News Analysis: Net Processors Brace for Shakeout

News Analysis: Net Processors Aim for Access

Report: Traffic Manager Chips

News Analysis: Intel Moves on Security

News Analysis: Network Processors: Easy Come, Easy Go

Report: Network Processors

News Analysis: Vitesse Drops Some Packets

News Analysis: EZchip Sallies Fourth

News Analysis: Bay Joins the Big Leagues

News Analysis: Power X Powers Down

News Analysis: Intel: The Prince of Processors?

News Analysis: Why Intel Loves Teja

News Analysis: 10-Gig Processors Shape Up

9. Security Becomes a Hot Topic

Between hackers and terrorists, it’s a miracle anyone turns on their computer in the morning, but we all do - typing in credit card info, logging onto corporate VPNs, and running Websites. Networks are insecure and equipment is vulnerable, so security must continually evolve with the ways in which networks are used.

The ongoing process of migrating many network services from traditional circuit or Layer 2 networks to IP networks requires new forms of security, keeping this topic a hot one year after year. 2002 was no exception.

This year the government got involved, putting money into network security to shore up its own defenses. Startups began repositioning around security to take advantage of the interest, and NetScreen pulled off an IPO when no one else could.

Many large enterprises started distributing data center resources to new locations, so no one event could bring down the whole network, while carriers rolled out “managed security” services for customers unable or unwilling to trust their own.

Notable articles on security this year:

Webinar: Security: Big Issues, Big Advances

Tests: Carrier-Class IPSec: the Bigger the Better

News Analysis: Report: Security Spending Soars

News Analysis: Vendors Add Security to MIPS Chips

News Analysis: VPN Security: A Soft Spot?

News Analysis: Optical Oracle: Firewalls of the Future

News Analysis: Intel Moves on Security

Byte and Switch: Hifn Snaps Up NetOctave

News Analysis: Cisco's Security on a Switch

News Analysis: NetScreen Acquires OneSecure

News Analysis: Quantum Cipher Sent by Fiber

News Analysis: IPolicy Chips In

News Analysis: Quarry, NetScreen Ace the Test

Byte and Switch: SNIA Tackles Security

News Analysis: CoSine's Fear Factor

News Analysis: Guarding the Gigabits

Byte and Switch: SAN Security: Who Needs It?

News Analysis: NetScreen Goes Carrier-Grade

News Analysis: Cisco Locks Down Security Strategy

News Analysis: Internet Security Scare

News Analysis: NetScreen's Screaming IPO

8: Video on Demand Comes Back into Vogue

This has been on top ten lists for a decade now, but this year we think it’s actually earned it. Video may not save the industry, but consumers appear ready pay for choices in their programming, and the technology around on-demand delivery of video has matured to the point that it doesn’t cost an armchair and a leg. Encoders have gotten cheaper and easier to use, Gigabit Ethernet has shown up as an interface on video servers, and now set-top boxes are available for under $300, making this service palatable to even the most parsimonious MSOs.

What’s behind VOD in 2002 that wasn’t there before:

So video on demand started to look real this year, and people were actually paying for it. Nearly 4 million customers have video-on-demand service available to them today, and the number is expected to increase dramatically over the next five years. And why not? People love their entertainment centers, hate late fees, and want a broader selection than is often available at video stores. If MSOs can get the pricing right and the content deals worked out with Hollywood, this could turn out to be a huge success story by 2004.

Notable articles on VOD this year:

News Analysis: IP Video Uptake by 2004?

News Analysis: Lucent Touts Video-Over-DSL

News Analysis: Cable MSOs Set to Win?

7: MPLS Gathers Momentum

Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) had to be on this list because many of the big vendor sales centered on it, suggesting that the technology is establishing itself as a key part of carriers' core network infrastructure.

This was also the year that the term “Martini Draft Compliant” began to really mean something. Startups like Laurel Networks Inc. made hay by producing a fully Martini-compliant box, and others are following suit. The Martini Draft outlines how Ethernet and various Layer 2 protocols can be transported over an IP/MPLS core simply and easily, making the integration of Ethernet metro networks and carrier IP core networks a reality in 2002.

