WHOLESALE BROADBAND CONNECT

Transcription

1 WHOLESALE BROADBAND CONNECT WHOLESALE BROADBAND CONNECT ISSUE AUGUST 2008 THE FUTURE OF BROADBAND PRODUCT OUTLINE ISSUE AUGUST 2008

2 1. CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS 21CN BT's 21st Century Network is still developing. The information in this document may be subject to change. WHOLESALE BROADBAND CONNECT (WBC) The information in this document represents current BT thinking and is provided to help Communications Providers review their own broadband service upgrade and migration plans. Services described in this document are subject to change and nothing in this document forms part of any contract. Availability of certain service features, functionality and service levels may be subject to review. INVITATION Discussions to determine future Broadband products and migration arrangements, including those for WBC, continue in existing customer forums and as part of Consult21. Communications Providers are invited to take an active part in these consultations 4.1 LOAD SHARING 4.2 RESILIENCE 6.1 WBC ORDER FULLFILMENT 2

3 2. INTRODUCTION The future of broadband new national aggregation and transport services with Wholesale Broadband Connect This document describes the Wholesale Broadband Connect (WBC) product. Demand for broadband services has come a long way since the first mass market services were launched in Now in the UK, over half the adult population has access to broadband at home and nearly two-thirds of SMEs have broadband. Increasing interest in and use of multimedia and multi-play services requires ever-greater bandwidth with an increasing need for service stability and resilience. First generation fixed speed services have developed into second generation rate adaptive services, providing faster connections for end users and more flexibility and control for Communications Providers (CPs). DSL Max broadband services are now available nationally and offer an average downstream speed of 5.6Mbps, with half of lines achieving speeds greater than 6Mbps. The continued of Dynamic Line Management (DLM) technology will drive down faults and increase line stability. BT Wholesale s key focus now is to develop third generation broadband services that enable a simple transition to 21st Century Network (21CN) services and ways of working. CPs are actively helping BT determine both the shape of the programme, through involvement in Consult21, and the structure of new broadband products. BT s 21CN programme is underpinning a radical transformation of the way that BT develops and delivers service to our customers in the UK and overseas. The innate flexibility of an IP-based network will enable BT to offer customers significantly more control and more choice over the way they use broadband services and is expected to bring benefits to users even in remote regions of the UK. The aim is to meet diverse market needs: Resolve the urban/rural divide on service pricing and availability Evolve from budget broadband to multimedia broadband services Support fragmented or niche service provider models Address large-scale/small-scale CP economics 21CN will also make it easier for CPs to do business with BT. A new, streamlined: Operations Support System (OSS) is becoming the single CP interface for all ordering, tracking, and reporting activities for 21CN products. 3

4 2. INTRODUCTION Wholesale Broadband Connect (WBC) is the first new broadband product inspired by 21CN. Other 21CN products, such as Wholesale Broadband Managed Connect (WBMC) - an end-to-end product to replace existing IPstream products has been intorduced - and WBC Converged, that plans to provide the option of voice functionality, is in development to provide customers with a simple transition path to the benefits of 21CN working. WBC will offer many features that enable CPs to meet changing market needs: Higher bandwidths -using ADSL2+ technology Quality of Service (QoS) -flexible control of line speeds and traffic priorities Multimedia capability adaptability to new and converged services Network enablement - allows CPs to utilize their assets more effectively Customising the service wrap to introduce choice of levels of service eg. speedier repair Competitive pricing WBC is built on an Equivalence of Input (EoI) basis to allow competition at each level and to suit CPs who want to build new networks or utilise their existing commercial arrangements for delivery of service. The next section looks at WBC s component parts the End User Access (EUA), the Aggregation Point (AP) and the Extension Path (EP) - and the options and flexibility these provide for CPs. This is followed by an explanation of the new Quality of Service levels and associated procedures, and some notes on migration to WBC. A final section provides a roadmap to planned future developments. BT Wholesale has consulted with and briefed CPs at every stage of WBC s development and this process will continue. It is crucial that CPs plan now for the changes that 21CN working will bring. Please help us develop greater awareness of the services of the future by making this document available to your product and service managers and to your IT staff and others in your organisation responsible for ordering, regulatory and commercial broadband processes. 4

5 3. WHOLESALE BROADBAND CONNECT (WBC) Next generation broadband with higher line rates and new manageable quality of service levels WBC is BT Wholesale s 21CN-based response to demands for greater bandwidth, provided flexibly. WBC is being designed to provide a price competitive national broadband connectivity product with aggregation and transport services that will enable CPs to respond to increasing market demand for new, feature-rich multimedia and multi-play services. Flexibility is built in to WBC so CPs only pay for the elements they use. WBC is designed as an access product that allows CPs to connect consumer and business broadband customers to a national network. WBC enables CPs to make best use of their own networks and service platforms or to purchase third party network resources. WBC offers the features of existing broadband services and new benefits that include higher speeds, new QoS capabilities and greater CP control and flexibility: COMMERCIAL Standardised national coverage on a shared network Unbundled pricing to allow customers to leverage their own assets Flexibility of end user pricing and QoS pricing to allow customers to define their own cost/quality models for end users Choice of service support levels to enable customers to define their own cost/service models for end users SERVICE QoS-based architecture to optimise application performance and cost Line management (DLM) to extend coverage and stability, giving more control to CPs Roadmap to enable customers to plan ahead Standards-based approach to ease interoperability Options for managed video and multicasting services published Standard gateway across all BT 21CN services for transactions CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE High degree of service resilience Service Level Agreements (SLA) and Service Level Guarantees (SLG) based on published targets CP configurable line stability options Smart broadband diagnostic and repair tools WBC comprises three main elements an End User Access (EUA), an Aggregation Point (AP) and an Extension Path (EP); each EP will also require a Multi Service Interconnect Link (MSIL) to be ordered separately: END USER ACCESS (EUA) The connection between the end user and the AP. 5

