1

Welcome!

October 4

Mobile Data Offloading Optimization

November 1

Core Network Optimization: The

Control Plane, Data Plane and Beyond

December 6

Optimizing Value Added Services (VAS)

for Greater Revenue Generation

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Core Network Optimization: the Control Plane, Data Plane

and Beyond

Presenters:

Karl Wale, Director, Product Marketing

Prashant Sharma, Systems Architect (CTO Office)

Dikshit Sawhney, Product Manager

James Radley, Systems Architect (CTO Office)

November 1, 2012

Today’s Topic & Presenters

3

Agenda

Overview

• Core network optimization strategies

• Monitoring, optimization, policy & offloading

Optimizing Network Probe & DPI Systems

• Traffic handling, stateful loading, DPI

Signaling Plane Challenges & Solutions

• Managing growth in signal plane traffic

• Diameter routing & network offloading

Impact of Future Trends

• SDN Networks

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Application

Server

Media

Resource

Function

IMS

Internet

Policy &

Charging

Routing

Function

Policy &

Charging

Enforcement

Function

Mobility

Management

Entity

LTE Security

Gateway

Serving

Gateway

Packet

Gateway

eNodeB

User

Equipment

Equipment

75+ Customer Wins

Macro Small Cells

Audio Video Conf

~65% Market Share

10G 40G ATCA

~40% ATCA Share

Traffic Management

Dumb Smart Pipes

Home eNodeB

User

Equipment

Equipment

Radio Access Network Evolved Packet Core Policy Control IP Multimedia Subsystem

End-to-End LTE Infrastructure

5

Mobile Traffic Profile

P2P, Voice Etc.

Audio Stream

Video Stream

Web/Internet

Web/Internet

Audio Stream

P2P, Voice Etc.

Video Stream

2x

7x

3x

2012 2016

More users using more of their

data allowance

More sessions…more

applications…more signaling

Video flooding radio &

transport network

Overall

50% CAGR

Until 2016

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Optimization vs. Customer Need

Poor Call Quality

Why ?

Churn

Poor Data

QoS

Why ?

Churn

Voice Era Data Era

Dropped calls

Poor quality

Coverage ?

Handovers ?

Leave voice…

… promote

coverage and voice

quality

Slow / no internet

Poor video streaming

Cant get email

Capacity – RAN or core?

Bearer or signaling ?

Internet or access network

Policy setting ?

Churn due to data

…promote based

on data capabilities

Solution needed for 3G today, not only LTE problem

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Optimization Goals

Core Network

Optimization

Cost Reduction

Efficiency

QoS

Improve Service Revenue

Services

Plans

Plan Deploy Optimize

What you invoke and when depends on problem and lifecycle of network

Opex Reduction

Efficiency to defer Capex

Augment to offload etc.

Avoid Churn…

Tiered Services

Content Based Pricing

Tailored Plans

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Core Network Optimization Tools

DPI & Policy

Video Optimization

& Gateways

Intelligent Switch

& Load Balancer

LTE & 3G

Network Core

Traffic

Offload

Network

Probes

Market For Network Optimization Products Growing by 25% CAGR

Strong growth in DPI, Web & Video Optimization

Network Optimization Needs Blended Approach

…No ‘One Size Fits All’ Solution

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3G Networks: Efficiency…

Packet Core Radio Access Network

Control

Plane

SGSN GGSN PCEF RAN

User

Equipment

Femto

User

Equipment

PCRF

Network

Probe

Signaling

Probe

KPI Voice Data

Call Sessions

Bandwidth QoS/latency etc.

Protocol Analysis Correlation across signaling & bearer

Application & QoS KPI awareness

Attributes Layer 7 Awareness

Tapped vs Bump in Wire

Temporary vs Permanent Installations

10

3G Networks: Capacity…

Packet Core Radio Access Network

Control

Plane

SGSN GGSN PCEF RAN

User

Equipment

Femto

User

Equipment

PCRF

Offloading Video

Optimization

RF & Transport …bandwidth mgmt

RF & Transport …transcoding

…local content re-direct

…tailored packages

Transport …direct around core network

…local content access

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New LTE Networks

Packet Core Radio Access Network

MME

SGW PGW PCEF EnodeB

User

Equipment

HeNB

User

Equipment

PCRF

Offloading Video

Optimization

How Differ ? RF probe planning

Policy ?

SON

…then optimize

12

Poll Question #1

Which do you consider the most important network

optimization tool? (Select all that may apply)

a. Stand-alone DPI

b. Video optimization

c. Local content caching & CDN

d. DPI capable network probe (L4-7)

e. 3G offload

f. Small cell / wifi offload

g. SON (Self Organizing Network)

13

Role of Stateful Load Balancer

Load Balancer Value Adds

Scalability

Extended

Product

Life

Topology

Hiding

Fault

tolerance

Scalability: how to scale up

and down? Does it need re-

architecting?

