Extreme Networks Carrier Ethernet Transport Solution Overview

Maximizing Revenue Opportunities with Key Benefits of Extreme Networks

Converged IP Services over Ethernet Transport Carrier Ethernet Solutions
Increase Network Longevity
Carriers all over the world are facing explosive demand for bandwidth, • Powerful Ethernet Transport solutions
driven by residential triple-play, business Ethernet, mobile backhaul, and designed for carriers delivering residential
wholesale Ethernet services. In an effort to keep up with demand, they are triple-play, business Ethernet, mobile
deploying next generation networks that provide converged IP services backhaul, and wholesale Ethernet services
over a common transport network
over a common Ethernet transport infrastructure. Converging IP services
over a common transport network, however, increases operational com- • Wide range of high-performance 10 GbE
plexity. With potentially hundreds of thousands of subscribers with varying and 100 GbE-ready Ethernet Transport
service requirements, the complexity of provisioning, troubleshooting, and systems built to support the explosive
video traffic demand
maximizing network efficiency increases significantly.
• Simplified service engineering that
Meanwhile, both residential and business subscribers are constantly on maximizes network efficiency
the lookout for new services that offer them the best possible value. Lower Operational Expenses with
With intensified competition, carriers must differentiate themselves by Easy-to-Operate Next-Generation
rapidly deploying new, compelling services and creating the best possible Networks
subscriber experience.
• Point-and-click service provisioning that
significantly reduces operator errors
These challenges drive the carriers’ requirement for high-performance during service roll-outs
Ethernet Transport solutions that are more affordable, simpler to
• Lower annual maintenance expenses due
operate and flexible enough to meet the rapidly changing requirements of
to reduced number of network elements,
the industry. lower service contract cost, and lower
power and space requirements
Extreme Networks® offers a broad portfolio of high-performance Carrier
Ethernet Transport solutions which provide the flexibility that service Enhance Subscriber Experience with
providers need to meet the growing demand for IP and Ethernet services Proactive Service Management
within budget while offering room for growth without major reinvestments. • Industry-leading resilient Ethernet ring
Ethernet Transport’s simplification of the network yields significant savings protocol for service continuity
in both capital expenses (CapEx) and operational expenses (OpEx) by • Service management software with
requiring less equipment to aggregate traffic from more services as well as visual service monitoring for simplified
simplifying the operational model. Extreme Networks Carrier Ethernet troubleshooting
Transport solutions enable carriers to monetize their networks by shifting • Industry standard Ethernet OA&M to
from reactive circuit monitoring to proactive service management. accelerate resolution to service problems
 Extreme Networks Carrier Ethernet Transport Solution Overview
Carrier Ethernet Services
Increase Cost Savings with
Residential and Business Services
over Ethernet Transport
Aggregating residential triple play, Metro Ethernet
Forum (MEF)-certified business Ethernet, Ethernet
mobile backhaul and wholesale Ethernet services on
a common Ethernet transport network allows
carriers to get the most out of their investment in
Ethernet infrastructure. Rather than deploying
separate overlay networks to handle each service,
the migration to Ethernet Transport allows network
operators to deploy a common transport network to
deliver an array of IP services today with the capac-
ity to offer more services in the future. Simplified
operations coupled with powerful service monitoring
and control provide differentiated services and
superior subscriber experience. CapEx savings can
arise from better utilization of equipment, and when
properly managed, a single converged Ethernet
Transport network yields OpEx savings as well.
Residential Triple-Play Services
Residential triple-play services bundle video, voice
over IP, and high-speed Internet access over a
converged network, eliminating the expense of build-
ing multiple overlay networks to provide these
services to the end user. Advanced services such as
high-definition broadcasts, video-on-demand, and
network-hosted digital video recording quickly drive
bandwidth capacity requirements on access rings to
10 Gbps. Softswitch deployments that empower VoIP
and IP Centrex solutions look to Ethernet interfaces
for next-generation deployments.
Business Ethernet Services
Traditional T1/E1 TDM and SONET/SDH point-to-point
services no longer provide the price and performance
business customers expect as they upgrade their
data centers and connect their enterprises. New