Fast Reroute also appeared this year, offering a bandwidth-protection scheme positioned as a cost-effective alternative to Sonet/SDH protection.

Notable articles on MPLS this year:

News Analysis: Juniper Sells T- Router in China

Tests: Metro Edge Router Test

Tests: Multiservice Switch Test

News Analysis: MPLS Vendors Demo Fast Reroute

News Analysis: MPLS Fast Reroute Gains Momentum

News Analysis: Juniper's Good News Fails to Impress

News Analysis: Juniper/Cisco Duke It Out Over MPLS

News Analysis: MPLS vs ATM? Vendors Weigh In

Report: Virtual Private Networks

News Analysis: MPLS: King for a Day?

News Analysis: Cisco Beefs Up MPLS VPN Offering

6: IP Reliability Becomes a Must-Have

This was the year when router vendors launched major efforts to improve the resilience of IP networks, with the goal of attaining the magic "five 9s" (99.999 percent) availability often cited by telecom operators.

These efforts go beyond having fault-tolerant hardware. They focus on avoiding data loss and minimizing delays when router networks reconfigure themselves around line or equipment failures, or suffer "flapping" caused by router processor problems. Terms such as "graceful restart" and "stateful failover" have become the order of the day.

Notable articles on IP reliability this year:

News Analysis: Alcatel Bids for IP Core

News Analysis: Cisco Intros Globally Resilient IP

News Analysis: Alcatel Unveils New Routing Technology

For more on IP reliability, register for Light Reading's Webinar on the topic, scheduled for January 23, 2003.

5: GFP Packs Up Next-Generation Sonet/SDH

Generic Framing Procedure (GFP) went from being an acronym nobody knew (save some zealots at Lucent Technologies Inc. [NYSE: LU] and Nortel Networks Corp. [NYSE/Toronto: NT]) to a top priority for the multiservice edge of the transport network at most ILECs.

GFP, plain and simple, is just a very elegant way of putting Layer 2 traffic onto Sonet (Synchronous Optical NETwork) and SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) networks. It encompasses other hot developments such as virtual concatenation, which creates fine-grained connections in a Sonet/SDH network; LCAS (Link capacity adjustment scheme), which dynamically resizes those channels based on operator requests or traffic fluctuations; and RPR, which squeezes the most out of a ring-based network carrying predominantly packet traffic.

GFP also has a bonus feature, called "transparent mode," which supports oddball protocols such as those for storage networking or data center interconnect.

That said, GFP represents something of a missing link in the carrier’s search for the multiservice network: a universal method of framing. Whereas "God boxes" of the past simply put every type of interface possible into a metro box, then added a bunch of switch fabrics to support them, GFP packages up everything nicely and sends it on its way, with true point-and-click operation. And best of all, it’s standardized by the International Telecommunication Union, Standardization Sector (ITU-T), so carriers actually give it the time of day. GFP is hot in 2002, but look for real buildup in 2003, when boxes start shipping en masse.

Notable articles on GFP and next-gen Sonet/SDH this year:

Report: Next-Gen Sonet

Report: Next-Gen Sonet Silicon

Report: Metro Multiservices Evolution

News Analysis: Next Gen Sonet: What About SDH?

News Analysis: Vitesse Joins Next-Gen Sonet Party

News Analysis: Comm Chips Flip Out

4: The "Multiservice Edge" is Redefined and Reinvigorated

The term "multiservice edge" has been around for ages, but this year it's taken on a new meaning - and new marketing momentum.The old meaning typically refers to transport equipment - notably Sonet boxes capable of handling multiple protocols. In other words, it's more multiprotocol than multiservice.

The new meaning, where most of the activity has been this year, refers to the packet layer, not the transport layer. In this case, multiservice means what it says - multiple services over a packet-based infrastructure.

