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Experts Guide To OTN Ebook
Experts Guide To OTN Ebook
1
Optical Transport Networking
Published by
Ciena
7035 Ridge Rd.
Hanover, MD 21076
Trademarks: Ciena, all Ciena logos, and other associated marks and logos are trade-
marks and/or registered trademarks of Ciena Corporation both within and outside
the United States of America, and may not be used without written permission.
Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:
Executive Summary........................................................................................ 7
OTN Values................................................................................................... 15
OTN Architecture......................................................................................... 16
Use Cases...................................................................................................... 33
Conclusion.................................................................................................... 36
Why Ciena?................................................................................................... 36
5
Executive Summary
Advantages of OTN
7
provide data transport in a format native to data networking. This meant
fixed frame sizes instead of the fixed frame rates inherent in SONET/
SDH. This fundamental change helps IP-based traffic to map into
OTN much more efficiently than SONET/SDH. This tight integration of
Internet Protocol (IP) and OTN via Ethernet is much more appropriate to
the modern mix of networking protocols and traffic. The 40 Gigabits per
second (Gb/s) line rate cap of SONET/SDH is no longer a barrier to data
rate increases.
8
Introduction: OTN Fundamentals
9
to support a manageable wholesaled wavelength infrastructure. It is this
original use case from which the capability of full payload transparency
originated. By 2009, it was clear that the majority of traffic carried by
OTN would be Ethernet-based, so OTN standards were enhanced to
closely align with Ethernet traffic characteristics.
In the 2009 update, G.709 was enhanced to more tightly integrate with
Ethernet data rates and packet formats. As a result, OTN and Ethernet
are now inseparable in most networks. This symbiotic relationship makes
OTN the ideal protocol for transport of Ethernet over Dense Wavelength
Division Multiplexing (DWDM) networks.
Industry observers anticipate strong OTN growth in the next few years.
According to Infonetics Research,1 a respected analyst firm in the
telecommunications industry, the OTN market was approximately $8
billion in 2013 and is expected to grow to $13 billion by 2017. That’s a
13 percent compound annual growth rate—faster than the projected
growth in the general optical networking market. Infonetics further
expects OTN switching to eventually become a de facto standard for
WDM networks: 89 percent of carriers surveyed have implemented or
intend to implement OTN switching by 2016.
1
Infonetics Research, OTN and Packet-Optical Hardware - Biannual Worldwide Market
Share, Size, and Forecasts, March 2014
10
What Makes OTN Essential?
OTN offers specific benefits in backbone and metro core networks, thanks
to the complementary nature of IP and OTN. OTN-based IP backbones
and metro cores offer significant advantages over traditional WDM-based
networks, including increased efficiency, reliability around 99.999 percent,
and wavelength–based private services. The combination of IP over OTN
also offers better management and monitoring, reduced hops, protection
of services, and reduced costs for equipment acquisition. In addition to
scaling the network to 100G and beyond, OTN plays a key role in making
the network an open and programmable platform, making it possible for
transport to become as important as computing and storage in intelligent
data center networking.
11
This technological adaptability makes OTN a fitting platform upon
which organizations modernize their networks. By supporting legacy
technologies such as SONET or SDH running concurrently with other
clients on the same network infrastructure, organizations can gracefully
transition to OTN in phases, without requiring wholesale replacement of
the underlying optical network infrastructure.
12
and tenants separate, organizations can effectively stop hackers
who access one part of the network from gaining access to other
parts of the network.
• Robust yet simple operations: OTN network management
data is carried on a separate channel, completely isolated from
user application data. This means OTN network settings are
much more difficult to access and modify by gaining admittance
through a client interface port.
13
Since then, network traffic has increased exponentially, outgrowing the
capacities of SONET and SDH.
14
Table 1: Comparison of SONET and OTN
OTN SONET/SDH
Asynchronous mapping of payloads Synchronous mapping of payloads
Timing distribution not required Requires tight timing distribution
across networks
Designed to operate on multiple Designed to operate on multiple
wavelengths (DWDM) wavelengths
Scales to 100 Gb/s (and beyond) Scales to a maximum of 40 Gb/s
Performs single-stage multiplexing Performs multi-stage multiplexing
Uses a variable frame size and Uses a fixed frame rate for a given line
increases the frame size as client size rate and increases frame size (or uses
increases concatenation of multiple frames) as
client size increases
FEC sized for error correction to Not applicable (no standardized FEC)
correct 16 blocks per frame
OTN is asynchronous and thus does not require the complex and costly
timing distribution and verification of SONET/SDH. Instead, OTN
includes per-service timing adjustments to carry both asynchronous
(GbE, ESCON) and synchronous (OC-3/12/48, STM-1/4/16, SDI)
services. OTN can additionally multiplex these services into a common
wavelength.
