Network Integration: A Service Provider Perspective Market Watch, OFC 2015 Los Angeles, CA March 2015 Patrick Blesso Network Engineering Manager
GlobeNet: Traditional Submarine Cable Operator, A Carriers Carrier [Add subtitle here] International wholesale provider of data services. Operates in 5 countries: Bermuda (St Davids) Brazil (Rio de Janeiro, Fortaleza) Colombia (Barranquilla) Venezuela (Maiquetia) USA (Boca Raton, FL & Tuckerton, NJ). Own subsea network infrastructure (CLS and backhauls) and extends to ipops in Bogotá, Cúcuta, Caracas, São Paulo, New York and Miami. 2
Wholesale Carriers Challenges State of the Market Proposed Solutions / Trends Tremendous price pressures, leading to commoditization of services. Still very high demand for bandwidth driven by live content, video, OTT players. Consolidations (Mergers and acquisitions) New Entrances in the markets: Content providers Large local carriers Traditional Metro providers Limited Network Capillarity issues affecting distribution and TTM. Diversification of products portfolios: IP transit and IP related services Content management (CDN etc.) Video transport services Financial networks services Tremendous time and resources spent in researching new sources of revenue. Cost Leadership Telecom & IT Services convergence (Datacenters) Costly acquisitions or Partnerships with local Carriers. 3
Wholesale Carriers Challenges Complexity of dealing with several layers, several services, several vendors per technology. Multiple Management Systems: - Existing umbrella systems are very costly, difficult to implement, and often ineffective. Complex provisioning process affects time to market. 4
Wholesale Carriers Challenges Difficult Network Inventory - Several layers / technologies / vendors - Mergers, acquisitions often exacerbate the problem Complex NNI Management Ineffective Bandwidth Management Multiple High Operational and Technical Skills Needed 5
Network (Layers) Integration has always been seen as a Solution to lower network operating costs.
Early Attempts at Integration Single Vendor Solution Single Equipment Solution One stop shop for all technologies. Equipment Manufacturers have expanded their product portfolio and offering often beyond their core capabilities. Single management system for all solutions. Ease of management, fault detection. Jack of all trades box. Equipment Manufacturers/Providers have attempted to solve the problem by providing an all encompassing Network node. Transport Routers or Switching/routing DWDM, ADMs. Speed of provisioning / service deliver. One Stop shop 7
Early Attempts at Integration Single Vendor Solution Single Equipment Solution Not the best of breed in all technologies. Not always cost effective overall. Vendor dependence ( Lock in ). Does not alleviate operational complexities. (No automation). Not full featured. No choice in features Not full featured. Does not alleviate operational complexity. No clear demarcation of responsibilities. Often not cost effective. Not the best of breed. Jack of all trades box. Vendor dependence ( Lock in ).. 8
Could SDN Provide a Solution and Add value? Decoupling Control Plane & Forwarding Plane Note: (1) A simplified view of SDN architecture (2) Source: IEEE paper, Software-Defined Networking: A Comprehensive Survey 9
Could SDN Provide a Solution / Add value? Addressing Operational Issues Through centralized view SDN can simplify network monitoring, management. - Provide Data, Analytics for automation. - Increased service performance and availability. - Reduced provisioning time - Programmable Network Interfaces (solution for vendor specific CLI/syntax?) Simplified device configuration. 10
Could SDN Provide a Solution / Add value? Addressing Operational Issues Offers Bandwidth Optimization Tools (Successful use cases) Optimized Network Inventory Could Reduce the Complexity of NNI Management, Providing View of Partner Network Resources 11
Could SDN Provide a Solution / Add value? Addressing Business Issues Lowers OpEx through Reduced Operational Procedures, with a Unified Multi-layer Control Plane Reduces the need for Multiple High-skilled Personnel per specific Vendor Technology / CLI More Dynamic and Faster Provisioning ᅳ Reduced TTM = Increased Revenue 12
Could SDN Provide a Solution / Add value? Addressing Business Issues Increases Efficiency in CapEx New Product Opportunities New Revenue Streams - Network virtualization (Network as a Service) for SP & enterprise customers. - Bandwidth on Demand - Take advantage of IT and Telecom convergence - Potential entry point / synergy with datacenter business. 13
SDN has the potential of adding tremendous value.. CARRIER GRADE SDN?
Carrier Grade SDN Must Address All Layers Source: ONRC research Especially layers 1-3 for Carriers. 15
Carrier Grade SDN Must be Based on Open Protocol, Vendor Agnostic to Allow for: Multivendor, Multilayer Unification. Facilitating Carrier NNIs. Preventing Vendor lock-in. Keeping best operational practices. Preventing Network-wide bug Source: sdxcentral.com Leveraging industry technological advances. 16
Carrier Grade SDN Must Provide a Path to Migration Legacy Brown fields & Interoperability Hybrid Migration best practices Full SDN 17
Carrier Grade SDN Must Support (Or at the very least Emulate) OAM Protocols 18
Carrier Grade SDN Must Address Security Concerns Source: Kreutz, D. et al. SDN, A comprehensive survey Controller DDOS attack / Mitigation Malware/applications designed specifically for Controller Isolation of Internet routers from controllers 19
Carrier Grade SDN Resilient Scalable Carrier Grade SDN SLA Sensitive Services Scalable : 1000 s of devices geographically dispersed. Resilient / Fault Tolerant SLA: Latency sensitive services, service differentiations Protection switching (APS, SNCP, sub 50 ms) 20
Potential Hurdles DISRUPTION IN NETWORK EQUIPMENT PROVIDER ENVIRONMENT. Potential of Losing Competitive Advantage / Market Share for Establish Players Lowers Entry Barriers in Market, Creating New Competition Creates a New Market Driven by Software For Most Not Core Competency 21
Potential Hurdles DISRUPTION IN SERVICE PROVIDER ENVIRONMENT. Requires a Different Operational Skillset Can Facilitate Entry of New Competitors; Especially Greenfield Deployments Co-Existence / Migration Could Present Challenge 22
Carrier Grade SDN MULTI-LAYER VENDOR AGNOSTIC SECURE SCALABLE RESILIENT THANK YOU! www.globenet.net US Headquarters Brazil Colombia Venezuela Ft. Lauderdale São Paulo Bogotá Caracas +1.561.314.0500 +55.11.3131.5605 +57.1.650.5200 +58.212.740.4160 23
References 1. Kreutz, D. et al. Software defined network: a comprehensive survey. Oct 2014. Available from : http://arxiv.org/pdf/1406.0440v3.pdf 1. Darbha, S. et al. Impact of Software-Defined Networking on Infrastructure Management. 2105. Available from : http://www.ca.com/us/lpg/ca-technology-exchange/impact-of-software-defined-networking-on-infrastructure-management.aspx 1. Halachmi, N. Differentiating a carrier-grade service offering. Oct.. 2013. Availlable from: http://www.telco.com/blog/differentiating-acarrier-grade-service-offering/#.vrbjlebw7em. 1. Liu, C. Why Managing the Underlay With Multi-Layer SDN Matters. Nov. 2014. Available from: https://www.sdxcentral.com/articles/contributed/managing-underlay-multi-layer-sdn-matters-chris-liou/2014/11/ 24
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