evolution to Gigabit Ethernet Aggregation Defined Aggregation services (also called backhauls) are ports and circuits that link the networks of Layer 2 service providers to the core, or backbone network, of a national carrier such as Global Capacity. Aggregation services provide connectivity for your traffic within regions, across the country, and internationally. Global Capacity partners rely on the Global Capacity national network to transport traffic from client sites to their points of presence (POPs). This is achieved by combining many access connections into a few high-bandwidth aggregation circuits that are easier to manage. Figure 1 - Gigabit Ethernet Handoff vs. DS3 and OC3 Handoff Gain Greater Capacity from Aggregation Circuits With increasing numbers of subscribers and new bandwidth-intensive services video conferencing, Web-based enterprise business applications, and VoIP, for example most Layer 2 providers have an urgent need for higher-bandwidth aggregation. These aggregation services would be advantageous for Global Capacity partners in any of the following scenarios: An established partner who is quickly outgrowing its existing ATM aggregation circuit capacity An established partner who is running out of capacity because of an increase in its customers bandwidth consumption A new partner who wants to provide access and value-added services within a local region An existing partner who wants to migrate from an ATM aggregation service to a next-generation Gigabit Ethernet technology A current Global Capacity partner already providing products and services in local markets who wants to consolidate multiple ATM aggregation circuits into fewer, higher-capacity circuits to add flexibility, reduce costs, and make network growth faster and easier

3 A partner migrating to an IP/Ethernet infrastructure who has a need for Network Node Interface (NNI) connectivity that supports Class of Service (CoS) and end-to-end Ethernet service delivery Ethernet Is the Future With scalability up to 40 Gbps per circuit, Ethernet is the clear answer to today s and tomorrow s aggregation challenges. Ethernet is optimal for IP traffic, the technology at the core of the Internet itself. Furthermore, manufacturers have standardized Gigabit Ethernet ports on most of their equipment. Lower Costs and Less Network Complexity With its vastly higher capacity, a single Gigabit Ethernet circuit delivers many times the bandwidth of several ATM circuits, enabling you to replace multiple circuits with a single aggregation service. This makes Gigabit Ethernet an option that is inherently easier to manage and more cost-effective (lower cost per Mb of data). These advantages come with the technology and bandwidth. Beyond this, all aggregation services are not created equal. Global Capacity Gigabit Ethernet brings you additional important benefits that should reduce your costs and allow you to respond more quickly to rapidly changing subscriber and business needs. Gigabit Ethernet Aggregation Services: Uniquely Simple, Flexible, and Cost Effective Zonal Coverage with One Connection Instead of having to purchase separate circuits for every Metropolitan Service Area (MSA) in which you operate as you may likely be doing now Global Capacity Gigabit Ethernet gives you the option of zonal connectivity through a single circuit, with no remote fees in these Global Capacity-defined zones. You can also connect inter-zonally through a single Gigabit Ethernet circuit without purchasing additional aggregation circuits (remote fees would apply where necessary). In other words, a handoff at any one of our carrier-neutral regional sites can link you to our entire core network. This yields significant savings, both in terms of your upfront expenses and also in ongoing operational costs. Mixed Services on One Circuit You can accommodate any kind of Layer 2 traffic DSL, T1, Bonded T1, Ethernet over DS1, Ethernet over Copper, and DS3 with just a single Global Capacity Gigabit Ethernet circuit. This eliminates the cost and complexity of buying and managing multiple circuits and ports, which would be necessary with aggregation services from any other carrier. Among Global Capacity s current access services, only Ethernet 2.0 / 3.0 is not supported for Gigabit Ethernet. Flexibility to Oversubscribe While many vendors configure and bill aggregation services strictly by maximum capacity, Global Capacity enables you to more closely align your costs with actual utilization. For example, a competing service lets you bundle a maximum of 100 T1s on a 155-Mbps circuit (OC3). But you cannot exceed this

