Evolution of Broadband Network en AppNote

7/31/2019 Evolution of Broadband Network en AppNote

1/21

EVOLUTION OFTHE BROADBANDNETWORK

GATEWAYINCREASE PROFIT AND LOYALTYBY DELIVERING RESIDENTIALSUBSCRIBERS THE FREEDOMTHEY CRAVEAPPLICATION NOTE


2/21

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract / 1

What subscribers want / 2

Subscriber freedom today: OTT VoD / 3

Evolving the residential services network / 5

Limitations of centralized BRAS architectures / 5

Requirements for the next-generation BNG / 6

Alcatel-Lucent 7750 SR: Purpose-built IP services platform / 9

Industry-leading BNG capability / 9

Industry-leading performance / 10

Distributed service intelligence / 10

Flexible IPv4 extension/IPv6 migration / 11

Metering and fair-share use / 12

Application assurance and subscriber-friendly plans / 12

OTT Monetization / 14

Location freedom: Wi-Fi / 15

Enhanced services / 16

Enhanced IPTV / 16

Evolving video services and CDNs / 17

Conclusion / 18


3/21

Evolution of the Broadband Network Gateway

ALCATEL-LUCENT APPLICATION NOTE

1

ABSTRACTResidential service providers today are at odds with the very subscribers they serve.

Along with the liberating experience o Over The Top VoD Video on Demand (OTT VoD)

services that cater to their unique needs, subscribers now want the reedom o a

broadband service without boundaries one in which they can consume any content

or application, on any device, anytime, anywhere. Challenged by the negative impact o

OTT VoD trac on network bandwidth and the perceived threat to their PayTV services,

service providers are responding with rigid caps on bandwidth utilization.

There is a better way. Rather than discourage the use o the very service they provide,

service providers can embrace subscriber demands or reedom and enhance their services

to thrive on higher bandwidth consumption. However, realizing these goals requires

change. Centralized Broadband Remote Access Server (BRAS) architectures lack the scale,

perormance and service fexibility to thrive in this new VoD-dominated era. Service pro-

viders require a new approach to planning and building residential networks, an approach

that embraces more perormance, distributed subscriber management and enhanced

eature capabilities to deliver higher quality, more personalized subscriber services.

Targeted to service providers as well as product marketing, network architecture andnetwork operations executives, this document provides an overview o changing subscriber

needs, the new service opportunities now open to service providers and the transormation

challenges they ace. We explain how all o these challenges and opportunities are best

addressed with a distributed residential services architecture based on the Alcatel-Lucent

7750 Service Router (SR).


4/21



2

MARKET TRENDS AND CHALLENGESWhat subscribers want

Residential broadband networks are once again entering a period o major change

and opportunity driven by subscriber needs and expectations (see Figure 1). The

rst-generation networks based on centralized BRAS routers were driven by subscriber

demand or an always-on High Speed Internet (HSI) service. The second generation,

powered by Ethernet-based Broadband Network Gateway (BNG) routers, was driven by

subscriber demand or a linear TV service (content broadcast at specic times) delivered

in conjunction with voice and HSI services.

Todays increasingly sophisticated and Internet-savvy subscribers are raising the bar yet

again. They want to remove the boundaries and limitations imposed by todays broadband

services and customer premises equipment to create a richer, personalized experience that

leverages all that the Internet and the consumer electronics industry have to oer.

Figure 1. Customer expectations driving residential broadband evolution

More specically, subscribers want:

Device reedom: The ability to consume, control and share content and the HSI

connection on any device rom PC to gaming console, to tablet to big-screen TV.

Schedule reedom: The ability to consume content based on their schedule, whether

live, time shited or on demand.

Location reedom: The ability to replicate the home experience outside the home at

Wi-Fi hotspots in stadiums, coee shops, shopping malls and airports. Plan reedom: The ability to attain optimal value through customized HSI plans that

refect each subscribers unique application and content consumption needs.

Content reedom: The fexibility to consume any content whether cloud, premium,

live or user generated at a resolution level that meets their changing needs and the

capabilities o the consuming device.

Interactive reedom: The ability to transorm content consumption into an interactive

experience, with sidebar content and suggestions, social media integration, and

interacting ads and content. The ability to consume networked applications such as

online gaming without the quality issues that diminish such online experiences today.

