The predictable “connect point A to point B” service
model of the voice-only years has almost entirely disappeared. In
its place is an “anywhere, anytime, any service”
connection model driven by the proliferation of mobile users
accessing video and data intensive services from whatever device
they have at hand. The result: A steady increase in network traffic
– about 40 percent year over year – with unpredictable
volume, characteristics, and patterns that can no longer be defined
in terms of bandwidth and speed alone.
To avoid breaking the economics of core network provisioning,
service providers must extract every bit of cost out of their
networks without compromising services or reducing quality of
experience for their end users. Success hinges on finding a more
economical, efficient and effective model for building and
maintaining core transport networks.
Traditional models are
unsustainable
Traditionally, service providers have relied on circuit
switching in their core networks. But circuit-switching requires
them to provision for the worst case, with enough bandwidth and
infrastructure to handle all possible traffic peaks in order to
avoid losing traffic.
The perceived economic benefits of this model break down when
confronted by the realities of today’s bursty traffic
patterns. Traffic swings unpredictably between highs and lows, with
peaks that can be higher than 12 times the average.
A variety of factors are driving an exponential traffic growth
curve that signifies a real threat to service provider economics,
as costs appear primed to out-pace revenue within the next couple
of years. Backbone providers need to invest in infrastructure to
cope with this growth but there is no guarantee that they will earn
a profit on those investments, for much of the traffic does not
intrinsically bear revenue.
Service providers must balance the value of the technology and
the solutions they deliver against the required capital and
operations but it is critical that their network cores be able to
accommodate unpredictable traffic patterns that are changing
dramatically, driven by:
- The ever-increasing amount of new applications being introduced
and the unpredictability this brings in terms the type of
application, the number of users and the bandwidth requirements to
support them
- The consolidation of data centers and the advent of cloud
networking, which enables content and computer resources to be
migrated from location to location, based on where they need to be
consumed
- The ever-increasing amount of video on the network and the
associated caching strategies aimed at better managing the flow of
video traffic
- Increased mobility of the content users which is rapidly
degrading the efficiency of aggregation networks because rely on
knowing where the users are, content is stored and where peering
points are located – all which, in a more mobile world, is
fluid and dynamic.
These changes mean that planning core networks based on
projected traffic peaks is simply too inefficient and economically
irresponsible to be sustainable over the long term. On the other
hand, packet networks have proven to be more robust, intelligent
and flexible, and better equipped to deal with variations in
traffic patterns without compromising service quality.
Unfortunately, the equipment has also been slightly more expensive
on a per port basis.