Circuit Emulation Bandwidth Efficiency Significantly Higher than the Common Perception!

Delivering PDH service using circuit emulation over packet (CEP) standard technology enables 4006 VC-12 services in 10GE compared to 4032 services in STM-64, and 187 VC-3 services in 10GE compared to 192 services in STM-64
The need for circuit emulation: gradual replacement of PDH with Ethernet services
Low rate PDH services such as E1 and VC-12 are widely used by mobile networks to deliver voice, and are used by enterprises to privately connect remote sites. Similar usage is done with higher rate PDH services such as E3 and VC-3. Ethernet services, however, are capable of delivering the same QoS, levels of reliability and availability for a significantly larger bandwidth at substantially lower prices. Therefore, it is in the best interest of both the subscriber and service provider to gradually replace PDH with Ethernet services.

PDH circuit emulation: services encapsulation into standard packets

Circuit emulation technologies are robust, standard and interoperable and widely used in Packet Transport Networks (PTN). Additionally, Circuit Emulation over Packet (CEP RFC 4842) is a highly efficient , protocol that enables both PDH and SDH services over unified PTN. When encapsulating PDH services to Ethernet/MPLS, a few bytes of overhead are added. This leads industry observers to incorrectly perceive this as a significant drawback of the technology. Encapsulation is demonstrated in the following figure:

Figure #1: PDH services encapsulation into standard Ethernet/MPLS packet

Pushing technology to the edge

2011 Orckit-Corrigent www.orckit.com

Number of PDH services when using circuit emulation in high capacity networks
The following example calculates the number of VC-12 and VC-3 services that are delivered in a 10GE tunnel using circuit emulation technology. Native PDH is the reference: 192 VC-3 or 4032 VC-12 services in a STM-64 tunnel. As shown in figure #2, the encapsulation overhead becomes negligible and 187 VC-3 or 4006 VC-12 services are delivered in a 10GE tunnel.

Summary and conclusions

Next generation telecommunication is based heavily on packet based technologies for enterprise VPN, mobile backhaul and residential triple play services. However, existing PDH infrastructure is slowly being phased out, while existing TDM services require a strategic migration strategy. As demonstrated in this document, circuit emulation is a highly efficient technology that when used with CEP standard for PDH migration to packet is future proof and cost optimized. Any other alternative of using native PDH networking gear adds additional: Capex: PDH hardware Opex: double fibers - for SDH and Ethernet Bandwidth: MPLS protection is 1:1 while SNCP is 1+1. As a result, double bandwidth efficiency which can be used for excess data traffic is achievable in achievable in PTN solutions Complexity: two dedicated networks, each with its own OAM, and management

PDH service
E1 and VC-12 E3 and VC-3

Natively: # of services in STM-64

4032 192

Circuit emulation: # of services in 10GE

4006 187

Circuit emulation efficiency

99.4% 97.4%

Figure #2: Calculation of PDH services using circuit emulation in 10GE

Pushing technology to the edge

2011 Orckit-Corrigent www.orckit.com

Orckit facilitates telecommunication providers delivery of high capacity broadband residential, business and mobile services over wireline or wireless networks with its Orckit-Corrigent family of products. With 20 years of field experience with Tier-1 customers located around the world and sound leadership, Orckit has a firm foothold in the ever-developing world of telecommunication. Orckit-Corrigents product portfolio includes Packet Transport Network (PTN) switches - an MPLS and MPLSTP dual stack based portfolio enabling advanced packet as well as legacy services over packet networks with a wide set of transport features. Orckit-Corrigent markets its products directly and indirectly through strategic alliances, as well as distribution and reseller partners worldwide. Orckit was founded in 1990 and went public in 1996. The company is active in APAC, Western and Eastern Europe, and America. For more information please visit www.orckit.com.