CUSTOMER

EXPECTATION

INTERNET

CONNECTIVITY

IPTV AND

TRIPLE PLAY

BROADBAND

WITHOUT BOUNDARIES

RESIDENTIAL EDGE

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS

RESIDENTIAL EDGE

ROUTING PLATFORM

IP forwarding

Single service

ATM

IPTV multicasting

Service silos

Ethernet

VoD streaming

Service blendingand personalization

IPv6, Wi-Fi

BRAS

OBSOLETE

BRAS andvideo edge

Enhanced BNG

OBSOLETE


5/21



3

Subscribers also want the reedom to blend attributes o dierent residential services

such as the high quality o linear TV , the fexibility o VoD and the interactivity o the

web into a single, personalized service experience that ullls their unique digital

liestyle needs. For example, a subscriber may want to watch an on-demand video that

is not part o the premium linear TV lineup but has high video quality, ed directly to the

big-screen TV, while using a tablet device to interact with other viewers through social

networks and reviewing suggestions or related web and video content.

Subscriber freedom today: OTT VoD

OTT VoD providers were the rst to identiy and capitalize on this demand or reedom.

Innovators such as Netfix and YouTube launched fexible VoD services that have

become household names and, in conjunction with VoD oerings rom later entrants,

are expected to consume over 58 percent o Internet bandwidth by 2015. Google and

Apple are taking these rst-generation services to the next level by adding their cloud

inrastructure, consumer devices and operating systems into the mix to provide a richer

experience within the connes o their brand and ecosystem.

For service providers, this represents both a challenge and an opportunity (see Figure 2

and Figure 3). A challenge because a single unicast VoD session consumes the same

network bandwidth as a linear-TV fow delivered to thousands o subscribers through

multicast. A challenge because VoD streaming protocols and applications are relentless;

they adjust to changing network conditions, consuming new network capacity as soon

as it is made available.

The impact on service providers has been rapid, global and signicant. In the United

States alone, approximately one third o ISP network capacity at peak times is now being

consumed by Netfix users who represent a small raction o the total ISP subscriber

base. OTT VoD providers across the globe are creating similar challenges or service

providers in Canada (Netfix), the United Kingdom (BBC iPlayer) and China (Youku.com),

to name only a ew.

Figure 2. The impact o VoD on IP network bandwidth

Controlled with P2P throttling Optimized with multicast No throttle, no multicast

NETWORK BROADBAND UTILIZATION COMPARISON

7 musicdownloads

Data: Caffeinated Bitstream, 2009

One IPTV channel,1000 subscribers

One VoD movie,1000 subscribers

14000

Kilobitspersecond

Kilobitspersecond

Kilobitspersecond

12000

10000

8000

6000

4000

2000

0

14000

12000

10000

8000

6000

4000

2000

0

14000

12000

10000

8000

6000

4000

2000

0

0 200

1.07 Mb upload

400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 0 1000 2000 3000

Time (seconds Time (seconds Time (seconds

4000 5000 6000

24.40 Mb download 2.17 Mb upload 1.13 Gb download 2.17 Mb upload 1.13 Gb download

x1000


6/21



4

Figure 3. The fnancial impact o OTT VoD on service providers

Service providers have responded to the OTT VoD bandwidth challenge and the shit

away rom their own linear TV services by introducing rigid bandwidth caps and

down-speed techniques that limit bandwidth consumption on their HSI services. While

this approach does provide short-term relie, it pits the service provider against their

customer the subscriber and damages this all-important relationship. It also reposi-

tions the OTT vendor who ullls subscriber demands or reedom at the top o the value

chain and popularity polls. There is a better way.

Winning the battle or the subscriber

Rather than discourage the use o the very service they provide, service providers shouldembrace the concept o subscriber reedom and leverage their core strengths to thrive on

increasing network usage (see Figure 4).

