MATHEMATICAL EVOLUTIONS FOR RISK MANAGEMENT: THETARAY ANOMALY DETECTION ALGORITHMS ARE A GAME CHANGER

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NEPTUNENPT-1800POWERING ELASTIC LTE BACKHAUL

WHITEPAPER

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THE MOBILE DATA FLOOD

THE LTE BACKHAUL CHALLENGE

The dream of being always connected, anytime, anywhere is already a fact of life. But this users’ dream-come-true is actually a data tidal wave for service providers. Connection speeds keep rising, as does the number of connected subscribers and devices. The total traffic volume shows no signs of tapering off. To provide the required coverage for such high speeds, the number of mobile cells must increase exponentially, each covering an ever-shrinking area. If all this is not enough, traffic patterns are changing completely. This is because many mobile devices not only consume bandwidth, but they also serve as platforms that generate broadband content.

The Long Term Evolution (LTE) mobile backhaul network connects mobile end users with each other or to cloud storage and applications. This network is becoming a key factor for end-user quality of experience and also for mobile operators’ competitive positioning.There are three key challenges that any future proof backhaul network must deal with:

LARGE SCALE Increased connection speed, number of connected sites, and total traffic volume.

FLAT ARCHITECTURE LTE standards define a new flat architecture for direct exchange of information:• between cell sites.• between each cell site and the core network, without going through additional hierarchical levels.This architecture introduces new latency and large-scale implementation challenges.

MULTISERVICEA converged infrastructure must support multiple mobile generations in parallel to LTE. It must also support mobile operators’ extended business model to offer additional services to business and residential customers.

One thing is clear. Simply continuing to scale mobile backhaul transport by adding more and larger IP routers will just result in a highly complex, inefficient, and hard-to-manage network. It is time to rethink mobile backhaul architecture.

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ECI’s ElastiNET solution for LTE offers a new approach for mobile backhaul. Combining L1-L3 multiservice over a converged packet optical infrastructure, ECI provides a forward-looking highly-scalable and flexible architecture for LTE requirements. The solution supports smooth evolution for existing 2G/3G mobile networks and supports mobile operators’ extended business model for services to business and residential customers. The key element of the solution for LTE is the Neptune product line. The key orchestrator in this offering is NPT-1800.

ElastiNET™ FOR LTE

FACILITATES END-TO-END TRANSPORT Elastic MPLS

UNPARALLELED MULTISERVICE L1 to L3

SIMPLIFIED NETWORK CONTROL Decoupling transport and service layers

BROAD SCALABILITY Any service for networks of any size

Neptune NPT-1800 facilitates L1 to L3 service delivery by connecting the backhaul with the packet core and optical layers. NPT-1800 is equipped with multi-terabits of switching capacity and 100G links to handle the exponential data growth. L2 and L3 VPNs combined with Elastic MPLS (TP and IP) enable Metro operation with seamless interworking with the IP core. Integrated DWDM and OTN provide efficient interworking with an optical backbone. The compact size and low power consumption completes an extremely attractive offering, which addresses rising space and energy costs.

BACKHAUL

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CHALLENGES OF LARGE SCALECurrent LTE backhaul faces multidimensional scale challenges and aggregation is the toughest of them. This is because aggregation involves a large number of network elements with limitations on power, size, and cost, each handling high-traffic volume and a high number of services. As a result, network complexity for visibility and control increases dramatically.

NUMBER OF ELEMENTS

Consider the following real-world scenario of backhaul network size issues:

COMMENTSTOTAL NETWORK ELEMENTS

NETWORK ELEMENTS PER DOMAINDEVICE LOCATION

Assumes four aggregation domains (4*3000=12000)Approx. 400 rings in a single aggregation domain, comprising eight access nodes each.

120003000Access Nodes

Assumes five elements in the aggregation ring.Approx. 80 rings in a single aggregation domain.1600400Aggregation Nodes

Up to 100 core nodes per aggregation domain.Approx. 30 rings comprising three core nodes each.400100Core Nodes

SCALE OF CONNECTION SPEED

LTE and LTE-A capabilities are expected to grow continually through the remainder of this decade and increase capacity with higher spectral efficiency. Future-proof rings must allow capacities to carry traffic of all the cell sites connected to the ring. This quickly sets the planning requirement at multiple 10GEs for aggregation. At the core points, even with statistical multiplexing, the long-term planning requirements rise quickly to 100GE.

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ECI SOLUTION FOR LARGE SCALEElastiNET for mobile backhaul solves the scaling issue by decoupling the transport and service layers within backhaul aggregation. MPLS pseudowires are used within the backhaul aggregation domain, to provide tunneling for L3 services traveling between the access nodes and the core. At the core, NPT-1800 routes the traffic through the IP core to the corresponding EPC elements.

The access, aggregation, and core networks are segmented into independent, isolated domains. The access network comprises multiple separated domains. These access domain IP addresses are propagated to the core network via BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) running over a transport pseudowire. This approach prevents flooding of unnecessary routing and information into parts of the network that do not need them. It allows scaling the network to hundreds of thousands of LTE cell sites without overwhelming any of the smaller nodes in the network. This enables each domain to easily achieve fast, sub-second convergence time.

With ElastiNET, both IP/MPLS and MPLS-TP can be used to establish the pseudowire infrastructure. NPT-1800's support of both MPLS-TP and IP/MPLS enables seamless interworking between backhaul aggregation and the IP core. The pseudowire infrastructure provides service assurance within the aggregation segment, while gaining deterministic control over transport flow paths.