business Ethernet services defined by the MEF have
emerged that deliver more bandwidth at a lower cost.
These new business Ethernet services were designed
to capture the features that helped frame relay to
become so popular (including fractional rate services
and committed information rates) while allowing
user-network-interface (UNI) speeds to advance up
to 10 Gbps today and 100 Gbps in the future.
© 2010 Extreme Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.
The MEF defines two service types to address the
business market: E-Line and E-LAN services. E-Line
services are point-to-point Ethernet services which
replace expensive TDM leased lines and point-to-point
frame relay with a higher bandwidth, lower cost
solution. E-Line services include Ethernet Private
Line (EPL) services with dedicated point-to-point
bandwidth commitments, and Ethernet Virtual
Private Line (EVPL) services with shared
point-to-point bandwidth. E-LAN services are
multipoint Ethernet services which replace multi-
point frame relay or Asynchronous Transfer Mode
(ATM) services with a higher bandwidth, lower
cost-per-bit solution.
Ethernet Mobile Backhaul Services
As data services grow increasingly prevalent on
mobile devices, the demand for bandwidth is rapidly
exceeding the capacity of T1/E1 TDM mobile
backhaul services. Newer mobile technologies like
LTE and WiMAX use Ethernet for mobile backhaul.
Together these trends are driving forecasts of
explosive growth in Ethernet mobile backhaul
services. Ethernet mobile backhaul services drive
stringent requirements for timing and synchronization
that are enabled by hierarchical quality of service.
Wholesale Ethernet Services
Local carriers sell wholesale Ethernet access
services to global service providers, allowing these
global carriers to provide end-to-end services to
their subscribers around the world. A good example
is when a business subscriber whose branch offices
are dispersed throughout many different regions
would like to purchase a business E-LAN service
from a global carrier. Since the E-LAN service must
span across multiple regions, the global carrier
must purchase Ethernet access lines from various
local carriers in order to provide the end-to-end
E-LAN service. A key feature is the Ethernet
Network-to-Network Interface (E-NNI) which
serves as the demarcation point between the
different carriers.
Carrier Ethernet Transport Solution Overview — Page 2
 Extreme Networks Carrier Ethernet Transport Solution Overview
Carrier Ethernet Transport Reference Architecture
Carriers delivering residential triple play, business
Ethernet, mobile backhaul, and wholesale Ethernet
services look to Ethernet Transport to reliably deliver
subscriber traffic to and from the IP services core.
Extreme Networks Carrier Ethernet Transport Refer-
ence Architecture provides a set of easily managed
building blocks that allow a graceful transition to
next-generation networks, and a clear path to scaling
service delivery for future high-bandwidth services.
The primary building block in the Carrier Ethernet
Figure 1. Carrier Ethernet Transport Reference Architecture
Subscriber
The choice of customer premises equipment (CPE)
varies with the type of access and speed of service.
For residential triple play there are typically two
alternative approaches: active Ethernet and passive
optical networking (PON). Active Ethernet provides
high-bandwidth premium services to single-family and
multi-tenant dwellings, relying on an Ethernet switch
for CPE. Alternatively, when fiber assets are scarce
and subscriber data rates are lower, PON access may
be preferred. PON uses an optical network termina-
tion (ONT) device to deliver services to the subscriber.
Extreme Networks provides active Ethernet solutions
and works with global partners for PON solutions.
© 2010 Extreme Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.
Transport Reference Architecture is the 10 Gigabit
Ethernet Access ring (see Figure 1). Next-generation
Ethernet Transport networks reuse many elements from
earlier SONET/SDH network architectures, including
resilient fiber rings for access, and stacked rings for
metro aggregation. Carrier Ethernet Transport networks
are composed of switching equipment located at the
Subscriber, Ethernet Access central office, and Access
Aggregation central office.
For business Ethernet services, multi-tenant sub-
scribers are served by an Ethernet Transport switch
placed in a multi-tenant unit wiring closet to serve
all the tenants in a building. Larger businesses are
served directly from the Ethernet Transport switch
in the Ethernet Access central office. In both cases,
the business subscriber CPE is an Ethernet switch. It
may be owned and managed by the carrier or
provided by the subscriber. For Ethernet mobile
backhaul services, Ethernet Transport switches are
deployed at the mobile radio tower.
Carrier Ethernet Transport Solution Overview — Page 3
 Extreme Networks Carrier Ethernet Transport Solution Overview