So what counts as "new" multiservice? Well, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) always has, so companies like WaveSmith Networks Inc. made our Light Reading's Top Ten Private Companies because they are proving the life left in ATM as a solution for carrying services like Frame Relay and IP-over-ATM.

There’s also the next-gen BRAS (broadband remote access server), which supports multiple services over DSL or cable modems, and which was put out by the likes of Juniper Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: JNPR), Network Equipment Technologies Inc. (net.com) (NYSE: NWK), and others.

Finally, there are a host of edge switch/router vendors that are laying the groundwork for a whole new class of multiservice MPLS systems, using well-heeled draft specs from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) to put any number of Layer 2 services on an MPLS-based packet network.

Multiservice will always be a hard concept to define with clarity, but what we saw happening in 2002 was a continued willingness on the operators' part to look at their legacy infrastructure (from Sonet to DSL to ATM) and figure out how to wring the most service revenue out of it. There are just too many new services out there to build a distinct network layer for each, so multiservice, even though it often gets a bruising from claiming it can be all things to all carriers, is here to stay.

Notable articles on the "new" multiservice edge this year:

Tests: Metro Edge Router Test

Tests: Multiservice Switch Test

Reports: Multiservice Switches

Reports: Taking Routing to the Edge

News Analysis: Cisco, Sycamore Circling Lucent's ATM

Column: Multiservice Cisco

News Analysis: Cisco's Fine Young Cannibal

News Analysis: The New Legacy Network

News Analysis: What to Expect From 'Junisphere'

News Analysis: WaveSmith's Multiservice Surprise

News Analysis: Vivace Livens Up the Edge

News Analysis: AFC Goes Multiservice

3: DSL Proliferates and Evolves

Digital subscriber line (or DSL) technology, though seeming to slow down in the U.S. this year, is huge: a true worldwide phenomenon. Though this began well before 2002, this year is the one in which DSL reached over 30 million subscribers globally.

Every major carrier worldwide has a DSL plan in place with ambitious goals. France Telecom recently said it would wire every town of 5,000 or more. South Korea has wired just about dwelling imaginable, and in the U.S., where ILECs whine about UNE-P (unbundled network elements platform - see RBOCs Get Long Distance Go-Ahead) and whatever else ails them, DSL continues to be a major new source of revenue, if not profit.

The next big step for DSL is business. Already, many small businesses worldwide are using ADSL to connect to the Internet, but this year new classes of DSL technology were rolled out that promise true business-class connectivity. There is ADSL Annex J in Europe, which supports 3-Mbit/s symmetric service, G.SHDSL, which does about the same, various flavors of VDSL that offer speeds up to 50 Mbit/s depending on loop length, and a number of DSL varieties that support the bonding of multiple pairs together to create true full-rate Ethernet connections in the access network.

This is an interesting one: Ethernet over DSL may in some cases spell the demise of DSL as a service and instead relegate it to little more than a “bit pump.” Under this model, carriers would no longer sell DSL services, but rather Ethernet access, which has much more sex appeal.

DSL is also behind one of the other hot trends of 2002, the "Triple Play": a trifecta of voice, video, and data over a single access connection. The independent LECs in the U.S. are interested, as are a number of operators in Europe and Asia. Using VDSL, connections of 20 Mbit/s and beyond can be provisioned to a home, with ample room for three simultaneous cable TV sessions, symmetric data, and voice, all on one supercharged telephone line. The Triple Play has long been sought by telcos facing ambitious MSOs in their backyards, and already there are signs that DSL is paving the way.