6 3. WHOLESALE BROADBAND CONNECT (WBC) AGGREGATION POINT (AP) Where multiple EUA connections are delivered to a single CP at a WBC Interconnect Node. All EUAs are mapped to an AP. EXTENSION PATH (EP) A connection from an AP to the customer s nominated Multi Service Interconnect Link (MSIL) to take traffic back to the CP s network. TAKING WBC SERVICES Migrating to WBC services requires CPs to follow a common process: Order MSILs - it is strongly recommended to take traffic at all 20 WBC Interconnect Nodes to ensure no End User loss of connectivity Request APSet Order APs at each WBC Interconnect Node and map to APSet Map CP to an APSet at each WBC Interconnect Node via the Authorisation and Usage processes Order EPs, setting bandwidth and QoS Order EUAs, selecting Standard or Elevated MORE FLEXIBLE ROLES AND RELATIONSHIPS WBC offers CPs flexibility in using their own networks and platforms to compete in downstream markets. CPs may own APs themselves or they may buy WBC services from an aggregator CP. Through Consult 21, BTW has introduced the Reseller Model which would enable customers of an aggregator to access WBC ordering facilities directly. The decision on how best to participate in the broadband market will vary depending on the CP s own business model. CPs may own APs themselves or gain access to APs by agreement with a third party AP owner. In order to have a service that provides national coverage, CPs will need to ensure that they have some AP coverage (bandwidth) at each of the 20 WBC Interconnect Nodes, either by buying WBC or by buying a managed product (offered by an aggregator) or both. 6

7 3. WHOLESALE BROADBAND CONNECT (WBC) SERVICE OVERVIEW The WBC network between the AP and the Copper Multi Service Access Node (CMSAN) is shared between CPs and managed by BT Wholesale. Twenty WBC Interconnect Nodes where traffic can be aggregated are currently planned. End users traffic will be associated with a specific node and their traffic is collected at that node. In this way, WBC seamlessly and elegantly combines functionality and cost efficiencies in its network designs. WBC Interconnect Node Extension Path End User Access (EUA) Aggregation Point (AP) MSIL EU Aggregation Point (AP) WBC Service 7

8 3. WHOLESALE BROADBAND CONNECT (WBC) EQUIVALENCE OF INPUT (EOI) WBC will consume network components and services from Openreach (copper wire connections, engineering and other services) in the same way as any other operator. There are plans to accept additional inputs such as fibre in the future. The downstream EoI boundary is at the WBC Interconnect point (currently the MSIL) and will be used by all downstream customers to connect into WBC. EU CMSANS in any exchange Metros WBC Interconnect node NGN interconnect product (MSIL) WBC consumes LLU and backhaul Extension Path WBC Eol Point Diagram 2 EOL 8

9 3. WHOLESALE BROADBAND CONNECT (WBC) End user traffic is transferred to and from the CP s network through the EUA. This section looks at the EUA s main features and the issues that CPs will need to consider. High speed broadband traffic over the EUA will be supported at rate adaptive downstream rates using all ADSL technologies up to ADSL2+. Upstream rate adaptive traffic is uncapped with a 448Kbit/s option. Higher upstream services up to 2Mbit/s are also being investigated. WBC supports AAL5 encoding only, to enable use of packet discard for maximising upstream traffic flow under congestion. Use of PPPoA or PPPoEoA over the DSL link is sensed automatically and does not need to be configured. Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) Wires only provision means CPs are responsible for providing end users with microfilters for asymmetric products and for ensuring they use suitable and compliant CPE. EASY MIGRATION Transition to and from all current IPstream, Datastream and equivalent LLU products is supported, - see Migrations section. WHOLESALE RESELLING Wholesale Reselling can be achieved either by a Hierarchical control model or a Reseller control model. The Hierarchical control model is where each customer of a WBC Customer interacts with the WBC Customer directly for every order/fault. This imposes requirements in terms of systems and processes on both WBC Customer and their customer The Reseller control model is where each customer of a WBC Customer interacts with BT directly for every order/ fault. This allows: you, as a WBC Customer, to sell services based on WBC on to your Reseller Customers potentially without the need for you to take orders/faults from your Reseller Customers, and then pass them on as WBC orders/faults to BTW; and the Reseller Customer of a WBC Customer can use standard WBC order/fault processes directly The WBC Customer as the legal entity must own the MSIL, EP, and AP. 9