Ethernet Access

Ethernet Access provides the first level of aggregation in Ethernet Aggregation

the Carrier Ethernet Transport Reference Architecture.
Ethernet Aggregation provides the next level of scale in
10 GbE Access Rings collect traffic from Ethernet
the Carrier Ethernet Transport Reference Architecture.
Access central offices and aggregate the traffic at the
Each Ethernet Aggregation central office serves up to 64
Access Aggregation central office.
line-rate 10G Ethernet access rings. Access Aggregation
central offices connect directly with or co-locate at the
In each Ethernet Access central office, an Ethernet
carrier data center, providing high-speed access to
Transport switch serves the subscriber Ethernet access
content and global connectivity. For larger deployments,
link. In the case of PON for residential services, the PON
multiple Access Aggregation central offices are linked
optical line terminal (OLT) resides in the Ethernet
via multiple 10G Ethernet Aggregation rings to the
Access central office and aggregates traffic over GbE
metro core central office (see Application 2). The
and 10 GbE links to the Ethernet Transport switch.
Ethernet Transport switch at the metro core provides
Multiple Ethernet Access central offices share one or
high-density 10 GbE connectivity between access
more 10G Ethernet Access rings for connectivity back to
aggregation central offices. Over time, the Ethernet
the Access Aggregation central office.
Aggregation portion of the network is the most likely
target for eventual upgrades to 100 GbE.
Ethernet Access networks are provisioned as resilient
Ethernet rings to take advantage of existing investment
in SONET/SDH fiber topologies and business processes.
Since SONET/SDH fiber deployments are in rings, the
resilient Ethernet access ring allows reuse of existing
fiber routes. Ring topologies have long been understood
to provide superior resiliency compared with mesh or
hub-and-spoke architectures given the cost of deploying
fiber relative to the cost of the switching equipment.

Extreme Networks Ethernet Automatic Protection

Switching protocol (EAPS, RFC 3619) is an industry-
leading resilient Ethernet ring protocol, deployed on
thousands of rings in carrier networks around the world.
Thanks to over seven years of experience in carrier
networks, EAPS provides advanced support for resilient
Ethernet rings not found in alternative approaches
including subtended rings, dual-node interconnect, and
spatial reuse. EAPS enables service continuity across
alternate routes when a link in a ring fails.

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 Extreme Networks Carrier Ethernet Transport Solution Overview

Extreme Networks Carrier Ethernet Transport Solutions

Summit and BlackDiamond Ethernet Transport Switches

Extreme Networks fixed-configuration Summit® and modular BlackDiamond® Ethernet Transport switches enable
carriers to deploy next-generation networks that gracefully expand the number of high-bandwidth services offered to
their subscribers while enhancing their subscribers’ experience with a network optimized for operational simplicity.

The BlackDiamond 20800 series delivers superior system capacity with up to 64 line-rate 10 GbE ports in a single
chassis that is 100 GbE ready. These high-performance switches deliver more services to more subscribers,
resulting in a network with fewer elements that costs less to operate. The Summit family of switches are fixed-
configuration 1RU switches supporting 10/100/1000 Mbps to 10 GbE line-rates and are ideal for Ethernet access,
Access Aggregation, or Customer Premises Equipment depending on the type of deployment.

All Extreme Networks Ethernet Transport switches share the same software foundation, the ExtremeXOS®
operating system. A common operating system for the entire network greatly simplifies management and opera-
tions. The modular architecture of ExtremeXOS also provides outstanding service availability.

Extreme Networks Ethernet Transport switches are MEF-certified and USDA RUS accepted as shown in Figure 2.