Figure 4. Wining the battle or the subscriber

Bandwidthperuser

2000 2005

Source: Alcatel-Lucent, 2011

Source: Informa, 2011

BBC iPlayer

Netflix

youku.com

2010

Residential HSI profit

2015

NETFLIX GENERATES 30% OF ISP TRAFFICWITH 3% OF ISP SUBSCRIBER BASE

VoD WILL ACCOUNT FOR 58%OF ALL TRAFFIC BY 2015

Residential HSI bandwidth

Consumer electronics ecosystems

OTT contentand application

providersServiceprovider

SP strength Control network access

Premium linear TV service

Home ecosystem visibility

Opportunity Ensure fair-share use with personalized subscriber

plans, monetize OTT apps/content, add Wi-Fi

Enrich with VoD and web content, add new app services

Use data to personalize subcriber experience, insert ads


7/21



5

Because they control access to the subscriber, service providers are in a unique position

to ree subscribers rom OTT VoD service quality issues by providing a consistently high

quality o experience (QoE) that will always be outside o the OTT vendors scope o

control to deliver. They can monetize the OTT fows that travel through their network,

provide subscribers with optimal application-aware plans to ree them rom rigid usage

caps or oer Wi-Fi access to provide the reedom o a home experience o-the-wire.

They can work with OTT vendors to provide optimized application services that ree

subscribers rom best-eort quality limitations o OTT gaming, person-to-person (p2p)video conerencing and other applications.

Service providers can also leverage their strong relationships with content providers.

They can enrich current linear TV services with VoD and web content to deliver the

blended broadband service experience their customers crave.

Finally, service providers can use their unique ability to gather perormance and service

usage data to personalize services and insert personalized ads.

At stake in this battle or the subscriber is hundreds o billions o dollars in revenue

rom content alone, and the service providers position in the value chain whether as

a provider o commodity Internet access or as a conduit or value-added services. Withall the limitations o todays legacy BRAS-based architectures still in place, many service

providers are ill equipped to win their share o the revenue pie.

EVOLVING THE RESIDENTIALSERVICES NETWORK

Limitations of centralized BRAS architectures

Figure 5 shows some o the key limitations o todays legacy broadband architectures.

Figure 5. Traditional centralized BRAS architectures

Pay TV(big-screen TV)

High-speed Internet(PC)

Videoservice edge

BRAS

Fixed access Aggregation

VoD streams traverse entire network

Videoservers

ExternalCDN or

transparentcache

Internet

CPE


8/21



6

Overlay model limitations

Residential services today are delivered on separate IP service platorms; HSI service is

delivered through the BRAS router while video service is delivered through a separate

video edge router. Each service connects to a dierent device at the home (TV or PC),

oten provisioned with a dierent IP address. This wall between services and lack

o unied subscriber treatment makes it dicult to deliver the blended, personalized

experience that subscribers want and is at odds with the demand or convergence

within the home.

An overlay architecture is also very expensive to deploy and maintain. Multiple IP service

platorms quickly deplete capital budgets, and the service overlays they spawn result in

complex provisioning and capacity planning in the access and aggregation networks.

Centralized architecture limitations

The HSI service that contains all the unicast video fows rom Internet-based OTT providers is

delivered to subscribers rom centralized BRAS routers deep within the service providers

network. Each time a subscriber starts a VoD session, a new video stream is created between

the servers/caches that contain the content and the subscriber. The resulting trac crosses

the service providers entire network, rom the peering point or transparent cache behind

the BRAS router all the way to the subscribers residence.

As more and more users shit to VoD content consumption, transport costs or video

skyrocket, and the resulting network and server congestion lowers perormance and

service availability. With video taking center stage as the killer app or residential use,

central content injection and a central BRAS no longer make sense.

BRAS legacy obsolescence issues

BRAS routers may have impressive subscriber density or yesterdays Internet trac mix

but, with Internet video in the picture, they lack the perormance and capacity to keep

up. Actual subscriber density quickly drops as more and more users stream video, and

the economies o scale o a centralized BRAS architecture quickly crumble.

IPv6 migration is also an area o concern or service providers because so many legacy

BRAS routers lack the perormance and scale o a carrier-grade network address translation

(NAT) capability to enable fexible IPv4-to-IPv6 migration. And because a BRAS is a

single-service delivery platorm (HSI), it lacks the capability to delivery new eatures or

services beyond basic HSI or reap the operational and cost benets o service convergence.

Requirements for the nextgeneration BNG

A new, distributed architecture optimized or video growth and service convergence is

required to capitalize on the delivery o subscriber reedom(see Figure 6). This architecture

is based on a BNG platorm with the attributes that ollow.

Massive scale and perormance

The BNG must sustain high throughput and be capable o 100G+ speeds with services

to support the rapid growth and monetization o video. This massive scale also enables

convergence: the ability to deliver all residential services rom a common delivery platorm

in the IP edge. Convergence enables a unied view o each subscriber with consistent

treatment o all the subscribers trac across all services used. This enhances a service

providers ability to deliver a blended, high-quality service experience that is personalized

or each subscriber and eases the task o capacity planning across the dierent services.