4 aggregation limit, no matter how much, or how little, bandwidth each T1 is using at any given time. If you need to add even one more T1, you have to buy an additional line. In contrast, Global Capacity s network gives you the option of grooming your network. You have the flexibility to oversubscribe your service if you choose, then monitor traffic to see how close you are coming to maximum capacity. This gives you the ability to add services and subscribers without having to buy more aggregation bandwidth until you actually need it. Your Global Capacity sales engineer can help you evaluate different options and map out the best, most cost-effective design configuration for your current and future needs. Increase Your Agility and Responsiveness Upgrade or Downgrade Quickly, Easily, and Cost-Effectively Over time, as you expand your network with new users and bandwidth-heavy services, you will need greater aggregation capacity. Here again, Global Capacity Gigabit Ethernet provides you with unique options and advantages. 24-hour Upgrade vs. 60-day Installation With conventional aggregation services, increasing your capacity means purchasing more ports. This involves long installation cycles typically 60 days for an additional OC-3 circuit. By comparison, Global Capacity Gigabit Ethernet service can be upgraded quickly and easily. Upgrades are available in 100-Mbps increments. For example, you can achieve the bandwidth of two OC-3s by simply upgrading your 100-Mbps Gigabit Ethernet service to 300-Mbps capacity. The upgrade is simple and typically takes 24 hours, enabling you to respond almost instantly to service requests and changing customer needs. On top of this, you ll have fewer circuits to manage than with other carriers. As a result, your net monthly recurring charge (MRC) should be lower. Your Global Capacity representative will be happy to provide you with a detailed cost comparison of Global Capacity Gigabit Ethernet service vs. multiple DS3 or OC-3 circuits. Faster Upgrades Mean Shorter Time to Revenue Global Capacity Gigabit Ethernet service positions you for the future. It s easy, no-waiting scalability lets you bring new services to market and generate new income much sooner. Perhaps most important, you can respond to customer needs with speed and agility that competitors will not be able to match. This gives you the edge in customer satisfaction and loyalty. It can also make the difference between winning and losing time-critical new business opportunities. Save Money with a Fee Structure that Fits Your Business Model Most aggregation services are offered with flat-rate pricing only. This works well if you know exactly what your maximum usage will be. However, if your traffic patterns are variable, unpredictable, or have frequent spikes, you face a serious risk: flat-rate plans drop any traffic over the subscribed limit. This creates the very real possibility of traffic loss during times of peak usage or when you re adding new users and services.

5 The only way to mitigate traffic loss is to purchase a higher tier of aggregation capacity for example, an additional OC-3 port with a traditional circuit, or another 100 Mbps on an Ethernet circuit. Either way, to protect subscribers and support your SLAs, you must buy significantly more bandwidth than you may need. In effect, you re compelled to carry expensive traffic-loss insurance that balloons your MRC. Global Capacity Gigabit Ethernet service can mitigate this expense. We know every partner network is different, so rather than make you choose between excessive risk and unwarranted expense, we provide you with three pricing options: Table 1 - Global Capacity Gigabit Ethernet Service Billing Options Description Cost Effective Use Case Flat-Rate Capped You are billed for the circuit capacity of your choice, available in increments of 100 Mbps. As is customary with flat-rate billing, any traffic over the maximum is dropped. Your month-to-month traffic customer base is stable. and Burstable Usage-Based As with flat-rate, you select your bandwidth ceiling in 100-Mbps increments, but traffic spikes over the limit are not dropped. Global Capacity monitors your bandwidth usage, and if bursts exceed your base capacity, we bill you at a higher rate for that month based on the usage data we collect. With this plan, the fee depends entirely on how much aggregation bandwidth you use each month, based on average usage calculated from measurements taken at 5-minute intervals. Your customer base is growing every month. You expect this to continue, but at a monthly growth rate that s not ascertainable in advance. Your customer base is expanding, but you are not sure by precisely how much. You want to pay only for the bandwidth actually being used. Unmatched Flexibility As indicated in Table 1, if your network traffic is steady and predictable, then flat-rate billing is the most cost-effective. On the other hand, if usage varies a great deal, one of the other two pricing options is probably best. Whichever plan you choose, Global Capacity Gigabit Ethernet service brings your costs in line with actual usage, so you do not pay for more capacity than you need. For Global Capacity Gigabit Ethernet service pricing and complete plan details, please contact your Global Capacity representative. Redundancy Options for Failsafe Availability In today s world, a high-availability aggregation service is essential, and the best way to achieve this is with redundancy. Most vendors do not provide a redundancy option. Global Capacity offers you two.

6 With Global Capacity Gigabit Ethernet service, you can pick either a single circuit, or choose from two redundancy alternatives based on Link Aggregation (LAG), an industry-standard protocol. Either option gives you the peace of mind of 99.99% availability. LAG This setup provides two physical circuits with load-balancing options. In the event one circuit goes down, the other will automatically take over. LAG plus Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) In this extended version of LAG, one of the two circuits serves as the primary and the other as a failover. Should the primary fail, all connections are automatically ported over to the secondary circuit. LAG and LAG plus LACP are industry-standard redundancy schemes supported by most Ethernet equipment. They save you money over buying a second, standby circuit to keep in reserve in case of a port failure. Plus, they help to ensure against the traffic loss and service interruption you would otherwise experience during an outage while traffic is rerouted to a standby circuit. Global Capacity s redundancy options are available with the Global Capacity Burstable and Usage-Based billing plans, but not with the Flat-Rate Capped plan. For aggregation capacities of 500 Mbps or greater, LAG plus LACP is automatically included. There are a variety of ways to connect to Global Capacity Gigabit Ethernet services, depending on the physical relationship of your location to a Global Capacity Gigabit Ethernet Point of Presence (POP). General scenarios are illustrated in Figures 2 and 3. Your Global Capacity representative will work with you to select the best option for your needs. Figure 2 - Different Locations Connecting to Global Capacity Gigabit Ethernet Services

