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Bridging the broadband divide

Ericsson is playing an important role in MUSE (MUlti Service access Everywhere), a research project funded by the European Union, as part of its push to make broadband services widely available.

May 28, 2004

"By building on Ethernet, MUSE shows other operators, vendors and government authorities the benefits of the broadband evolution path that we advocate and already have market solutions for," says Jan Söderström, Ericsson's director of broadband access research."We're prime innovators in this area and have a strong offering."

Ericsson has been awarded more than 40 contracts for Public Ethernet since the launch of the solution in 2002. With its Public Ethernet solution, Ericsson can provide quick rollout and high data rates at a low cost. Ericsson has participated in several EU projects for broadband, but this is by far the most extensive.

MUSE is an integrated project involving the dominating European vendors, operators and research institutes. It has received funding worth EUR 18.6 million for 2004 and 2005, and a further two years of research is planned. Ericsson will receive about 10 percent of the funds.

MUSE has set a long-term target of 80 percent broadband penetration among EU citizens. Kåre Gustafsson, Ericsson's project manager for MUSE, says that another target is to increase functionality in the network but still keep a low subscription fee of about EUR 50 a month.

"Another target is to guarantee capacity that allows triple play of simultaneous video, data and voice traffic," Gustafsson says. "The solutions should enable subscribers to get connections with a capacity of 100 megabits per second."

Ericsson's Hans Mickelsson, who is responsible for architecture and standardization in MUSE, says one of MUSE's goals is to lay the foundation for an open access network where multiple services and service providers can be offered to customers. "This will be done through the agreement on overall broadband access architecture and common efforts towards European standardization," he says.

Ericsson is responsible for a sub-project dedicated to studying the possibilities of an Ethernet-based access network. This would result in high bit rates at a low cost, and will work over copper lines as well as with fiber and wireless-access solutions.

Ericsson is also looking into future deployment of data transfer over IPv6. Telecoms vendor Alcatel is leading a sub-project looking into what can be accomplished with existing data networks - often based on ATM in the core network and some form of DSL in the first mile - and how they can be migrated to Ethernet.

A third sub-project, led by American vendor Lucent, is investigating the possibility of using optical fiber throughout the entire network.

All three vendors are working with operators and research institutes in an overall study to evaluate service culture, multi-cast, auto-configuration of modems, billing, service distribution and more. Overall administration of MUSE is coordinated by Alcatel.

Ericsson will host a MUSE consortium meeting in Stockholm from June 21 to 24, which will be attended by over 120 participants from 33 European companies and universities.

Ericsson is represented by Broadband Access Network & Technology, which is part of Ericsson Research.

"This is an excellent way for Ericsson to improve its offering," Söderström says. "We can influence others and share their results. In the end it means more business and will increase the volume of Public Ethernet contracts we are awarded."