Is control plane technology ready for IP & Ethernet?
Thursday 10th September 2009 – 11.00 BST, London
Duration: 30 minutes + Q&A session
Join us to evaluate the business case for enabling automation and intelligence in the network, including expert views on the following questions:
- Who is already using Control Plane automation and for what applications?
- How has Control Plane automation already improved the economics of networking?
- How will Control Plane automation develop in the future – what are the benefits for operators who embrace a convergence of control functions between optical, IP and switching layers?
Hear how Ciena are opening up new options for operators by enhancing their portfolio of control plane based products with Ethernet and OTN fucntionality.
Hear how Ciena are opening up new options for operators with their upcoming portfolio of control plane based products including the CN 4200 and the CoreDirector Family and Ethernet and OTN functionality.
As more and more customers embrace flexible optical networks, we’d also like to hear your views and experiences of network efficiency and cost savings, in our post discussion Q&A session.
To submit your questions please email them to: support@telecoms.com or fill out the comments box at the bottom of this page.
Webinar Poll:
Loading ...
Speakers:
John Paul Hemingway
Dr. John-Paul Hemingway
Chief Technologist EMEA, Office of the CTO
Ciena EMEA
John-Paul Hemingway was appointed as Chief Technologist for Ciena EMEA in October 2006. Working closely with Ciena’s Chief Technology Officer, he is responsible for guiding future product development in Europe as well as ensuring that Ciena’s solutions meet the specific requirements of customers across the EMEA region.
John-Paul first joined Ciena in 2001. He spent five years working within and Managing the Systems Engineering department, focusing largely on designing next generation network solutions for customers across Europe. Prior to joining Ciena, John-Paul worked for BICC/Corning Cables and Netscient in fibre research and network design software roles.
Mr. Rob Dutton
Head of International Infrastructure, Configuration Planning and International Network Planning
Cable&Wireless Worldwide
Chaired by:
Mark Lum
Mark Lum
Independent Consulting Analyst
Mark Lum MA MSc is an independent consultant, focusing on Carrier Ethernet, Optical, Metro, FTTx next-gen broadband and Storage networks and services, with experience spanning Ethernet, SDH/SONET, OTN-WDM, MPLS, ATM and GPON technologies and their associated global standards development.
His international clients include service providers, equipment vendors, start-ups, regulatory agencies and the financial community. Mark studied Natural and Electrical Sciences at Cambridge University and was awarded his MSc in Telecommunication Systems after beginning his career in the Harlow research labs of ITT-STL, developing the very first optical systems.
Mark developed his experience and expertise at Tektronix as Telecoms/TV Market Development Manager, at Nortel Networks as portfolio manager for next-generation optical metro networks and at RHK as program director for European optical network research and analysis.
During his career, Mark has also taken an active role in global standardisation, having led Tektronix’ program at ITU and ETSI, chairing an experts’ committee at ITU-T as Rapporteur and contributing as technical editor for several standards. With many papers published on carrier network strategy and evolution, he is a well-known and frequently-requested speaker and chair at industry conferences, including IIR’s market-leading Carrier Ethernet, Packet Transport and WDM Optical events.
Dileep Agrawal, CEO, WorldLink: “When things don’t happen fast enough it can get frustrating.”
If you have recently been frustrated by buffering while watching an HD video-on-demand stream, then hold that thought. For those in the less developed parts of the world, watching HD video at all, is, quite literally, something of a pipe dream. In these countries, for those fortunate enough to be able to move past existential concerns such as food and housing, internet connectivity and bandwidth is still a mere fraction of what those in developed countries are used to. It’s a pain point of which Dileep Agrawal, chief executive of Nepalese ISP WorldLink, and a speaker at the Broadband ip&TV Asia conference in May, is only too aware.
BT selects Ciena as key 21CN vendor
UK incumbent BT has chosen US firm Ciena as a key vendor of equipment for its 21st Century Network (21CN).
Stuart Broome, CEO, Sub 10 Systems
Stuart Broome, CEO, Sub 10 Systems, pitches his UK-based wireless Ethernet bridging company.
Do the panel see the inclusion of photonic switches in the network to provide provisioning and restoration capabilities rather that using o-e-o at each point of flexibility?
to Kevin Oemering on CEWC Key Theme Viewpoint – Automation in the Packet WorldThanks for the question, Kevin. The short answer is yes, the evolution will occur from OEO to photonic switching within intelligently switched networks. From our perspective, the technology is available, but at a system level the business case is weak compared with todays OEO systems. Some operators have considered Packet Optical + ROADM to offer a similar capability, but discovered quickly that without a complete control plane, it does not scale terribly well, and software to manage it is not well understood. I guess thats a long way of saying intelligent photonic switched is the future, but my guess is that the market for such is still very immature.
to John-Paul Hemingway on CEWC Key Theme Viewpoint – Automation in the Packet WorldHi John-Paul, I’m wondering why we need OTN as part of the control plane? Isn’t SDH and Ethernet enough?
to James Middleton on CEWC Key Theme Viewpoint – Automation in the Packet WorldThanks
The issue is that optical services are no longer just SDH & Ethernet, it spans even more enterprise optical services, including Ethernet, Storage and Video services. Part of the reason most new Metro Deployments are OTN based, is that it allows the services mix to to carry ANY optical service, while still supporting Ethernet and SDH with better management capability. One quick example is the fact that Ethernet over SDH restricts the max speed of Ethernet to 9.9 Gbps. With most new Ethernet interfaces using the 10G LAN PHY at 10.3 Gbps, services are forced to slow down something OTN carries transparently. There is more information on OTN here if you’re interested: http://www.ciena.com/products/flexselect_otn.htm.
to John-Paul Hemingway on CEWC Key Theme Viewpoint – Automation in the Packet WorldCan the panel explain what is the difference between a router based mesh network and an optical mesh? Don’t they do the same thing?
to Mike on CEWC Key Theme Viewpoint – Automation in the Packet WorldRouter based Mesh networks are fundamentally different because of the OSI layer they operate in. Routers operate in Layer 3 (IP) and utilize a Layer 3 control plane that determines how traffic gets from point A to Point B (across the mesh) utilizing various routing protocols including OSPF, ISIS, BGP, etc. It only looks at layer 3 issues, with the drawback being the amount of time it takes for the control plane to respond to network changes (including outages). In some cases it could take as long as 15 minutes for a router to respond to a single failure. MPLS has helped routers reduce restoration time by creating connection orientation and creating a Fast Reroute path in the event of equipment failure, giving it faster response time to link failures (not node failures). So even though a Router networks typically always operate in a MESH configuration, it doesn’t offer the full advantages of reliability of the mesh architecture.
Optical Mesh networks, by contrast, operate at Layer 0/1 and utilize optical signalling protocols that carry network routing information across the mesh, but offer the advantage of restoration in 50ms or less, even in a multi-failure scenario.
So in essence, the construct is the same, but they operate at different layers.
I will add one thing, while they do different things, it is important to note that in addition to better reliability, the optical (Layer 0/1) MESH is cheaper to own and operate than a layer 3 Router mesh.
to John-Paul Hemingway on CEWC Key Theme Viewpoint – Automation in the Packet World