Extended life: bridge the

performance/throughput gap

before move to next generation

Topology Hiding: Hide internal

details (blades/servers) from

peers

Fault tolerance: Redirect flow

to new active element

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Stateful Load Balancer

Video optimization gateway

DPI based Filtering: Stop

non–video traffic to be

passed to video processing

blades

Transport offloading:

Offload handling/optimization

of TCP connection that carry

HTTP/video traffic

ATCA Platform

…

Lo

ad

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ce

r -

1

D

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Filt

ering

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nsport

Optim

ization

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ization

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User

aw

are

ness

Flows 1 - 10

Flows 11 - 50

Flows 51-55

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Stateful Load Balancer

PGW + PCEF Gateway

I/O Aggregation:

Multiple 10G, 40G

external links

Protocol Awareness

Understand PGW

control and data

plane stacks

QoS offloading:

Node/network level

QoS offload

ATCA Platform

…

Lo

ad

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Control Plane

Flows 11 - 50

Flows 1 - 10

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Flows 51-55

16

Stateful Load Balancer

Extended life cycle using load balancer

Scalability: Upfront load balancer

to scale existing network

probes/monitoring box

I/O: LB should be able to support

large amount of I/O’s

Protocol awareness: LB should

understand all of wireless protocols

and their transports

Distributed load balancing: LB,

itself, should be scalable to support

variable number of backend

application servers

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Stateful Load Balancers

Carrier Cloud Load Balancers

Scalability: Upfront load balancer

to being efficiency of scale in

carrier cloud

Fault tolerance: Fault tolerance of

LB itself becomes one of the most

critical aspect in the carrier cloud.

This includes fault tolerance at

platform, I/O, blades and

application level

Protocol awareness: LB should

understand all of wireless protocols

and their transports

18

Load Balancer: Key Characteristics

ATCA Platform for load balancer

High number of I/O: A

heterogeneous platform like ATCA

offer variety of I/O solution including

centralized and distributed

Specialized processing: State of

art packet processing and switching

technologies (XLP, OcteonII, NP4,

Trident) for common function

offload

Fault tolerance: Carrier grade

ATCA provides redundancy at I/O,

platform elements, backplane and

blade level

19

LTE Network Overview

Policy &

Charging

Rules

Function

Policy & Charging

Enforcement Function

Mobility

Management

Entity

Serving

Gateway

PDN

Gateway

eNodeB

Internet

Web

Email

Voice

UE

Radio

Bearer

S1

Bearer

S5

Bearer

Home

Subscriber

Server

Service

Data Flows

Packet

Filters

AF

Application

Function

IMS

Network

20

Main Drivers of Signaling Traffic

What is driving the signaling traffic in a LTE network?

• Data Usage

– Multiple connected devices: smartphones, tablets, notebooks, smart

cameras, M2M etc.

• Small Cells

– Future networks will be heterogeneous i.e. a combination of macro

and small cells (femto, pico, micro etc.). The evolved CN has to

manage a lot more base stations than the legacy networks.

• IMS

– VoIP based call control network in LTE provides rich communications

capabilities not limited to just voice conversation

• Policy & Charging Control (PCC)

– Policy and service based charging plays a key role in the LTE

networks. This is causing a tremendous increase in Diameter

signaling traffic with in the EPC that needs to be managed.

21

S1-flex Architecture

• S1-flex architecture uses many-

to-many network architecture

between eNBs and MMEs for

load balancing and redundancy

purpose. eNB selects a MME on

UE registration based on the

current resource utilization at

each of MMEs in the pool area

• MME uses a similar logic to

select a S-GW from a pool of S-

GWs serving the UE area

• Possible to re-direct UEs to new

MMEs in case of overload at one

of the MME in the pool area

• S1-flex is a pre-requisite for the

Network Sharing architecture

discussed in the next chart

MME MME MME

eNB eNB

S1

Pool Area

22

Network Sharing

• This optimization technique

involves sharing RAN and CN

resources among multiple

service providers. It is possible

to share just RAN (MOCN) or

both RAN and CN nodes (GWCN)

• Multiple PLMN-id(s) are

broadcasted on the air interface.

UE selects a candidate PLMN

and RAN assigns the CN node

based on resource utilization

and current loading of the

shared CN elements.

• Applicable to both 3G and LTE

networks

23

LIPA

Local IP Access (LIPA)

• An offload GW is co-located with

the small cell (HeNB/HNB) and

routes the data destined for

home/enterprise network

appropriately bypassing the EPC

• UE uses standard signaling

methods as a regular EPS bearer

to setup the LIPA tunnel

• LIPA can be enabled on per

APN/UE basis

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SIPTO

Selected IP Traffic Off-load

(SIPTO)

• Network uses DNS or other

mechanisms to select a GW in

close proximity to the UE’s point

of attachment to the access

network and offload the traffic

from there

• Option to enable off-load on a

per UE/APN basis

• Applicable to both small cell &

macro networks providing E-

UTRAN/UTRAN access

25

Multi-mode Small Cells (3G/LTE/WiFi)

Non-3GPP Access

• Use commonly deployed WiFi

access points to offload traffic to

the Internet.