9/21



7

Convergence also simplies provisioning by removing the need or multiple service

overlays in the access and aggregation networks and the need or multiple IP addresses

per subscriber.

Distributed service intelligence

The BNG must contain IP over Ethernet/Dynamic Host Conguration Protocol (IPoE/DHCP)

subscriber management capabilities or multiservice support while remaining backwards

compatible with legacy Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet (PPPoE). Service intelligence

to help simpliy provisioning and authentication and to ensure high availability is a

baseline requirement. Multiple queues per subscriber with fexible allocation are required

to ensure quality o service (QoS) or multiple services and applications.

In a distributed architecture, subscriber management, content caches and high-touch

processing capabilities move to the edge o the network, closer to the customer. By

distributing service intelligence to the edge, service providers can provision more band-width and ewer subscribers per Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) port to accommodate the growth

o video and other high-bandwidth services. VoD fows are limited to high-bandwidth

access networks and no longer traverse the entire IP network. This has the dual benet

o enabling long-term scale and lowering cost per bit or video transport. Because VoD

content delivered by the service provider has a much shorter distance to travel compared

to content rom the OTT VoD cloud, service providers can also oer signicantly higher

service quality and perormance than OTT oerings.

Service providers looking or a uture-sae approach to delivering truly dierentiated

residential services need to consider the benets o introducing enhanced capabilities

such as high-touch processing to the common platorm. High-touch processing enables

extension o IPv4-based services, OTT monetization and new types o service bundles

and service personalization or residential subscribers. The ability to distribute application

monitoring and policy enorcement capabilities right to the edge o the network

ensures the highest quality o service or residential customers. Along with the universal

gateway capability described in the next section, this enhanced ability to truly monetize

subscriber reedom is the value o the enhanced BNG ( eBNG).

Figure 6. Distributed architecture based on a high-perormance, enhanced BNG

Videoservers

ExternalCDN ortransparentcache

Blended, personalized,high-QoE service

Internet

Subscriber

Fixed access Wi-Fi access

More bandwidth andfewer users per GE port

IP services edge

Monetizedcontent cache

eBNG

Service


10/21



8

Universal gateway

An enhanced BNG has the ability to bring other services and access methods to the

common platorm. Service providers can integrate community Wi-Fi access to provide

exciting new service bundles that enrich the residential subscriber experience. They

can converge residential, business and mobile IP services on a single IP services edge

platorm to reduce total cost o ownership (TCO) and provide universal access to any

content/application rom any device, anywhere.

Service transormation: roadmap or success

With OTT VoD providers disrupting service provider business models and BRAS routers

lacking the perormance and scale to support cost-eective video delivery and fexible

IPv6 migration, the time to begin broadband network transormation is now. Once

theyve deployed a high perormance BNG at the IP edge o their residential network and

moved towards a more distributed architecture or subscriber management, service pro-

viders can truly start to capitalize on new revenue opportunities in the video-dominated

era o residential services (see Figure 7).

Figure 7. Flexible service transormation and new revenue opportunities

Service providers can start by monetizing OTT applications, enorcing air-share access

through personalized plans, oering Wi-Fi access or even enhancing existing video and

application services: the starting point will vary with each service provider. For example,

a service provider with existing linear TV services orming the bulk o their revenue may

choose to begin with enriching their video services through an on-net content delivery

network (CDN), while a service provider with no content experience may start by

optimizing their HSI service with application-based metering to create personalized plans.

Because each service transormation journey is likely to take many twists and turns as

subscriber needs, legislative constraints and even a service providers nancial position

change, it is o paramount importance that service providers invest in a platorm with

the fexibility to accommodate change.