7 Figure 3 - Same Location Connecting to Global Capacity Gigabit Ethernet Services Using LAG+LACP MEF Standards-Based ENNI Tagging Options Global Capacity Gigabit Aggregation Ethernet services comply with the MEF-defined External Network Interface (ENNI) frame format and customer edge (CE-VLAN) preservation specifications. The ENNI frame is an Ethernet frame and is defined to consist of the first bit destination MAC address through the last bit of the frame check sequence. ENNI frames use service VLAN tags (S-Tags). An ENNI frame can have zero or more VLAN tags. When there is a single tag, that tag is an S-Tag. When there are two tags,

8 the outer tag is an S-Tag, and the next tag is a customer VLAN tag (C-Tag) as defined in IEEE std 802.1ad Global Capacity Gigabit Ethernet service gives you the flexibility to select between two tagging options. The two tagging options, as per MEF 26 and as described above, are single provider tag (S- Tag) and double provider tag (S-Tag and C-Tag). You can make this selection when ordering your Global Capacity Gigabit Ethernet service. In addition, having met the CE-VLAN preservation standards at the Gigabit Ethernet port allows Global Capacity to preserve the CE-VLAN ID and CE-VLAN CoS across our Ethernet over Copper services. This in turn allows Global Capacity to enable EPL (Ethernet Private Line) and EP-LAN (Ethernet Private LAN) services. This also enables Global Capacity s Gigabit Ethernet services to comply with the MEF-defined common set of Class of Service (CoS) as well as color-aware bandwidth profiles at the ENNI that can be used by you and your subscribers. Single Provider Tag Option With the single provider tag option, Global Capacity will terminate the upstream traffic to you on a single S-Tag. Global Capacity also expects you to send a single S-Tag in the downstream traffic. With the single tag option, Global Capacity supports the CE-VLAN transparency on Global Capacity s Ethernet over Copper access services that terminate on the Gigabit Ethernet port. Global Capacity preserves the end user s VLAN information contained in the CE-VLAN tag over our core network by preserving the CE-VLAN tag and passing it to you, along with the S-Tag, on the Gigabit Ethernet port. The single provider tag option will enable you to offer Transparent LAN Service (TLS) and create LAN service across geographically dispersed sites. Global Capacity does not support VLAN transparency on Global Capacity s ATM-based access services terminating on Global Capacity s Gigabit Ethernet at this time. Table 2 - Single Tagging Options Access Service Number of Provider Tags VLAN Transparency Tagging Support in Upstream Packet Handoff at Gigabit Ethernet Port nxt1/eods1/xdsl Single (S-Tag Only) No Untagged Only S-Tag (S-VID) Ethernet over Copper (EoC) Single(S-Tag Only) Yes Tagged (CE-VID) Untagged S-Tag (S-VID), CE-Tag (CE-VID) S-Tag(S-VID) Double Provider Tag Option With the double provider tag option, Global Capacity will terminate the upstream traffic to you on an S- Tag and C-Tag. Global Capacity also expects you to send the S-Tag and C-Tag in the downstream traffic. With the double tag option, Global Capacity does not support VLAN transparency. Global Capacity will

9 not preserve the end user s VLAN information with this option. You should purchase Gigabit Ethernet service with the single provider tag in order to offer Transparent VLAN service. Table 3 - Double Tagging Options. Access Service Number of Provider Tags VLAN Transparency Tagging Support in Upstream Packet Handoff at Gigabit Ethernet Port nxt1/eods1/xdsl Double No Untagged Only S-Tag (S-VID), C-Tag (C-VID) Ethernet over Copper (EoC) Double No Untagged Only S-Tag (S-VID), C-Tag (C-VID) Gigabit Ethernet: Right for Your Network, Customers, and Your Budget With the popularity of today s bandwidth-intensive services, and even newer ones on the horizon, the industry is moving to Gigabit Ethernet aggregation services because of their massive circuit capacity, enormous scalability, and ease of management. Beyond the benefits of Ethernet itself, there are key advantages to be gained by comparing the structure and pricing of various aggregation services. Once you do, you will see that Global Capacity Gigabit Ethernet service offers you flexibility, cost savings, and availability assurance you won t find with competing providers. For More Information To learn more about Gigabit Ethernet aggregation services, or other Global Capacity products, please contact your Global Capacity Account Manager or solutions@glogbalcapacity.com. For general information, please go to