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Optimizing triple & quadruple play
As voice revenues decrease, operators are adopting triple or quadruple play broadband services. One challenge here is efficient management of broadband resources over multiple network domains.
September 21, 2006
The European Union’s MUSE (Multi-Service Access Everywhere) research project on Broadband Access has the slogan Broadband for All. Its overall objective is to develop a low cost, multi-service access network, with focus on the nodes between access layer and IP networks.
Supporting MUSE, Ericsson's R&D experimental Butterfly project aims to show how a new and innovative multi-access, multi-edge and multi-service solution with "resource management" can allow future multimedia communication and ensure the desired quality of service in fixed networks.
This guaranteed quality will enable new services, such as IP-TV, and increase network efficiency, benefiting both the operators and the end users.
With experimental systems at the premises of MUSE partners TNO in the Netherlands and Acreo in Sweden, Ericsson has attracted the attention of some leading operators. Something that sounds complicated in theory becomes obvious when demonstrated in a live system.
Guaranteed service levels
Jan Söderström, director of Broadband Networks at Ericsson Research and project owner for Butterfly, says the team is now building advanced nodes between the access layer and the IP backbone that can provide these new services and handle all types of non-cellular access.
The “access edge” node (sometimes called edge-router) is of central importance here. The existing Broadband Remote-Access Server (BRAS) router, optimized for dial-up internet access, can then be replaced by a new access edge site, with several new features for IPTV, voice, nomadic mobility (not true handover mobility but connected everywhere) and more.
Sylvain Monette, from the Ericsson R&D Center in Montreal, Canada, and lead architect of the experimental system, says the intent with the proposed solution is to give equal access to end users and guarantee a certain service level. "The end user can choose the operator and the service provider, be identified and authorized, and then subscribe to get the desired service."
This is where the resource manager function plays an important role: it identifies the end-points and sees if there is enough capacity in the network. It also prioritizes resources and identifies time-critical data packets to give users the capacity they need through dynamic resource control.
One research target this year is to demonstrate interactive IPTV using the Butterfly experimental system. Eventually Ericsson will offer a total end-to-end solution for broadband Ethernet, converging fixed and mobile networks.