Wi-Fi integrationEnhancedvideo services

OTT monetization

Legacy migration

Metering and fairshare use

OTT app zero rating HTTP error redirection Networked application

services (such as gaming)

Business intelligencegathering

Application- and content-aware metering

Personalizedplans

Real Wi-Fi Wholesale Wi-Fi Wi-Fi data offload

for 3G/4G

Enhanced IPTV VoD and content

delivery network Evolution to blended

video services

OBSOLETE

High scale andperformance

IPv6, ESM flexibility eBNG platform


11/21



9

To assist providers in their service transormation journey, Alcatel-Lucent has integrated

all the industry-leading capabilities o a high-perormance BNG described in the previous

sections and all the value-added enhancements required to generate new service revenue

in the Alcatel-Lucent 7750 SR. Customers have the fexibility o installing a new 7750

SR chassis congured with this new unctionality or upgrading deployed 7750 SRs and

Alcatel-Lucent 7450 Ethernet Service Switches (ESSs). (The 7450 ESSs currently perorm

access aggregation or IPTV multicast delivery). The remainder o this paper discusses the

new service capabilities and the enhanced eature set that enables them o the 7750SR as outlined in Figure 7.

ALCATEL-LUCENT 7750 SR:PURPOSE-BUILT IP SERVICES PLATFORMThe rst step in the residential service transormation outlined in the previous section is

to replace the centralized BRAS architecture with a high-perormance BNG to enable IPv6

migration, VoD (unicast trac) scale and new service enablement. The Alcatel-Lucent

7750 SR addresses legacy platorm issues by providing the eatures, perormance and

scale lacking in BRAS routers.

Industryleading BNG capability

Alcatel-Lucent has a long track record as a key orce shaping the direction o residential

broadband networks. The BNG capability o the 7750 SR draws rom this experience and

expertise to lead the BNG market in fexibility, scale and robustness:

ArobustsubscribermanagementimplementationthatconvergeslegacyPPPoEaccess

with IPoE to enable video and other new service capabilities

MultivendorsupportforRADIUSauthentication,withbuilt-inDHCP-RADIUSproxy

unctions to leverage existing authentication inrastructure

FlexibleIPaddressmanagementbyDHCPrelayorintegratedDHCPservers

PPPoE-basedretailandwholesalesupportwithLayer2TunnelingProtocollocationarea code support

Supportfortime-andvolume-basedaccountingwithRADIUS-orDiameter-based

credit control to support pre-paid and other new services

AutomatedprovisioningoflogicalaccessinterfacesthroughamanagedServices

Access Point concept to minimize operational costs and reduce time-to-market

8ingressand8egressqueuespersubscriber(usinghigh-speedMediaDependent

Adapter[HS-MDA]) to support multiple services or service personalization (through

QoS per application)

Flexibleuseofnetworkinfrastructure:canactasaBNGoranEthernetAggregation

Node (EAN) simultaneously or extend subscriber management unctionality across

an access network through pseudo-wires HighestlevelsofBNGredundancyinthemarkettoensureahigh-quality,always-on

service experience (through Subscriber Router Redundancy Protocol, multi-chassis

link aggregation, and pseudo-wires and VPLS link redundancy).


12/21


13/21



11

Figure 8. Distributed service intelligence with the MS-ISA

Flexible IPv4 extension/IPv6 migration

The reality o IPv4 address exhaustion is hitting home as consumer electronics vendors

churn out more and more IP-capable devices. The result is that service providers can no

longer deer IPv6 migration strategies. With so much at stake as revenue-generating net-works undergo IPv6 transition, one size denitely does not t all. The 7750 SR provides

service providers with the fexibility to extend IPv4 liespan, migrate specic services or

networks to IPv6, or dive right into a ull-scale IPv4/IPv6 implementation (see Figure 9):

Industrys fastest channel change

Retransmit on error for high QoE

PerfectStream video conditioning

Video-quality monitoring

Content caching/delivery

VIDEO/CONTENT

Application-to-subscribermonitoring and control

Metering and fair-share usage

Service personalization andconsistency

APPLICATION ASSURANCE

Carrier-grade NAT

Multiple tunneling and IPv6migration capabilities

eBNG EXTENSIONS

Distributed Denial of Service(DDoS) attack mitigation

IPSec

SECURITY SERVICES

IntegratedServices Adapter

=

Figure 9. Flexible IPv6 migration

IPv4 subscriber (Router or bridge)

Extend IPv4 investment Carrier-grade NAT: 60 million

entries per chassis

Works with routed or bridged

home gateways

CGNAT

Internet

IPv4 IPv4

eBNG

IPv4 subscriber

Migrate access and service Carrier-grade NAT

IPv4 transport inIPv6 softwires

Internet

IPv6IPv4

eBNG

Dual stack subscriber

Complete migration Carrier-grade NAT

Dual stack everywhereCGNAT

Internet

Dual stack Dual stack

eBNG

CGNAT


14/21



12

Extend use o IPv4 as long as possible

Adress overloading is avoided by embedding Carrier-Grade NAT (CG-NAT) capabilities

in the network with the MS-ISA hardware. With over 60 million entries per chassis,

the 7750 SR provides the most scalable integrated and carrier-grade NAT solution in

the industry. Extensions such as Layer 2-aware NAT provide even more fexibility and

operational savings by enabling IP-agnostic address translation.