Ridgeline Service Advisor

Extreme Networks Ridgeline™ Service Advisor is service management software designed to accelerate revenue,
enhance subscriber experience, and maximize network efficiency. Features include point-and-click provisioning
that significantly reduces operator errors during service fulfillment; and detailed service and transport visualization
and industry-standard OA&M capabilities that provide service assurance. Simplified service engineering via
network discovery and a powerful visual interface allow carriers to maximize network efficiency.

Table 1 provides a summary of Extreme Networks recommended Carrier Ethernet Transport products for rural
and metro deployments.

Table 1. Extreme Networks Recommended Product Mix

Subscriber
Ethernet Ethernet Access
Deployment Access Line Subscriber Access Aggregation Metro Core Services
Type Rate CPE CO CO CO Management
Summit X450a
Ridgeline
Rural Up to 1 Gig Summit X250e or Summit X480 –
Service Advisor
Summit X480
BlackDiamond Ridgeline
Rural Up to 10 Gig Summit X450a Summit X650 –
20804 Service Advisor
BlackDiamond
BlackDiamond Ridgeline
Metro/Regional Up to 1 Gig Summit X250e Summit X480 20804 or
20808 Service Advisor
Summit X480
BlackDiamond BlackDiamond Ridgeline
Metro/Regional Up to 10 Gig Summit X450a Summit X650
20804 20808 Service Advisor

© 2010 Extreme Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. Carrier Ethernet Transport Solution Overview — Page 5
 Extreme Networks Carrier Ethernet Transport Solution Overview

Extreme Networks Carrier Ethernet Transport Solutions

Figure 2. Extreme Networks Carrier Ethernet Transport Solutions

Extreme Networks Carrier Support Team

Our Global Carrier TAC and Professional Services Team provide expertise in every phase of the network lifecycle
including assistance in the assessment, design, implementation, operation, and optimization of the network.

Tailored professional services solutions include:

• Carrier Ethernet Professional Services
• Carrier Ethernet Knowledge Transfer (Training)
• Carrier TAC with Premier Services Program Foundation

Additionally, Extreme Networks ExtremeWorks® maintenance and support program offers carriers technical
assistance around the clock, around the world. Operations are located in Raleigh, North Carolina and Santa Clara,
California; Utrecht, the Netherlands; and Tokyo, Japan.

© 2010 Extreme Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. Carrier Ethernet Transport Solution Overview — Page 6
 Extreme Networks Extreme
Carrier Ethernet Transport
Networks Carrier Solution
Ethernet Overview
Solution Overview

Network Applications

Extreme Networks Carrier Ethernet Transport solutions support a variety of applications. This section provides
sample network configurations and recommended products for some of the many applications of Ethernet Transport.

Application 1: Residential Triple Play in Suburban or Rural Areas

Extreme Networks Summit X480 switch is used for Ethernet Access Aggregation, and is an excellent choice for
suburban or rural residential triple play deployments (see Figure 3). In this application, the Summit X480 switch in
the Access Aggregation central office serves multiple Gigabit Ethernet Access Rings. Each Ethernet Access Ring
serves multiple Ethernet Access central offices. Each Ethernet Access central office in this example is also equipped
with the Summit X480 for 10/100 Ethernet access. The Summit X480 supports up to 512K MAC addresses, providing
outstanding subscriber and services scalability. In this example, the VoIP softswitch, video content, and Internet
access is co-located at the access aggregation central office.

Figure 3. Residential Triple Play Reference Architecture

for Rural or Suburban Area

Key Technology: IEEE 802.1ad Provider Bridges (PB)

Provider Bridges (PB) gives carriers a simple way to scale networks beyond Ethernet’s early limitation of 4,096 VLANs.
This feature was pioneered by Extreme Networks, originally called Q-in-Q, and is now an IEEE standard known as
802.1ad Provider Bridges. With PB, a second 802.1Q VLAN tag is inserted into the Ethernet packet, called the provider
tag. The carrier can then ignore the customer’s VLAN tag and only switch traffic based upon the outer provider tag. PB
has been widely deployed by carriers around the world, and is sometimes referred to as tag stacking, or VLAN stack-
ing. PB has been available on Extreme Networks switches since 2000.