10 3. WHOLESALE BROADBAND CONNECT (WBC) MAINTAINING LINE STABILITY Line stability is crucial to service quality and to the end user experience and WBC provides CPs with more flexibility and more control. It is intended that CPs can increase or decrease line stability by sacrificing or gaining speed. With WBC, CPs can choose appropriate line stability profiles that are related to the different needs of end user applications. CPs can change Dynamic Line Management (DLM) profiles online as necessary to meet their end users changing requirements. BT Wholesale may define a minimum acceptable level of stability to minimise fault reporting. CPs may opt for Fast Mode/Interleaving on the line. EUAs are identified by service ID only, simplifying CP asset management. The following service quality options are planned to be offered: Interleaving Off Normal Stable Interleaving On Normal Stable Speed Sacrifice Super Stable Super Stable Diagram 3 - DLM Profiles At Launch 10

11 3. WHOLESALE BROADBAND CONNECT (WBC) SESSION START UP The CP is involved in all EU session start ups. The Service ID for the EUA is included in the PPP session start up messages. All session start up messages will be passed to the CP Radius for the CP who owns the EUA. WBC will not use any information supplied by the EU. i.e log in data such as The CP will then have control over: whether the session is accepted, whether the PPP is terminated by the CP (L2TP); or on the BRAS (PTA mode) If L2TP is selected, traffic is presented to the CP as PPP over L2TP over IP over Ethernet. The CP will select the tunnel end point and will assign the IP address. If PTA mode is selected, traffic is presented to the CP as IP over Ethernet. The CP can also choose whether the IP address is served by the BT Wholesale or by the CP. If BT Wholesale allocate the address, it is expected that the IP address would be selected from the pool of addresses supplied to BT Wholesale by the CP If the CP allocates the address it is expected that: CP returns the IP address to be used in the CP RADIUS response. CP can use any valid private or public address. Private addresses must be unique within the AP but do not need to be unique between APs Bandwidth between exchanges and the AP (at the WBC Interconnect Node) is shared and the AP is the means by which EUAs are aggregated and transferred to and from the CP s dedicated pipes and bandwidth. CPs plan how much network capacity they need and order sufficient bandwidth for each of the APs to ensure appropriate coverage and capacity for their planned end user services. TRAFFIC POLICING AT AGGREGATION POINTS The AP is a key control point for policing overall bandwidth and also plays a part in policing Quality of Service (QoS) options and priorities. BT Wholesale will monitor total bandwidth per CP at each AP and issue reports. QoS Real Time (available after launch) traffic is capped downstream at the AP. 11

12 3. WHOLESALE BROADBAND CONNECT (WBC) APSET BT Wholesale has introduced the concept of AP Sets to enable AP owners to manage their assets more easily. An AP Set is a logical grouping of APs across a number of different WBC Interconnect Nodes. An AP Set can span more than one WBC Interconnect Node, so one AP per Node can become part of the Set. This provides greater flexibility and resilience and helping to ensure business continuity in the event of network problems. A CP can own many APs at a WBC Interconnect Node. WBC Interconnect Nodes An APSet owner authorises which CPs can put EUAs on the APSet at each Node. A CP states which APSet they wish to use at each Node. This allows the CP to control the routing of all of their end user traffic at each Node. Example: APset 12 = Node1, supports CP1, CP3, CP17 Node2, supports CP1, CP3, CP17 Node4, supports CP1, CP AP1 AP4 AP7 AP9 AP13 AP2 AP5 AP10 AP3 AP6 AP11 AP8 AP12 AP14 Diagram 4 - AP sets APset 1 APset 12 APset 56 APset 3 12

13 3. WHOLESALE BROADBAND CONNECT (WBC) The rules for AP Sets can be summarised as: Every AP must be part of one and only one AP Set All APs in the AP set are owned by the same CP An AP Set may only have one AP in a Node but need not have APs in all Nodes A CP may own more than one AP at a Node NOVATIONS On a novation, the EUA routing will change to that of the gaining CP. EUA AUTHENTICATION AT APS When an end user logs on, WBC will not authenticate the EUA but will route PPP session attempts to the CP owning the AP for authentication. The EUA is identified to the CP Radius by the Service ID supplied to the CP as part of the EUA order. Authentication is a CP responsibility. WBC will route a session request from an EUA to the CP who owns the EUA. WBC will not check username or password submitted, but will pass these through. Specific Service Names (SSN) will not be used. WBC will not support Limited Service Selection (LSS) either, as authentication is completed via port mapping. LSS can be provided by CPs when the session is within their domain. 13

14 3. WHOLESALE BROADBAND CONNECT (WBC) FIVE STEPS TO AUTHENTICATION EUA identified by Service ID ; BRAS sends Service ID to platform RADIUS WBC Platform RADIUS determines the APSet from the CP who owns the EUA. 1 2 EUA CP A EUAs EUA CP B EUAs EUA CP C EUAs EUA CP A EUAs AP set A AP set B AP set A AP1 AP2 AP3 WBC Platform RADIUS sends Service ID to CP RADIUS CP RADIUS authenticates and requests PTA mode / L2TP from Platform RADIUS Platform RADIUS instructs BRAS which APSet to use and PTA mode/l2tp CP X Radius CP A Radius 3 EUA CP B EUAs EUA CP C EUAs EUA CP A EUAs AP set B AP set A AP4 AP3 CP B Radius CP C Radius EUA CP B EUAs EUA CP C EUAs Diagram 5- Authentication 14