The backhaul network uses greater switching capacity, faster interfaces, and larger fanouts, from the access to the core, to address the shift to higher bandwidth services. At the backhaul core, NPT-1800 is equipped with multi-terabit switching capacity and is optimized for 10GbE and 100GbE switching and aggregation. Integrated optics - including DWDM, OTN, and muxponder - ensure efficient and seamless interworking with the optical backbone.

Local trafficbetween eNBs

Traffic to theMobile core

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FLAT ARCHITECTURE CHALLENGES

ECI SOLUTION FOR FLAT ARCHITECTURE

LTE flat architecture supports direct connectivity between eNodeBs (eNBs), allowing fast handover as users move from one cell to the next. This signaling traffic is typically between adjacent eNBs or among a cluster of neighbors and uses the X2 protocol. To meet stringent latency requirements, backhaul networks need to switch the traffic at the point nearest to the eNBs.

Two other mobile interfaces, S1-C and S1-U, require direct connectivity between eNBs and the Evolved Packet Core’s (EPC) corresponding elements, Mobility Management Entity (MME), and Serving Gateway (SGW). In addition to the X2 and S1 mobile interfaces, support of 1588v2 synchronization service is usually required.

In order to support all the services listed above, each access node must support at least four L3 VPNs that pass between eNBs or between eNBs and the EPC. With thousands of access nodes (or more), this results in tens of thousands of VRF (Virtual Routing and Forwarding) and IP addresses that the mobile backhaul network must handle.

The low-latency data required for X2 information traversing between adjacent eNBs is routed directly by the access nodes. To sustain the scalability characteristics, S1 and timing VRFs that must reach the mobile core are not placed on the aggregation nodes. Instead, VRFs are mapped by the aggregation node into individual MPLS pseudowires, which are terminated into a separate Layer 3 MPLS VPN at the core NPT-1800 node. Using pseudowires to pass through the backhaul aggregation provides an easy and scalable mechanism for tunneling eNB traffic into the IP/MPLS core network. NPT-1800 acts like a Pseudo Wire Head-End (PWHE), which is more scalable in terms of computing capacity and has better hardware performance compared to lower layer aggregation nodes. As a PWHE, NPT-1800 supports features such as QoS and ACL (Access Control Lists) for the L3 VPNs. The result is scalable and manageable end-to-end connectivity between eNBs and EPC elements across the entire backhaul network.

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MULTISERVICE CHALLENGES

ECI MULTISERVICE SOLUTION

Mobile backhaul has to cope with a diversified set of service requirements. Connectivity types range from point-to-point to multipoint-to-multipoint. Topology types include hub-and-spoke, ring, and even mesh architecture. Services range from legacy TDM (still required by 2G base stations) to L2 and L3 VPNs (required by LTE). Extended business models for handling large enterprises and business customers require the support of L2 and L3 VPNs. In some cases, even transparent L1 services must be supported. Mobile backhaul networks must deal with this diversity through an efficient converged infrastructure and without adding complexity to the network.

ElastiNET’s MPLS VPN model provides the required transport virtualization for the graceful introduction of LTE into existing 2G/3G networks. The solution allows legacy 2G GSM and existing 3G UMTS services to co-exist with LTE on the same transport infrastructure. Mobile operators with GSM and UMTS deployments, who wish to remove, reduce, or cap investments in SONET/SDH transport infrastructure can use MPLS-based Circuit Emulation Service (CES). E1/T1 circuits from Base Station (BTS) equipment connected to the backhaul nodes are bundled into channelized STM1/OC-3 interfaces for handoff to the Base Station Controller/Radio Network Controller (BSC/RNC).

The same NEs support MEF CE2.0, L2, and L3 VPN services for enterprises or business customers. Since the scale of these services is much lower than that of mobile services, they can be provided directly by the access and aggregation nodes. If backup services or high-capacity transparent services are needed, a L1 range of services (Storage, Video, Ethernet, TDM) is available from the same network elements.

ECI’s ElastiNET for LTE proposes a new approach for solving LTE backhaul complexity and scale issues. Instead of pushing more powerful and costly network elements towards the access and aggregation segments, ElastiNET lets you keep these segments simple and efficient and handles the scale and complexity challenges at the core.

Low-latency data required for X2 information is handled directly by access elements. Any traffic that must reach the EPC is backhauled transparently through the aggregation network to the NPT-1800 core elements. The powerful NPT-1800, designed to handle such traffic volume and scale of services, then routes the traffic to the corresponding EPC elements.

By decoupling the service and transport layers, ECI addresses the multi-dimensional scale challenges that LTE, LTE-A, and 5G introduce. Through a cost-optimized, highly scalable, and flexible architecture, ECI provides a smooth migration path for 2G and 3G networks and supports an extended business model for offering business services.

Contact us to find out how our ELASTIC networks can help you grow

ABOUT ECIECI is a global provider of ELASTIC network solutions to CSPs, utilities as well as data center operators. Along with its long-standing, industry-proven packet-optical transport, ECI offers a variety of SDN/NFV applications, end-to-end network management, a comprehensive cyber security solution, and a range of professional services. ECI's ELASTIC solutions ensure open, future-proof, and secure communications. With ECI, customers have the luxury of choosing a network that can be tailor-made to their needs today – while being flexible enough to evolve with the changing needs of tomorrow. For more information, visit us at w w w.e c i t e l e .c o m