Notable articles on DSL this year:

News Analysis: Covad Bundles Voice and Data

News Analysis: DSL Passes 30M Lines Worldwide

News Analysis: Broadcom Chips Away at Voice

News Analysis: Ericsson Launches Ethernet DSL Push

News Analysis: 'First Mile' Ethernet Hits Snags

News Analysis: Spediant Spies Copper Opportunity

News Analysis: Report: DSL Is Profitable

News Analysis: Ikanos Integrates DSL Chips

News Analysis: Alcatel Adds to DSL Dominance

News Analysis: First-Mile Ethernet Camps Dig In

News Analysis: SBC's Beck Is Big on Broadband

Newswire: In-Stat: Broadband's Not Dead

News Analysis: FCC Focuses on DSL Classification

News Analysis: Access Market Sings the Blues

News Analysis: Optical Oracle: Access is Gold

News Analysis: Lucent Touts Video-Over-DSL

News Analysis: Ka-Ching for Catena Networks

2: 802.11 Wireless Technology Moves to Mass Deployment

IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN technology has been around for a while, but this was the year that everyone actually bought it. WiFi hubs are under $200 and showing up in coffee shops, hotels, airports, and lots of homes and apartments. Enterprise customers get to choose from 802.11b or the higher-speed 802.11a and have embraced it happily.

This raises the question: Where does 3G telephony fit in a world where low-cost WiFi hotspots are popping up on every street corner? Perhaps they'll reach different markets - consumers with 3G, and business users with WiFi.

Notable articles on 802.11 this year:

Unstrung: Rainbow Unveiled

Interview: On the Job – With Mumford & Pals

Unstrung: Poll: WLAN Has Limited Life

News Analysis: Chambers Fires Up Market

Reports: NGN Notes

Unstrung: Trio Takes WLAN to Carriers

Unstrung: Microsoft's Wireless Home

Unstrung: Intel Preps WLAN Blast

Unstrung: Report: Multimode –The Way to Go?

Column: Cutting the Cord

1: Ethernet Gains Ground in Access Networks

This was a big year for Ethernet standardization, and the feeling around Ethernet can’t be more enthusiastic. The inevitability of Ethernet as the universal interface to the network of the future is now etched in granite, and standards are the chisel.This year we saw standards for 10-Gigabit Ethernet ratified by the IEEE as the 802.3ae standard in June. We also saw the beginnings of 802.3af, which will define how to send power over Ethernet networks. We also saw significant progress in the 802.3ah standard, which defines various physical layers for Ethernet in the First Mile, including fiber and copper.

We also saw the ratification of the RPR (resilient packet ring) standard (IEEE 802.17), which promises to play an important role between Ethernet access networks and Sonet/SDH core telecom infrastructure.

Beyond the official standards, the industry moved forward with multisource agreements (MSAs) for 10-GigE transceivers – with the goal of making 10-GigE interfaces easy to create and plug into a printed circuit board. The only problem is that there are too many MSAs. The first one, XENPAK, now faces competition from XPAK and X2, and an MSA for a serial 10-GigE transceiver – XFP – is also in the works.

The Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) did its part to help push Ethernet into the service provider network by moving sixteen technical documents to MEF Draft status or beyond in the following four areas: Services, Protocol and Transport, Management, and Architecture. This process is critical in bringing carriers to the necessary comfort level to start rolling out more advanced Ethernet–based services.

Notable articles on Ethernet this year:

Ethernet Standards

Report: Metro Ethernet

News Analysis: Metro Ethernet Forum Pipes Up

Column: Ethernet Frame Relay

Column: Ethernet Over Copper: Now You’re Talking

Newswire: IEEE Ready to Draft EFM Standard

News Analysis: First-Mile Ethernet Camps Dig In

News Analysis: 'First Mile' Ethernet Hits Snags

RPR

News Analysis: Who Knew? Big Carriers Like RPR

Report: Resilient Packet Ring Technology

Report: Metro Multiservices Evolution

Newswire: RPR Alliance Reaches Working Ballot

News Analysis: RPR Gurus Set Fall Deadline

10-Gig Ethernet Transceivers

News Analysis The X-Wars: Agilent Strikes First

Market Stats: 10-Gig Transceiver Market Set to Soar

Report: 10-Gig Ethernet Transponders

News Analysis: Is Xenpak Past It?

— Scott Clavenna, Director of Research, and Peter Heywood, Founding Editor, Light Reading