15 3. WHOLESALE BROADBAND CONNECT (WBC) REDUCING COMPLEXITY APs are designed to help simplify ordering and management of EUAs as CPs do not need to be aware of the underlying network. BT has published the current mappings between exchanges and the WBC Interconnect Node. However there are no static guaranteed mappings: On rare occasions, EUAs may be moved between WBC Interconnect Nodes to optimise use of capacity CP traffic should be static once provided. BT Wholesale intends to provide 90 days notice of changes BT Wholesale intends to provide 14 days notice for planned moves but emergency cases may require shorter notice to protect the end user experience MOVING ASSETS AND MAPPING CHANGES On the rare occasion when an EUA is moved between WBC Interconnect Nodes, there will be virtually no outage if the CP uses the same APSet in two nodes. There will be an outage of around 15mins if the CP uses a different APSet in the two nodes. Propagation of changed EUA to APSet mapping takes 15 minutes to reach all RADIUS servers Where the node stays the same, changing the RADIUS configuration will not change the routing of existing sessions TRAFFIC TURNAROUND Except for diagnostic purposes, the network equipment supporting the AP is configured to ensure that all traffic sent from an EU is sent on to the CP rather than being turned around within the AP or at any other point in the WBC network. The EP component links the AP to a Multi Service Interconnect Link (MSIL) within the same WBC Interconnect Node to join traffic to the CPs network. CPs specify required EP bandwidth to the AP to cover total traffic, including contracted QoS traffic. Each EP is implemented as a single Ethernet VLAN. APs may only connect to MSILs at the same WBC Interconnect Node An AP may be connected to a maximum of 8 EPs CPs can only connect APs to the MSILs they own The total EP bandwidth on an MSIL cannot exceed the bandwidth of that MSIL The VLAN ID for the EP is returned to the CP as part of the order updates. TRAFFIC POLICING AT THE EP Each EP is capped downstream at the MSIL end and upstream at the AP end to conform to EP bandwidth. Capping and traffic discard are independent of QoS marking, please see QoS section. 15

16 4. TRAFFIC ROUTING TO A CP This section covers a number of inter-related areas which are vital to a CP s understanding of the product. 4.1 LOAD SHARING Downstream, loadsharing is expected to be under the control of the CP For L2TP it is expected that: CP selects the tunnel endpoint for the session The CP controls which EP(s) can be used to access the tunnel endpoint and this sets the options for routing out of the WBC network APs support up to 8 EPs and CPs control which tunnel endpoints are visible through which EPs via ebgp This means that a CP is expected to control session loadsharing for upstream traffic by choice of tunnel endpoint for each EUA session. This is planned to be achieved by operating a high ratio of tunnel endpoints to EUAs, and by the CPs approach to allocating tunnel endpoints to session attempts For PTA mode: At launch it is expected that all upstream PTA traffic from an AP will be routed via a single EP ie. no upstream loadsharing option. BT Wholesale is looking to support loadsharing for PTA as a future enhancement 4.2 RESILIENCE For L2TP it is expected that: If a CP has advertised a tunnel endpoint via more than one of the EPs from an AP, this will give layer 3 protection if an EP fails For PTA mode it is expected that: PTA is limited to a single EP initially Initially the EP will be on an unprotected MSIL. WBC has requested the provision of loadsharing LAG, though it is expected that the protection will be across a subset of the edge Ethernet switch only. Longer term, it is expected that multiple EPs will be supported for PTA and then it will be possible to use layer 3 protection as for L2TP. 16

17 5. QUALITY OF SERVICE (QOS) Make more cost effective use of your bandwidth budget and ensure end user levels of service for new and leading edge applications. The introduction of classes of Quality of Service (QoS) is a key benefit of WBC, and allows CPs to offer service level agreements to different groups of end users using a wide range of time-critical and data intensive applications. WBC enables QoS prioritisation to optimise shared backhaul from the Broadband Remote Access Server (BRAS) to manage congestion at both the level of the individual EUA and the set of EUAs on the shared backhaul. In WBC, only downstream QoS is planned to be provided and three classes of service are supported. WBC will not support End User Speed Control but does support One-Way QoS services via an ADQ platform. Please see Annex 1 for ADQ information. Bandwidth pools Real Time } Priority access to Backhaul for guaranteed bandwidth & low jitter Maximum bandwidth set to protect other classes Not available at launch Backhaul shaped to specified bandwidth Assured } Guaranteed access to Backhaul Administrative maximum set for ADQ CAC process Best Efforts } Guaranteed minimum bandwidth, width access to unused Real Time & ADQ allocations Arbitrary mix of Priority, Normal and Sub traffic, depending on EU traffic patterns Diagram 6 - BRAS Backhaul Capacity 17