Deploy dual stack in network only

The 7750 SR supports industry standards or sotwires that tunnel subscriber IPv4

packets through the service providers IPv6 network to an IPv4 Internet.

Adopt network-wide dual stack capability

(Broadband Forum in WT-177 or IPoE and in WT-187 or PPPoE)

The 7750 SR supports wire-rate, dual-stack routing and large-scale, dual-stack subscriber

management (256,000 subscribers per chassis) to support dual-stack transition.

METERING AND FAIR-SHARE USEWith a distributed architecture and a high perormance BNG at the IP edge, service

providers can start to capitalize on new revenue opportunities. One o the rst areas

o ocus or most service providers will be metering and air-share use.

As discussed in the section Market Trends and Challenges, consumers are dissatised

with current attempts by service providers to limit OTT VoD consumption, and they

eel HSI plans today are primarily designed solely to protect the service providers, not

to benet the subscriber. Current HSI plans are perceived as:

Rigid:allornothing,lackingpersonalization

Confusing:subscriberguessesatdataconsumptionrates,suffersbillshock

Punitive:linkdown-speed,automaticfees

Non-transparent

Service providers are aced with a dual challenge: dissatised customers and the inability to

push their own applications with bandwidth caps in place. With the 7750 SR as their BNG,

service providers attain a subscriber-riendly alternative to rigid use caps personalized

plans that let the subscriber make the trade-os and get optimal value rom their share

o bandwidth.

Application assurance and subscriberfriendly plans

Personalized plans are enabled by the unique ability o the application assurance (AA)

sotware on the MS-ISA module to ulll each subscribers application- and session-level

needs. With AA, service providers can see into their network down to the applicationlevel and limit, boost and re-prioritize that trac on a per-subscriber, per-session or

per-application basis (see Figure 10).


15/21



13

Beore embarking on a personalized plan oering, service providers need to leverage AA

and get detailed business intelligence on their subscribers and their subscribers online

habits. Service providers can get answers to the types o questions that ollow.

Subscribers

Who are my top users?

What applications are they consuming?

How much bandwidth is required per application?

What is their usage prole per app?

Peering

Which apps are fowing through my peering points?

How much bandwidth do they consume?

Who are the top users o peering bandwidth?

Network

How do applications fow in my network?

Which applications use the most bandwidth, when?

How do applications perorm over time?

What percentage o trac is OTT?

Armed with this inormation, service providers can begin oering personalized plans toensure air-share usage in a manner that satises each o their subscribers unique needs.

An example o a specialized plan is shown in Figure 11.

Figure 10. Per subscriber/session/application monitoring and control

Subscribers

Subscribers

BRAS

Services Applicationgroups

Applications

Fixed access

Wi-Fiaccess

eBNG

Unified: Service management Network management Policy management Reporting and analytics OSS and billing

AA

Per session policy and control

Per session monitoringand reporting

VoIP

Video

Streaming P2P

Web

File transfer

VPN access

Boosted App

AIM

Netflix

YouTube

Gaming

Email

Voice

Subscriber

A

Subscriber

B

Video

Internet

Voice

Video

Internet

Execute

Desig

n

Monitor

BNG

eBNG


16/21



14

Figure 11. Fair-share use and subscriber reedom: personalized plans

Premium content is blended into the Internet service so that the subscriber can access

it rom any device in the home or through a community broadband link. The service

provider oers this eature as an add-on to a basic metering plan. All content related

trac including the content itsel, the television guide and any related side-bar

content is identied by its application signature and is zero-rated (that is, not applied

against the subscribers cap).

Other selected applications, such as Facebook, are zero-rated or a nominal ee or

provided as a promotional incentive. OTT video applications such as Netfix are identi-

ed by their application signature and are metered.