Key Technology: RFC 3619 Ethernet Automatic Protection Switching Protocol (EAPS)
In the past, carriers relied on the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) to provide a certain level of redundancy in their aggregation
networks. However, STP has been proven inadequate to provide the level of resiliency required for real-time applications
such as voice and video services. Extreme Networks Ethernet Automatic Protection Switching protocol (EAPS, RFC 3619) is
an industry-leading resilient Ethernet ring protocol, deployed on thousands of rings in carrier networks around the world.
EAPS provides advanced support for resilient Ethernet rings not found in alternative approaches including subtended rings,
dual-node interconnect, and spatial reuse among others. EAPS enables service continuity across alternate routes when links
fail. Extreme Networks EAPS (RFC 3619) protocol is capable of 50ms recovery time from ring failures in most cases without
impacting the quality of these real-time services, a dramatic improvement over the time it takes using the STP.

© 2010 Extreme Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. Carrier Ethernet Transport Solution Overview — Page 7
 Extreme Networks Extreme
Carrier Ethernet Transport
Networks Carrier Solution
Ethernet Overview
Solution Overview

Network Applications

Application 2: Converged Residential, Business and Mobile Backhaul

Service in Metro Areas
In metro areas, regional and global carriers often deploy a stacked ring architecture that adds an Ethernet
Aggregation tier to the Ethernet Access Ring Architecture previously described (see Figure 4). In this
configuration, multiple Access Aggregation central offices are served by multiple 10G Ethernet Aggregation
rings from a Metro Core central office. As before, the Ethernet Access central offices are equipped with either
Summit X480 or Summit X650 Ethernet Transport switches, and the Ethernet Aggregation central office is
equipped with BlackDiamond 20804 Ethernet Transport switches. To this we add the BlackDiamond 20808 to
the Metro Core central office.

The high-performance BlackDiamond 20800 series Ethernet Transport switches are an excellent choice for
high-density deployments. These switches provide high-density 10 GbE with 120 Gbps per slot switching
capacity today, with future hardware upgrade to 100 GbE access and an industry-leading 480 Gbps per slot
capacity. The BlackDiamond 20800 series uses the same power supplies, I/O modules and management modules,
lowering total cost of ownership by reducing the number of spares and increasing the reusability of components
and business processes as networks grow over time.

Figure 4. Metro Triple Play, Business Ethernet and Mobile

Backhaul Services Reference Architecture

Key Technology: Hierarchical Quality of Service (H-QoS)

H-QoS allows the carrier to assign a committed rate and a peak rate per port, per subscriber and per application.
There are two common ways that this is implemented, one for business services and one for residential services.
For business services, H-QoS can be deployed with a Q-in-Q stacked VLAN per subscriber and a VLAN per applica-
tion. For residential services the model is typically a VLAN per subscriber and applications defined by Class of
Service (CoS) field in the VLAN tag or by DSCP in the IP header. These approaches allow a straightforward way to
determine network load, easing the network planning burden while working to assure QoS for subscribers.

© 2010 Extreme Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. Carrier Ethernet Transport Solution Overview — Page 8
 Extreme Networks Extreme
Carrier Ethernet Transport
Networks Carrier Solution
Ethernet Overview
Solution Overview

Network Applications

Application 3: Metro Business E-LAN Services with Provider Backbone

Bridges (PBB)
Extreme Networks Ethernet Transport PBB solution is optimal for offering native Ethernet E-LAN services. The
multipoint-to-multipoint capability bridges subscriber packets across a provider backbone so the subscriber and
provider networks are separate and isolated, improving scalability. In this configuration, PBB simplifies the
scaling of Ethernet Aggregation networks.

The technology provides a simple expansion path for carriers currently running Q-in-Q networks, and a short
learning curve speeds ramp-up time of network staff. These deployments typically use a ring topology running
EAPS for network resiliency.