18 5. QUALITY OF SERVICE (QOS) BEST EFFORTS Best Efforts is the basic level of QoS offered by WBC and is suitable for many interactive real-time applications. Best Efforts offers: A high assurance of achieving specified throughput, supported by capacity planning to maintain bandwidth utilisation within specified levels CPs can choose to pre-configure lines on order as either Standard or Elevated, which is weighted preferentially so gives a higher throughput when the backhaul is contended. Both Standard and Elevated permit three types of end user packet marking Priority, Normal and Sub these are expected to give preferential weighting within an EUA s traffic. This new feature enables CPs to sell extra flexibility to end users, marking enables prioritisation within an EUA s downstream traffic and allows CPs and end users to prioritise certain applications at the expense of others within the available bandwidth. CPs will be expected to mark traffic within their domain to match the requirement and for providing a utility that specifies the applications and users to update the marking within the CP domain. Normal, Priority and Sub marking are the responsibility of the CP and have no influence on the bandwidth a particular EUA can obtain at times of backhaul capacity contention. 18

19 5. QUALITY OF SERVICE (QOS) ASSURED The Assured level of QoS offered by WBC is suitable for entertainment and corporate applications. Assured is configured on an EUA when required. Key features: Call access control is used to provide assured bandwidth for sessions to the EU via an Application- Driven Quality of service (ADQ) platform The key performance metric is the Call Admission Control (CAC) blocking rate which measures the number of successful session set-up attempts Per-CVLAN policing prevents CPs sending more than the contracted bandwidth, this will include burst-size policing REAL TIME (AVAILABLE POST LAUNCH) Real Time offers the highest level of QoS and is principally suitable for stringent VoIP, videoconferencing, gaming and time-sensitive data applications. Real Time provides very high assurance of low packet loss, delay and jitter. The values currently planned for an EUA are 0, 220, 350 and 700Kbit/s to offer a reasonable fit with the likely combinations of applications and codecs. These values represent IP rates, based on the assumption of 1500 byte packet sizes. The associated ATM rates in the DSL link are 0, 248, 395 and 791Kbit/s. UPSTREAM QOS Upstream QoS is not planned for WBC and is considered unnecessary for managing backhaul capacity contention given the down/upstream DSL bandwidth ratios and the intended planning rules. CPs may choose to deploy upstream QoS at EUA level, by applying QoS mechanisms on the CPE router independently of WBC. In this case, if the end user applies upstream QoS markings, they will be carried transparently but will have no effect on upstream behaviour within the WBC network. 19

20 5. QUALITY OF SERVICE (QOS) 5.2 DEPLOYING WBC QOS SOLUTIONS To gain the benefits of WBC QoS options, CPs must undertake two activities: Packet marking of traffic using DPI technology where more than one class is required Class-aware policing of traffic arriving at APs. CPs planning to offer upstream QoS will be likely to use the same markings as for downstream. PACKET MARKING OF TRAFFIC BY THE CP CPs who require QoS service must mark each packet to indicate the desired class of service. WBC plans to support a range of options that each involve different packet encapsulations and CPs must use specific fields to mark packets in each case. CP traffic enters the WBC network either as native IP or as L2TP. In each case the DSCP field within an IP header is used to indicate the intended QoS class; for L2TP Handoff, the outer IP header should be marked. If a CP sends traffic to an EUA marked for a class that is not matched by the EUA s profile the traffic will be dropped. Where an EUA uses only the default class, packet marking will not be inspected by the WBC network, so specific marking action by the CP is not required. CPs may wish to deploy applications on EU routers that apply DSCP markings in the upstream direction. WBC does not preclude this, and the DSCP marking is preserved as traffic passes upstream through the BRAS, but it is not copied across into the associated L2TP IP header. 20

21 5. QUALITY OF SERVICE (QOS) POLICING/METERING OF ARRIVING CP TRAFFIC AT AP On arrival at the AP, traffic is classified and metered and may be policed. For each AP, Best Effort, Assured and Real Time bandwidth can be contracted for. Traffic above contracted levels is handled as follows: Real Time - will be policed to the contracted level Excess traffic will be dropped. Assured - traffic above the contracted level will passed. Best Effort - traffic above the contracted level will be passed. There is no differentiation between the three Best Effort queues Priority, Normal and Sub The total AP traffic will be metered 21

22 5. QUALITY OF SERVICE (QOS) BT Wholesale is developing formal service descriptions for use in Service Level Agreements (SLA) and is decoupling products to enable CPs to opt for higher levels of service. We plan to reflect the particular needs of each QoS class as follows: REAL TIME Proposed target of less than 0.1% packet-loss for a peak period of time Real Time traffic is subject to recommended usage restriction as large bursts could impact lower classes of traffic, Real Time is not appropriate for adaptive services ASSURED Intended session blocking ratio of 1% during the busy period Throughput in Kbit/s intended to match negotiated rate Assured traffic is also subject to a maximum permitted burst size BEST EFFORTS Best Efforts Standard planned throughput above 2Mbit/s for 90% of the time during the busiest three hours in the week Best Efforts Elevated planned throughput above 3Mbit/s for 90% of the time during the busiest three hours in the week Within Best Efforts, Priority, Normal and Sub components are weighted, giving Priority a high share of the available Best Efforts bandwidth by using an 8:1 weighting. All can still use up to 100% of any spare bandwidth. Latency, jitter and packet-loss for Priority may be reduced by ensuring that total Priority traffic is significantly less than the available Best Efforts bandwidth within an EUA 22