Add-on eatures, such as unlimited Netfix o-peak, volume Netfix packages on-peakor guaranteed high-quality boost or a period o time, are used to either minimize OTT

trac concurrency at peak times or to monetize the fows.

OTT MONETIZATIONIn the previous section, the AA capability o the Alcatel-Lucent 7750 SR allowed popular

OTT applications such as Facebook and Netfix to be monetized or used or promotional

purposes through specialized metering, billing and QoS arrangements. This is only a rst

step in changing subscriber perception o the service provider as the provider o commodity

bandwidth to a provider o value-added services.

Service providers can extend the concepts and 7750 SR tools used to achieve personal-

ized plans to develop a whole range o new application services. Service providers can

work with content providers, advertising providers, application providers and retailers

to set up specialized monitoring and control o their applications and services in a way

that adds value to subscribers. New revenue can be generated through revenue-sharing

arrangements with OTT vendors.

Anywhereaccess

Basic plan(volume/speed)

AnywherePay TV content

Specialty apppackage

Prioritized*

Unlimited

Metered (at peak)

Unlimited (off-peak)

HD turbo (on-demand, unmetered)

Metered

Pay TV content

Netflix

Gaming, TV guide

Facebook

Other

Voice

Residential

broadband

service

Video

Internet

Flexiblerecharge options

= + + + +


17/21



15

Examples include increasing the QoE or specialty OTT online applications or monetizing

HTTP error redirection. With specialty OTT applications, the BNG can be used to identiy,

zero-rate or apply special treatment to trac fows as they traverse the IP network.

Subscribers can enjoy the reedom o high-quality p2p video or gaming without the

timing glitches that rustrate play today. In HTTP error redirection, AA can be used to

identiy and intercept erroneous page reerences in a URL issued by a subscriber. The

reerence is orwarded to an advertising partner who provides an alternative suggestion

or a ee and is then orwarded to the subscriber.

LOCATION FREEDOM: WI-FIGiven their high level o portability, it is no surprise that 30 percent o tablet usage (or

example, Apple iPAD) is now nomadic: its done at shopping malls, stadiums, hotels,

train stations and other congregation points. Customers with these portable computing

devices are now looking to replicate the home experience transparent access to all that

their residential provider has to oer outside the home.

For those with mobile subscriptions, the limited bandwidth o todays 3G data plans are

ar too punitive and restrictive to satisy their needs, and there is no link to their residen-tial services and content. While Wi-Fi hot-spots are popular alternatives, they come with

many problems and limitations, including:

No simple access: The customer needs to select access rom a list o cryptic service set

identiers.

No QoS guarantees: Perormance is variable with video quality that is oten

unwatchable.

No strong security: Lack o security opens up the device to security threats.

No service bundling: Wi-Fi hotspots are an added expense or the customer and a

missed opportunity or the service provider.

No unifed billing: This adds complexity or customer.

No my service everywhere: Wi-Fi is a not an extension o the residential

experience.

The WLAN capability on an Alcatel-Lucent 7750 SR allows residential broadband providers

to bundle Wi-Fi access as a revenue-generating option to residential service plans. The

WLAN gateway aggregates the Wi-Fi access points at Wi-Fi hotspots and transparently

orwards their connection requests to all the residential and business services oered on

the BNG.

Residential subscribers within range o their service providers Wi-Fi hotspots can trans-

parently connect to their service provider as i they were at home simply, securely, with

access to all their services and content and with a amiliar QoE. Transparent Wi-Fi accessallows residential broadband providers to oer subscribers reedom in the truest sense.

For service providers with both mobile and residential business units, the Wi-Fi access

inrastructure and WLAN gateway on the 7750 SR can also be used to transparently hand

o mobile data connections to the mobile data network. Mobile business units can realize

signicant reductions in radio network costs and operational complexity by transparently

moving data connections o the radio network to the Wi-Fi aggregation network whenever

a mobile handset is within range o a Wi-Fi hotspot. For the consumer, unlimited data

access through Wi-Fi encourages usage o the radio network and breeds customer loyalty.


18/21



16

For service providers without a mobile business unit, excess capacity o the Wi-Fi aggre-

gation network can also be sold wholesale to mobile virtual network operators and other

mobile providers with a small radio ootprint. The WLAN capabilities on the 7750 SR

are summarized in Figure 12.