• Access Network Discovery and

Selection Function (ANDSF)

helps UE in selecting the

appropriate access network

based on Operator policies.

• Architecture standardized by

3GPP so inter-access mobility is

covered.

26

Misc. Network Optimization Techniques

• Co-located SGW, PGW and

GGSN nodes. This can improve

the packet latency by eliminating

one of the nodes in the data

path. Mainly a deployment

decision governed by network

topology i.e. ratio of SGWs to

PGWs/GGSNs

• Similar colocation is possible for

control plane nodes i.e. MME &

SGSN. Allows for reduction of

signaling traffic during inter-RAT

(3G<->LTE) mobility

• Direct tunnel architecture for

UTRAN. This uses a direct

connection from RNC to S-

GW/GGSN bypassing the SGSN

and thus improving packet

latency

27

Policy and Charging Control Architecture (PCC)

Policy and Charging Rules

Function (PCRF)

Subscription

Profile

Repository

(SPR)

AF

Offline

Charging

System

(OFCS)

BBERF

Gateway

PCEF

Online

Charging

System (OCS)

Sp Rx

Gxx Gx

Gy

Gz

28

Diameter Routing Agent - DRA

Diameter is extensively used as an AAA protocol in the DB, charging,

and policy domains of EPC and contributes to majority of signaling

traffic load in the 4G networks.

Scalability demands multiple PCRF(s)/HSS(s) and Charging

DRA helps with routing, load balancing and session management

of traffic flowing between these Diameter entities.

DRA ensures:

all Diameter sessions established for a given EPS connection

reach the same PCRF when multiple and separately addressable

PCRFs have been deployed in a Diameter realm

A DRA can also incorporate SLF functionality to locate HSS for a

IMS UE when multiple HSSs are deployed.

A DRA can be implemented as a re-direct or a proxy agent.

29

DRA Deployment Architecture

30

Diameter Signaling Flows - IMS Call Setup (without DRA)

31

Diameter Signaling Flows – Proxy DRA

32

Poll Question #2

How do you see the opportunity for Software Defined

Networks (SDN) in your organization?

a. Revolutionizes how we architect our networks

b. Has real potential but SDN needs to mature as a

technology before it will be of use in a live network

c. Interesting for some niche functions within the network

but will be restricted to a limited set of element types

d. Irrelevant as we are already able to manage networks in a

way that suites our needs

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What is a Software Defined Network?

There are two commonly accepted defining attributes

of a Software Defined Network (SDN):

• Decouples network management elements from the packet

forwarding entities. Network intelligence & supporting

protocols are maintained independently of the network nodes

which actually handle the through traffic.

• Provides an API so that application developers can have their

own applications directly configure that part of the overall

network infrastructure which delivers packets on their behalf.

Although not part of the ‘common definitions’ the

abstraction of the various network elements down into

a single virtual switch is seen as an important benefit

of a SDN.

34

Why All the Excitement?

Possibility for single virtual switch/router image

• Facilitates rapid and consistent deployment of new rules across

the entire network

Independence to go beyond vendor provided features

• Network architects can leverage more of the capabilities of the

underlying hardware elements in their network

Promotes innovation

• Separation of function allows both network element hardware

and switch management suite vendors to break into the market

Allows applications control over their network

• Applications get similar control over their ‘virtual slice’ of the

network as they have over their virtual server environment

35

Challenges in growing SDN into Carrier Networks

Topology Management

• Most of today’s SDN management s/w deals well with flat full

mesh network infrastructures – not dynamic hierarchies.

Policy Policing

• How to control how much network resources a management

agent can reserve?

Security

• How to prevent the creation of illicit portals?

• How can a network entity spot a rogue rule?

Traffic Management

• While good at creating traffic flow classification rules not so

good at defining traffic scheduling characteristics

36

Opportunities

De-coupled control & data plane

• allows for independent network scaling

Standardise network management strategy

• while keep flexible hardware choices

Allows innovative network appliances to be created

• Powerful APIs open up market to much wider developer pool

• Applications with integrated control over their network can

deliver better services

• Provides opportunity to support the less common (or even

proprietary) routing/forwarding protocols on Common Off The

Shelf (COTS) network devices

37

Basic Model of a Network Appliance

New packets arriving enable additional detail to be extracted from flow

HTTP GMAIL Metadata

…Username

…Email title

…Content

Apply Rule

Buffered

Packets

e.g. put into correct

priority queue

State Machine

API

Application adds

table entry & rule

Add new entry by default…

…or wait for application

Server Load

…approx 10% packets

User Application

Open Flow

38

Summary Slide

KW to create

MRF covered in webinar 3

39

Q&A

Contact us!

Karl Wale Prashant Sharma

karl.wale@radisys.com prashant.sharma@radisys.com

James Radley Dikshit Sawhney

james.radley@radisys.com dikshit.sawhney@radisys.com

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