High IQ Networks: An ACG HotSeat Video with Juniper Networks

Ray Mota, ACG Research, and Rami Rahim, EVP/GM of the Juniper Networks Development and Innovation team, discuss the definition of a high IQ network architecture and the significance to service providers and their customers.  They recap Juniper’s recent announcement of new solutions that will help service providers automate networks, enable them to scale and dynamically create new services. The new NorthStar Network Controller is featured with use cases, as well as Juniper’s position and market differentiation on open standards.  Click here to listen.

For more information about ACG's HotSeat Videos, contact sales@acgresearch.net.

Ray Mota

rmota@acgresearch.net

www.acgresearch.net

Home Broadband, Video Usage Patterns Will Force Changes in Access, Aggregation Networks

Residential networking services and the devices we use to access them are constantly changing, usually in unanticipated ways. Video streaming, social networking, smart phones and tablets are creating new demand, displacing traditional media and threatening the foundations of the multichannel video subscription (cable, DBS and telco) industry. The new services and devices also are causing a shift in video usage from multichannel service to broadband Internet service. The shift already has made video the dominant Internet traffic source and is driving network operators to rethink their network architectures. Read more at FierceTelecom.

For more information about Michael Kennedy, click here.

Michael Kennedy

mkennedy@acgresearch.net
www.acgresearch

Ericsson Smart Services Router: Scaling the Control Plane

Network bandwidth usage is growing at annual rates of 60 percent or more because of the rapid adoption of video and cloud services. Control plane traffic is increasing even more quickly as the Internet moves from serving fixed locations and fairly static information sources to one characterized by personalized, media-rich applications (app), and mobile services. Service providers that are already concerned with data plane scalability must also add control plane scalability to their list of network planning issues.

ACG Research conducted an analysis of the sources of growth in control plane traffic: increases in end-user connections, device types, apps, app policy and control requirements, and mobility management requirements.

This study projects data and control plane traffic growth at a typical packet core node and analyzes the scalability of the SSR 8020 IP service delivery platform and of a competing service router when configured to serve this traffic growth. The study finds that the SSR 8020 has lower total cost of ownership (TCO) by 66 percent and higher scalability by two to more than three times that of the competitor’s service router.

Click here to go to ACG's website to download the TCO.

For more information about ACG Research's business case analysis services, click here.

Michael Kennedy
mkennedy@acgresearch.net
www.acgresearch

Scaling the Router Control Plane

As network usage moves to cloud, personal and mobile services the quantity of network signaling—control plane—traffic is exploding. Router vendors and network architects who are already struggling to meet the bandwidth requirements of video traffic must add control plane scalability to the network design equation.

The rapid increase in network signaling traffic is driven by the move from an Internet that served fixed locations and fairly static information sources to one where users demand personalized, socially-inclusive, media-rich apps, and mobile devices. Growth in fixed and mobile broadband subscribers, the number and type of network devices, and applications are all fundamental drivers of increase control plane signaling traffic. They combine to produce a multiplier effect that makes control plane traffic grow faster than data plane traffic.

Read the entire article at FierceTelecom.

Michael Kennedy
mkennedy@acgresearch.net
www.acgresearch.net

The Demand Drivers and Economics of 100G Ports

A broad spectrum of routing, switching and transport vendors is now adding 100 Gbps ports to their product lines. These high speed ports are arriving just in time to meet the capacity requirements of large service providers’ core networks. In addition, 100G technology will help to drive down both CapEx and OpEx which will help service providers to control their costs in an environment where revenue growth is not keeping up with traffic growth.

IP network traffic is growing in a range of 35% to 85% per year across the world. It is growing in all market segments—residence, mobile and enterprise. Residential service usage will be the biggest contributor to overall IP traffic growth. Residential traffic growth is driven by the widespread acceptance of broadband service and the rapid adoption of Over-The-Top (OTT) video content. OTT video has a major impact on network traffic for three reasons. First video content requires much more bandwidth than other media. For example, traditional voice telephony requires 64 Kbps while Verizon FiOS HDTV service requires 18 Mbps. Secondly OTT video as well as Video on Demand are unicast services—each viewer receives a unique flow of video content. In contrast, broadcast TV is multicast—all viewers are connected to the same flow of video content. This has an overwhelming impact on network traffic. Video is expected to comprise over 90% of total traffic within the next three years.

Read the entire article in FierceTelecom's e-book.


Michael Kennedy
mkennedy@acgresearch.net
www.acgresearch.net

Network Traffic: An ACG Survey

ACG Research recently conducted a network traffic survey to determine what type of infrastructure network operators will use to address the traffic mix on their networks. With IP services and applications continuing to drive higher bandwidth on their networks, operators are under pressure to determine which type of infrastructure best addresses their requirements.

Our survey, which we conducted with 52 operations, concluded the following:

• Operators are at a crossroads with infrastructure choices.
• Decisions will be made not based on bandwidth growth but on traffic type.
• TDM services traffic is not growing.
• IP private line traffic is growing, and IP public traffic is growing even more.
• This survey shows that in five years operators expect the predominant traffic on their networks to shift to IP.

The vast majority of operators still have a significant amount of TDM traffic on their networks, and they must decide 1) what type of infrastructure they should invest in; 2) determine how quickly the TDM traffic will decrease; and 3) assess how rapidly IP traffic will grow.

Although we do not have a definitive answer today, we can clearly see what operators are planning for traffic changes in the future. What they will deploy for infrastructure will most likely be determined in this next year to 18 months.

To download the survey results, click here.

Eve Griliches

egriliches@acgresearch.net
www.acgresearch.net