23 6. CUSTOMER INTERFACES Faster, simpler ordering and fault reporting with a single, integrated support system designed for the 21st century The new customer interface is designed to provide and support a simple and straightforward customer journey. WBC is a 21CN product and the first broadband product to benefit from the new Strategic Stack OSS (Operations Support System) which will support all 21CN products. Customers will experience the same look, feel and interface for all BTW 21CN products. The new OSS provides: A single interface with easy access to: Product availability information Simple and complete order and problem report entry via a Web Portal and B2B gateway Online diagnostic tools to support problem report diagnosis Regular and automated order progress and problem report updates An improved experience for CPs, with more frequent updates on orders and trouble tickets using a concise set of Keeping Customers Informed (KCI) reports KCI reports returned over the same channel CPs use for input (Web Portal or B2B gateway) and also via the familiar Broadband Customer Reporting (BBCR) tool A consistent experience and interface for multiple BT products A simpler interface, consolidating today s assortment of ordering, faulting and reporting interfaces into a consistent set Updated interfaces enabling use of more up-todate technologies such as later versions of Siebel, browser- based clients or the new B2B gateway Cancel/ Amend options up to a Point of No Return 23

24 6. CUSTOMER INTERFACES Easy Access to product Information & Account Management Simple On-line Product options / pricing information & diagnostics On-line Product ordering / problem reporting for whole WBC product Range Regular Simplified KCI s and responses On-line order / problem report update to PONR Complete & Auto Bill as required (Paperless Bills) Enquiry, Register, Support Product Options/ Pricing Diag Raise Order / Report Problem Progress Modify or Cancel Complete Bill Option 1 B2B / XML Option 2 Web Portal (offers 3 clicks to a price - 4 clicks to availability) Diagram 8 - WBC: The Simple Journey 24

25 6. CUSTOMER INTERFACES Customers can place orders for WBC components in two ways: Via a Web Portal accessible from BTwholesale.com using EcoPlus. Via a B2B gateway using transactional XML The Web Portal interface is compliant with the Internet Explorer 6.0 browser and is based on the familiar shopping basket concept. Customers are guided through the ordering process, undertaking all the necessary checks and gaining feedback at each stage. The completed order is submitted at the end of the process. The Web Portal is intended for the input of low volumes of orders, but can also be used to input important orders in the unlikely event that the B2B gateway is unavailable. The new B2B gateway will consolidate existing provision and assurance XML interfaces, providing a simpler interface. The XML interface is transactional and provides updates. KCI feedback for orders placed via the Web Portal can be accessed by re-entering the Portal and checking on order progress. If the B2B gateway is used, KCIs are returned over the gateway. Alternatively, BBCR can be used in both cases. ORDER TYPES SUPPORTED Provision Cease Amend/Modify CP migrations Product family migration (see Migrations section below) Simultaneous Provides and Home Movers. 25

26 6. CUSTOMER INTERFACES EU Contacts a CP by phone, or Web to buy broadband KCI The CP manages the customer enquiry to identify the best WBC option for the EU Regular KCI Messages returned to the CP so they can keep their customers informed The CP inputs a request to BTW for action (provide or modify) via the Web Portal or the B2B/XML KCI BTW receives and validates the fulfillment order to deliver the WBC product solution Diagram 9 - WBC: EUA Provision Customers can carry out diagnostic tests, undertake structured question completion (Intelligent Fault Reporting) and raise trouble tickets for WBC components in two ways: Via a Web Portal accessible from btwholesale.com using EcoPlus. The CP uses BTW Diagnostics and Intelligent Fault Reporting to help identify the problem Via a B2B gateway using transactional XML The WBC problem reporting system uses the same Web Portal and B2B gateway as the fulfilment options, so, once an interface has been built for the fulfilment options, it can be reused based on the assurance definitions to enter problem reports. KCI feedback for problem reports placed via the Web Portal can be accessed by re-entering the Portal and checking on repair progress. If the B2B gateway is used, KCIs are returned over the gateway. Alternatively, BBCR can be used in both cases. EU Contacts a CP by phone, or Web to report a problem with broadband The CP manages the customer enquiry to identify their problem The CP uses BTW Diagnostics and intelligent Fault Reporting to help identify the problem If BTW problem the CP inputs request for BTW action via the Web Portal or the B2B BTW receives and validates and resolves the WBC problem KCI Diagram 10 - WBC: Problem Reporting KCI 26

