IP Service Provisioning

In the current soft economy, the increasing importance of IP-based services to service providers’ bottom lines has placed IP network back-office systems under the microscope. The capability of IP service provisioning technologies and systems to deliver more cost-effective and efficient delivery of services – and their potential to serve as the basis for innovative, higher-value “application-centric” capabilities – makes development and implementation of a robust IP service provisioning strategy critical to near- and long-term service provider success.

As service providers (SPs) develop their Internet Protocol (IP) service provisioning strategies – in the core (long haul or metro), at the edge, and even in the data center itself – economic and technological baselines continue to move. Customers are demanding more capability, at lower cost, delivered almost instantaneously. It is a whirlwind of possibility, potential – and problems. Let’s take a look at the potential, the underlying technologies, the challenges, and the possible solutions for SPs that are relying more and more on revenues from IP services.

Potentially Powerful

Analysts and industry insiders agree that IP services – including long-haul and metro “big bandwidth,” IP on demand, voice or data VPNs (virtual private networks), storage and disaster recovery services, video, content delivery, electronic commerce, supplier and distributor networks – will contribute billions of dollars in SP revenues. Additionally, the continuing transition of enterprise voice and data traffic (and dollars) from existing PSTN, Frame Relay, ATM, and Sonet-based networks to those founded upon DWDM and IP make efficient and effective provisioning of IP-based services a business essential. Customers also continue to demand services more quickly, surrounded by stringent service-level agreements (SLAs) for not only availability and latency but also service delivery and upgrade capacity.

So it is that IP service provisioning must not only encompass traditional in-network capabilities but must also extend all the way to the customer and, potentially, across network and SP boundaries.



How to realize this powerful potential? Potential that can reduce service delivery costs, while differentiating those IP services from competitors in terms of speed, flexibility, and reliability. The first step is the technology.

Read on to learn about:

— Debra S. Mielke is a Principal at Treillage Network Strategies Inc.

Want to know more? The big cheeses of the optical networking industry will be discussing IP service provisioning at Lightspeed Europe. Check it out at Lightspeed Europe 02.

The core technologies that turn the IP service switch to "on" are siblings – Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) and Generalized MPLS (GMPLS). These label-switching “fraternal twins” provide a packet forwarding scheme – and, in the case of GMPLS, a control plane – that encompasses devices as diverse as optical DWDM switches, end-user devices, and, potentially, business applications.

MPLS was originally developed to simplify the complex and time-consuming route lookups and address matching schemes that routers utilize to determine the next hop for a packet (decisions made by examining the destination address in the packet header). GMPLS extends MPLS to devices that switch packets in any technology domain – packet, TDM, wavelength, and fiber.

Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS)

In essence, MPLS creates virtual paths or circuits through an IP network – in contrast to traditional IP forwarding, which is packet- rather than flow-based. MPLS protocols coordinate current network topologies in real-time; MPLS extensions to OSPF and IS-IS allow label edge routers (LERs) and label switched routers (LSRs) to incorporate resource and policy information such as IP addresses, available bandwidth, and load-balancing policies. This enables the provisioning of IP services that include bandwidth guarantees or other value-added features.

Each IP service is assigned a forwarding equivalence class (FEC) that represents a group of paths or flows requiring specific performance characteristics. When IP packets enter the MPLS network, they are examined and assigned a label by the LER; they are then forwarded along a label-switched path (LSP) where each LSR forwards the packet based on the label field.

The LSP is established using a label distribution protocol based on either TE-RSVP (Traffic Engineering-Resource Reservation Protocol) or CR-LDP (Constraint-based Routing-Label Distribution Protocol). TE-RSVP requires implementation of extension to support MPLS explicit routing; CR-LDP builds upon existing LDP stacks and does not require implementation of an additional protocol. Figure 1 below illustrates MPLS in action.

Generalized Multiprotocol Label Switching (GMPLS)

GMPLS extends the MPLS protocol suite to include diverse technologies, including packet, cell, time, wavelength, and physical space (fiber) switching. This enables the establishment and management of data paths or flows. GMPLS provides a means for service providers to integrate, manage, and deliver differentiated services across their diverse technology platforms; it also allows them to reliably interconnect their networks and diverse networking platforms.

GMPLS employs a link-management protocol (LMP) to manage and maintain the control and data planes between two switching entities. LMP utilizes:

Directories, Services, Configurations, and Policy

The network path technologies are simply routes through the network – without those controlling technologies that authenticate users and applications, configure the service and network platforms, guarantee available resources, and offer Web access to end users or customers. Additionally, the IP service provisioning platform must integrate with billing and network management platforms as well as diverse access and transmission platforms from a variety of manufacturers.

Enabling technologies in these areas include:

These technologies can build paths through networks wedded to unique service quality characteristics; identify and secure users; and integrate with a variety of SP or customer back-office systems. They provide the vehicle by which SPs can deliver wholesale, bandwidth-centric SP-to-SP IP services, as well as value-added, application-centric capabilities: e.g., voice and data VPNs, e-commerce, video, content, storage, and disaster recovery. Figure 3 illustrates IP service provisioning technologies.

Integration of the protocols and technologies outlined above enables service providers of all shapes and sizes to meet the specific needs of their customers over their own network infrastructures. Some examples of IP service provisioning implementations are articulated below – however, the IP services that can be delivered using the combined capabilities of label switching and open directory and applications protocols is limited only by the SP's imagination.