Figure 5. Business E-LAN Services with PBB Reference Architecture

Key Technology: IEEE 802.1ah Provider Backbone Bridges

PBB greatly improves the scalability of Ethernet networks. PBB bridges the subscriber packets across a provider
backbone by adding a second MAC address to each packet header. The new MAC address is used by all of the
switches in the core and hides the vast number of end-user MAC addresses, eliminating the need for large MAC
tables which drive up equipment costs.

In current metro Ethernet networks, the number of 802.1ad Provider Bridges (PB) is limited to 4,096 by the
number of bits in the vMAN ID. When scaling to larger networks beyond the basic metro, more connections are
often required to serve the larger subscriber base. PBB solves this problem by extending the service identifier
field in the packet header, allowing for a possible 16 million service instances.

PBB also works in conjunction with the 802.1ad Provider Bridges VLAN stacking standard to allow both techniques
to be used simultaneously. This allows a simple expansion path for providers who have already implemented a PB
architecture. Rather than altering their existing network design, they can transition to PBB technology, giving them
significant improvements in scalability while maintaining the economic benefits of Ethernet.

© 2010 Extreme Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. Carrier Ethernet Transport Solution Overview — Page 9
 Extreme Networks Extreme
Carrier Ethernet Transport
Networks Carrier Solution
Ethernet Overview
Solution Overview

Network Applications

Application 4: E-Line and E-LAN Services over VPLS

A common approach to delivering business E-Line and E-LAN services is with Virtual Private LAN services
(VPLS). Communications among subscribers will take place as if over a single local area network. Summit X250e
is deployed at the customer premises and Summit X480 at the Ethernet Access central office, then connected to
the VPLS-enabled BlackDiamond 20804 Ethernet Transport switch at the Access Aggregation central office. For
carriers with business customers demanding logical separation for each department across the wide area
network (WAN), E-LAN services allow them to do so using a single physical corporate network. The connections
are separated using the 802.1Q VLAN tagging protocol, and traffic flows on each virtual network are kept
confined to that network only.

Figure 6. Business E-LAN Services with VPLS Reference Architecture

Key Technology: Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS)

VPLS is a technology that connects disparate Ethernet LANs over the WAN so that they appear to subscribers
as a single Ethernet LAN. Carriers can offer reliable business services to organizations with geographically
dispersed offices without the high costs associated with providing such services using legacy SDH networks.
Unlike legacy networks, VPLS provides both operational flexibility and cost advantages by making it possible to
offer bandwidth “increments” on an as-needed basis to multiple subscribers. Bandwidth usage can be billed
accordingly. VPLS also overcomes some of the same scaling issues around PB service instances that are also
addressed with PBB.

© 2010 Extreme Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. Carrier Ethernet Transport Solution Overview — Page 10
 Extreme
Extreme Networks
Networks Service Provider Solution
Carrier Ethernet Solution Overview
Overview

Carrier Ethernet Architecture

Summary
Extreme Networks high-performance Carrier by requiring less equipment to aggregate traffic from
Ethernet Transport solutions provide service provid- more services and supporting a simplified operational
ers the flexibility they need to meet the growing model. Extreme Networks Carrier Ethernet Transport
demand for IP and Ethernet services within budget solutions enable carriers to monetize their network by
while offering ample room for growth without major shifting from reactive circuit monitoring to proactive
reinvestments. Ethernet Transport’s simplification of service management, which accelerates revenue,
the network yields significant savings in both capital enhances subscriber experience and maximizes
expenses (CapEx) and operational expenses (OpEx) network efficiency.

Corporate Europe, Middle East, Africa Asia Pacific Japan

and North America and South America Phone +65 6836 5437 Phone +81 3 5842 4011
Extreme Networks, Inc. Phone +31 30 800 5100
3585 Monroe Street
www.extremenetworks.com Santa Clara, CA 95051 USA
Phone +1 408 579 2800

© 2010 Extreme Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. Extreme Networks, the Extreme Networks Logo, BlackDiamond, ExtremeWorks, ExtremeXOS, Ridgeline and Summit are
either registered trademarks or trademarks of Extreme Networks, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Specifications are subject to change without notice.
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