27 6. CUSTOMER INTERFACES The EcoPlus system used for both the Web Portal and B2B gateway generates automatic Keep Customer Informed (KCI) updates. Responses are also generated specifically to confirm transfer when the B2B gateway is used. B2B RESPONSES OVERVIEW (FULFILMENT AND ASSURANCE) Pending a WBC order or problem report has been received and all contained information is valid but not qualified WBC Order Req Validate Order Rejected a WBC order or problem report has been received, but an input line failed validation or failed qualification Rejected Failed Validated Pending Qualified Qualification Acknowledged Committed Progress Order Line Determine Capacity Routing Completed Activate and Bill Diagram 11 - KCI Flow 27

28 6. CUSTOMER INTERFACES KCI OVERVIEW - FULFILMENT KCIs indicate key milestones during the progression of a WBC order. The following KCIs are supported: Acknowledged - an order line is being progressed Committed - a CPD has been calculated Completed - an order line has been fulfilled PLANNED INTERFACE RESILIENCY AND KEY DATA - FULFILMENT The Rejected response contains CP Order Reference and error details The Pending response contains CP Order Reference and Order ID Each KCI contains all data sent in previous KCIs for a WBC order All KCIs contains Order ID, Order Line ID, CP Order Reference and CP Order Line Reference to identify order and order line The Acknowledged KCI will also contains Service ID and Customer Delivery Date (CDD) The Committed KCI contains Customer Promised Date (CPD) The Completed KCI contains Service Completion Date (SCD) WBC specific data will be included in KCIs as required. KCI OVERVIEW ASSURANCE KCIs indicate key milestones during the progression of a WBC problem report and also indicate if further customer action is required. The following KCIs are supported: Repair in Progress Clear CP Action Request Engineer Dispatched Auto Closure Imminent Closed 28

29 6. CUSTOMER INTERFACES 6.4 BROADBAND CUSTOMER REPORTING (BBCR) REPORTS EUA order reports will be available from BBCR to interrogate or download via a new WBC dashboard or as Flat Report files. ORDER REPORTS Reports available will include: WBC EU Summary Report WBC EU Cancelled Summary Report WBC EU Order Delay Summary Report A new WBC CP Migration Report A new WBC Product Family Migration Report WBC Order Search Report WBC Customisable Order Report Rejected and Cancelled WBC CRF Order Report Rescheduled WBC Order Report ASSURANCE REPORTS Reports available will include: WBC EU Fault Summary Report WBC EU Fault Date Search Report WBC EU Fault Delta Report WBC Fault History Search Report WBC Fault Reason Summary Report WBC Fault Search by Criteria Report EMU (emergency maintenance undertaking) MSO (major service outages) PEW (planned engineering works) More information about these reports and the BBCR reporting tool can be found in the BBCR userguide at The B2B messaging interface is based on OASIS ebxml messaging 2.0 and is certified as ebusiness ready. You can find more information on ebxml v2.0 and ebusiness ready certification at /committees/ ebxml-msg/documents/ebms_v2_0.pdf and w w w. d r u m m o n d g r o u p. c o m / h t m l - v 2 / e b X M L - companies.html ebxml messaging is used so orders and faults are exchanged as attachments to a SOAP message sent over http. SOAP is a web service technology that defines an XML standard for a web service API. 29

30 6. CUSTOMER INTERFACES WBC B2B XML DEFINITIONS WBC XML definition files will be supplied via the BT Wholesale WBC Product Line and will be stored at WBC bills will be produced monthly and billing information will be available in the following formats: ebilling through EcoPlus (file download), B2B gateway and Web Portal CD CSV RTF Paper billing will not be supported. WBC bills show charges incurred for WBC components. To underpin WBC high performance, BT Wholesale will offer Service Level Agreements (SLA) and, where applicable, Service Level Guarantees (SLG). END USER ACCESS - SERVICE LEVELS Definitive service levels are contained in the final WBC SLA Handbook published on An SLA and SLG of 5 working days for Provision type orders Maintenance Classes service level options providing an SLA and SLG of 40 hours and 20 hours respectively A 5 hour repair option is also being investigated (post launch) AP & EP - SERVICE LEVELS Definitive service levels are contained in the WBC SLA Handbook published on BTWholesale.com. Providing a repair SLA & SLG of 5 hours 30

31 7. MIGRATIONS Ease the transition to tomorrow s broadband with new streamlined processes that maintain service continuity BT Wholesale is supporting singleton and bulk end user migrations to/from WBC as follows: IPstream asymmetric products Datastream asymmetric products LLU lines with a WLR line in place For moves to WBC ADSL2+ there is no line check to indicate whether it will operate at a higher line speed than ADSL. This functionality is currently under development. This is the CP s responsibility and should be checked prior to requesting migration. All per EUA migrations will enable concurrent changes of: Line rates using all ADSL technologies up to ADSL2+ CP (a MAC code is required per EUA) QoS settings All other parameters as supported on a provide Service IDs a new service ID is allocated for the new service Minimum terms - minimum terms will not be carried over from the old product and new products will have a new minimum term There are 2 migration processes a multiple single process which has a 5 day lead time and a bulk migration process which requires a forecast from the WBC Customer and has a 12 day lead time. The benefits of the bulk migration are no charges apply, more migrations per night and that the migrations can be completed at a least busiest period 31