Wholesale IP Transmission

Service providers offering wholesale IP capabilities will soon make use of GMPLS- and MPLS-based provisioning to offer partner SPs IP transmission services based on DWDM wavelengths or any other bandwidth increment desired. Metro and long-haul service providers – from Cogent Communications Inc. to Sprint Corp. (NYSE: FON), Level 3 Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: LVLT) to AT&T Corp. (NYSE: T) – all view MPLS and GMPLS as central to their service provisioning futures. GMPLS and MPLS allow SPs to simplify not only the engineering of the network, but the provisioning of it. For those desiring specific network performance attributes for their wholesale capabilities, the seller can also offer latency, availability, and capacity guarantees – critical in delivery of “bulk” voice or video traffic that crosses SP network boundaries.

Service Provider Choice Services

One of the more interesting capabilities enabled by the MPLS “twins” and integrated provisioning architectures is that of offering both wholesale and retail customers the ability to purchase IP capacity by service attribute and time of day. SPs such as Equinix Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX) and Paix.net Inc., which provide Internet peering services, are well positioned to do this. Theoretically, a customer of this service could bid for capacity, outlining its performance, service quality, and time requirements, as well as the price it is willing to pay. Carrier-insensitive IP services could eliminate the requirement for dual-carrier implementations and enable both SPs and enterprise customers to meet the seasonal or emergency demands of their electronic commerce, voice, video, conferencing, or storage and disaster recovery applications. Additionally, in these troubled times, choice services could provide a defense against carrier outages and business breakdowns.

Pay-for-SLA Services

One basic way for SPs to exploit the underlying technologies of MPLS and application integration is the delivery of enterprise “pay for SLA” services – especially useful in voice or video VPN solutions. SPs as diverse as Bell Nexxia, Equant (NYSE: ENT; Paris: EQU), and Masergy Communications Inc. now offer solutions with unique performance attributes to deliver voice, video, or even mission-critical data applications quickly and reliably. Customers, although paying a premium, still find significant cost savings with the facilities and capabilities of these services and are attracted to their flexibility and speed in provisioning upgrades as well.

David Novotny, Masergy's Senior Director of IP Applications Services Engineering states: “Masergy specializes in offering high-quality, customer-controlled services to improve business performance. Our voice and video MPLS-enabled VPNs are at the cutting edge in providing IP-based network solutions for our customers. These companies can leverage our robust provisioning tools and processes to get the quality and services they require to power their businesses.”

Bringing Value to IP Capacity

Many SPs and their platform providers believe that the future of IP provisioning is in value-added applications. Current or potential service offerings from BellSouth Corp. (NYSE: BLS), Genuity Inc. (Nasdaq: GENU), Savvis Communications Corp. (Nasdaq: SVVS), and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ), among others, include:

OpenReach Inc., a provider of VPN applications and services, believes that without a strong provisioning capability, VPNs will not reach the lofty revenue goals that service providers hope for. Simplification of the provisioning process is key for them. Cathy Gadecki, OpenReach's marketing director, states: “One of the big advantages of the OpenReach solutions is the ease with which customers can set up and maintain their IP VPN. We designed the OpenReach solutions from the ground up with simplified, customer-centric provisioning in mind.”

Taking the Provider out of Provisioning

Finally, one of the key capabilities that will enable SPs to maximize operational efficiencies of IP service provisioning systems is that of self-provisioning. Offering customers a limited, secure, Web-based interface into the provisioning system not only allows a customer to control the capacity and quality of the virtual network, it also removes the need for SP support or operations personnel to process orders for capacity upgrades (or downgrades). This saves the SP time and money while reducing the possibility of errors, enhancing customer satisfaction – and, most importantly, simplifying the purchase process.

Although many DSL providers now offer a self-setup capability, the leader in self-provisioning services for the enterprise has been Cogent. Dave Schaeffer, founder and CEO states: “Simplifying the process of provisioning our IP services has been a critical factor in our ability to not only offer customers service quickly and cost-effectively, but also in continuing Cogent’s business expansion in a difficult market. Business process efficiency is a major focus for Cogent that translates into great services at competitive prices for our customers.”

Any service provider seeking to implement a provisioning solution for its IP network architecture is confronted with a myriad of products and solutions – from point products focused on specific service layers to comprehensive end-to-end systems. Additionally, the SP must determine whether to pursue a solution based on its hardware transmission/application platforms or on a third-party solution that is vendor agnostic.

The provisioning playing field is illustrated in Figure 4 below. Although the list is far from exhaustive, representative companies from each area are included. And, of course, as new companies enter markets, others leave, and still others are acquired or shut down, this is only a "snapshot" of an ever-changing vendor landscape.

Platforms

Systems

Point Products

Although the future of IP provisioning technologies and systems is assured, service providers seeking to implement and integrate them face significant challenges. Among the hurdles to implementing the technologies that will help SPs realize both efficiencies and profitability are:

IP service provisioning technologies and systems are proving successful in improving the efficiency of SP networks and operations personnel and processes. However, to ensure the success of integrating and implementing any provisioning systems – crucial as they are to near- and long-term profitability – SPs must ensure that the systems and platforms they implement provide paths to interoperability, not only with multiple vendors and technologies, but with their existing and future OSS systems and processes.

Turning the Switch

The future belongs to IP-based networks and the management, billing, and provisioning systems that support them. Service providers are making the switch to IP service provisioning. MPLS and GMPLS are paving the way – delivering the flow-based performance characteristics required by voice, video, and mission-critical apps. And application integration technologies including XML, CORBA, and LDAP are bonding provisioning systems, not only to other back-office applications, but across service provider and customer network boundaries. As they deliver today’s capacity- and quality-based transmission services, service providers (and their customers) can visualize more application-centric capabilities on the horizon – from voice, video, and data-secure VPNs to content to storage to...