ENHANCED SERVICES

Enhanced IPTV

For many service providers, the rst step in enhanced video services with enhanced

BNG capabilities will start with IPTV. The Alcatel-Lucent 7750 SR supports multiple new

eatures that allow service providers to monetize and increase the quality o the IPTV

viewing experience:

PerectStream video conditioning: The BNG sends two copies o the IPTV stream and

uses inormation rom both to reconstruct a perect stream with the highest possible

quality in cases o data loss or corruption.

Industrys astest channel change: IPTV content is copied onto a running cache on

the BNG and orwarded to the subscriber when the channel is changed. This ensures

that the screen is not empty in the several seconds it may take to switch channels

when using the latest video compression ormats.

Retransmit on error or high QoE: The inormation in the above cache is used to

reconstruct the multicast stream in case o error. This process ensures high video

stream integrity.

IGMP-based intelligence gathering: Requests or video content are redirected and

stored to augment business intelligence. This allows service providers to better

monetize and tailor their services and advertising campaigns to subscribers.

Figure 12. New retail and wholesale revenue opportunities with Wi-Fi

Enterprise

Internet

eBNG

Residential

CDN

Hot spots

Copper

Fiber

Network and policy management

Wireline IP backbone

MVNO

IP services edge

Wirelessbusiness unit


19/21



17

IGMP redirect with QoS adjust: Specic requests or video content can be redirected

to provide higher levels o service and increased QoS or higher-end subscribers.

Multiscreen IPTV: Providers can leverage the BNG to deliver their IPTV content

through multicast to the big-screen TV (through the set-top box) and through unicast

to any other device (through a home router). While this does not address unicast scale

issues, it is an excellent transitional step or service providers looking to provide device

reedom or their subscribers as they plan their CDN strategy.

Providers with IPTV services can leverage these 7750 SR eatures to continue generating

revenue and enhancing their oerings while preparing or a blended video experience

that brings in VoD and Internet content.

Evolving video services and CDNs

While linear TV will continue to grow in the oreseeable uture, subscribers are focking

to an on-demand (VoD) consumption model in greater numbers. Because VoD content is

delivered separately to each user, it cannot benet rom the eciencies o multicasting,

pushing the bandwidth requirements at centralized BRAS/video home oce (VHO) sites

to dozens o 100GigE ports by 2015. Service providers are aced with the dual challenge

o how to accommodate the unicast bandwidth onslaught and how to deliver a uniedservice that blends in IPTV and OTT VoD experiences and content.

A distributed architecture (see Figure 13) with a high-perormance BNG accomplishes

this in two ways:

ItprovidesthemassivescaleandperformancenecessarytoaccommodateVoD

bandwidth and enable IPTV/VoD convergence (see Alcatel-Lucent 7750 SR section).

ItallowsVelocixCDNcachingtobedeployedattheedgeofthenetworktooptimize

VoD delivery and eliminate QoS issues.

The introduction o a CDN moves the video streaming origin point and associated

bandwidth load rom centralized video servers to distributed caches in BNGs located

in Tier 1 and Tier 2 COs. The decision o what content to cache is based on dynamic

demand, with stale content fushed as demand popularity declines over time. The

Figure 13. Video service usion and optimized VoD delivery with distributed caching

Linear TVand VoDoriginservers

ExternalCDN ortransparentcache

Content partnerorigin servers

InternetSubscriber


IP services edge

Contentcache

eBNGPeercaches


20/21


21/21

www.alcatellucent.com Alcatel, Lucent, Alcatel-Lucent and the Alcatel-Lucent logo are trademarks ofAlcatel-Lucent. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. The information presented

i bj t t h ith t ti Al t l L t ibilit f i i t i d h i

chain at stake. With todays centralized BRAS inrastructures requiring a major upgrade

to resolve end-o-lie issues and accommodate IPv6 migration, the time to migrate to the

7750 SR is now.

Figure 14. Extending reedom, service uniormity, simplifed operations and platorm re-use across

residential, mobile and business customers.

Enterprise or consumer

Freedom of broadband

without borders Freedom from cloud threats and opacity

Freedom to access anycontent, anywhere

Evolved BNG (eBNG)

Cloud-optimized VPN andbusiness Internet services

Universal wireless dataservices gateway


7750 SR IP services edge

VPN ANDCLOUD

WEB

VoD

LINEARTV

7750 SR

LTESmall Cells

Documents

Evolution of Broadband Network en AppNote