32 8. ROADMAP BTW see the below as key functionalities that CPs want. BTW will be seeking input from CPs as how these key functionalities can be maximised to their full potential. Real Time, Priority and Sub Best Efforts QoS Dedicated Downstream QoS (DDQ) Annex M Multi Casting and Content Distribution WBC is still maturing as a product with future developments, also further features may be added at a future date including: Very high speed DSL (VDSL) 1 day provide Total care (5 hour) service cover Bonded pairs FIBRE TO THE PREMISES (FTTP) In Ebbsfleet a Pilot of the FTTP service will be commencing on the 31st August BTW will keep you informed of its progress via the Consult 21 channel of communication. 32

33 9. GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS & ABBREVIATIONS AAL5 ATM Adaptation Layer 5 ADQ Application-Driven Quality of service ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line ADSL2+ Advanced ADSL line AP Aggregation Point ATM Asynchronous Transfer Mode BBCR Broadband Customer Reporting BE Best Effort (QoS) BEA Broadband Edge Aggregator BRAS Broadband Remote Access Server B2B Business-to-Business CAC Call Admission Control CDD Customer Delivery Date CMSAN Copper Multi Service Access Node CP Communications Provider CPD Customer Promised Date CPE Customer Premises Equipment CRD Customer Required by Date CSV Comma Separated Variables CVLAN Customer Virtual LAN DN Directory Number DPI Deep Packet Inspection DSCP ebgp DSL EMU EoI EP EU EUA FTTP IA ID IP LAC LAG LLD LSS LTS L2TP MSAN MSIL MSO NGN OASIS Differentiated Services Code Point Border Gateway Protocol Digital Subscriber Line Emergency Maintenance Undertaken Equivalence of Input Extension Path End User End User Access Fibre To The Premises Intermediate Agent Identity Internet Protocol L2TP Access Concentrator Link Aggregation protocol Low Level Design Limited Service Selection L2TP Tunnel Switch Layer 2 Tunnelling Protocol Multi Service Access Node Multi Service Interconnect Link Major Service Outage Next Generation Network (IP-based) Open Architecture Strategic Information System OSS PEW PONR PPP PSTN PTA QoS RADIUS RAMBo RTF SCD SDSL SLA SLG SNMP SOAP SSN SVLAN TACACS+ Operations Support System Planned Engineering Works Point Of No Return Point-to-Point Protocol (oa - over ATM; oe - over Ethernet) Public Switched Telephone Network PPP Termination and Aggregation Quality of Service Remote Dial-In User Service Rate Adaptive Management Box Rich Text Format Service Completion Date Symmetric DSL Service Level Agreement Service Level Guarantee Simple Network Management Protocol Simple Object Access Protocol Service Specific Names Shared Virtual Local Area Network Terminal Access Controller Access-Control System 33

34 9. GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS & ABBREVIATIONS VC VDSL VLAN VoIP VP WBC XML 20CN 21CN Virtual Circuit Very high speed DSL Virtual LAN Voice over IP Virtual Path Wholesale Broadband Connect (product name) Transactional Mark-up Language 20th Century Network (pre-ngn) 21st Century Network (NGN) 34

35 ANNEX 1 APPLICATION-DRIVEN QUALITY OF SERVICE (ADQ) PLATFORM WBC provides Assured Rate QoS sessions using the same ADQ platform that supports IPstream Advanced Services. End User Speed Control is not supported by WBC but One- Way QoS can offer the Assured traffic class and related support to CPs and their customers. For all end users, the service they receive when connecting to WBC will be communicated to and applied by the BRAS. When ADQ receives the RADIUS accounting start, it will compare the currently active profile with the default profile and, if necessary, will apply its own version of the default profile. This means ADQ effectively overrides a RADIUS decision for the default profile applied to an end user session. Profile information must be kept in step. Once the Advanced Services end user session is established, ADQ is responsible for making all service changes to the active session. ADQ does not collect statistics for packets dropped on Assured queues when a one-way QoS session is set up or turned off. The information can be obtained from the BRAS using SNMP or Telnet if required. The same solution will be used for both terminated (PTA) and tunnelled (L2TP) sessions. TACACS+ will not be required. STARTING SESSIONS In order to alert the ADQ platform that a new end user session has started, RADIUS accounting request messages generated by the BRAS will be forwarded to the ADQ platform by the WBC platform RADIUS. The following accounting request messages are forwarded to the ADQ platform: acct-start acct-interim acct-stop acct-on acct-off ADQ will use the information contained in the accounting request message attributes to compile information necessary to manage that end user session. If ADQ does not receive an acct-start message for a given end user, it will treat the next interim accounting message received as the accounting start message. 35

36 CONTACT US For more information please contact your BT Wholesale Account Manager or call us on Freefone or if calling from outside the UK. The telecommunications services described in this publication are subject to availability and may be modified from time to time. Services and equipment are provided subject to British Telecommunications plc s respective standard conditions of contract. Nothing in this publication forms part of any contract. British Telecommunications plc Registered office: 81 Newgate Street, London, England EC1A 7AJ Registered in England No: Produced by BT Wholesale 36