OTN Values
15
next-generation optical network that offers 100 Gb/s speeds today,
while maintaining support for legacy SONET/SDH devices during the
transition period. Other technical advantages of OTN include:
OTN Architecture
The Optical channel Payload Unit (OPU) contains the payload frames.
The ‘service layer’ represents the end-user services such as GbE, SONET,
SDH, FC, or any other protocol. For transparently mapped services such
as ESCON, GbE, or FC, the service is passed through a Generic Framing
Procedure (GFP) mapper.
16
OTN Values in a Nutshell
17
supports the General Communication Channel (GCC) bytes for overhead
communication between network nodes. The GCC is used for OAM
functions such as performance monitoring, fault detection, and signaling
and maintenance commands in support of protection switching,
fault sectionalization, service-level reporting, and control plane
communications. The physical layer maps the OTU into a wavelength
and the Optical Channel (OCh), which runs across the optical line. Figure
1 shows the OTM hierarchy for overhead communication between
network nodes.
An Optical Multiplex Section (OMS) sits between two devices and can
multiplex wavelengths onto a fiber, as shown in Figure 2. An Optical
Transmission Section (OTS) consists of the fiber between anything that
performs an optical function on the signal. An Erbium-Doped Fiber
Amplifier (EDFA) counts as ‘line amplifying’ equipment. OTN offers six
levels of tandem connection monitoring that enable a network operator
to monitor a signal as it passes through other operators’ networks. This
functional breakdown aids in fault management, as OTN overhead is
rigorously aligned with these points.
18
OCH
OMS
fiber
WDM
OTS OTS OTS Mux/Demux
Figure 2: OTN Line Structure Breakdown
SONET/SDH
10GbE
SONET/SDH
10GbE
Video
1GbE Video
1GbE
Figure 3: OTN Supports Different Types of Services over the Same Wavelength
19
A cornerstone of OTN is transparency. Transparent payloads, a
transparent multiplex hierarchy, and transparent timing are all inherent
OTN features. OTN’s transparency enables the transport of any service
without interfering with the client payload, OAM, or timing. This is
important when offering wholesale services for third-party providers and
for connecting equipment that may utilize the client OAM for overhead
communications. Note that OTN is a single global standard adopted
without modification worldwide.
OTN rates are equal to or higher than the bit rates of the client traffic.
There are basically two types of mappings into an ODU: transparent
and non-transparent. Transparent maps the complete client payload
into an ODU (so the OTN rate is higher than the client rate), whereas
non-transparent mapping removes some of the client signal overhead
to conserve network capacity. More ODUs can be mapped into an OTU
using this mapping strategy. Some key OTN line rates defined by the
G.709 standard are listed in Table 2, and Table 3 lists the standardized
ODUk rates of G.709. Additional rates are in development in the ITU for
more clients and faster lines.
20
Table 3: Standard ODUk Rates
21
Encapsulation
Container
~1.25Gb/s Line
1GbE ODU0 Container
~2.7Gb/s
ODU1
OC-48/ OTU1
ODU1
STM-16
ODUflex: an interger number of tributary slots
Any bit rate ODUflex of an OPUk (OPU2, OPU3, OPU4)
~10.7Gb/s
ODU2
10G, 10GbE ODU2 OTU2
WAN PHY
~11.1Gb/s
10GbE LAN ODU2e OTU2e
PHY
~43.0Gb/s
ODU3
OTU3
40G ODU3
ODU4 ~111.8Gb/s
~104Gb/s OTU4
100G ODU4
used when a client signal does not need further aggregation within
the optical carrier (wavelength), and HO is used when sub-wavelength
grooming and/or multiplexing is required. Note that 10G refers to a line
rate, regardless of the type of traffic being transported, while 10GbE
refers to Ethernet traffic operating at 10Gb/s.
One of the key advantages of OTN is its support of FEC in the OTU
frame, which is standardized in ITU G.975. This overhead is added to
the last part of the frame before it gets scrambled for transmission. FEC
has proved to be efficient in correcting a very high number of errors in
transmission due to noise or other impairments present in high-capacity
transmissions. The standard FEC uses a Reed-Solomon RS (255/239)
coding technique, in which 239 bytes are required to compute a 16-byte
parity check. Allowing service providers to extend the distance between
optical repeaters, FEC helps reduce both capital and operational
expenses while simplifying the network topography by being able to
skip amplifier sites.
22
Services
IP-based consumer & Private connectivity
enterprise services services
Service routing –
Routing
Sub-lambda bandwidth
Switching
Carrier
management – agile
MPLS-TP OTN virtual wavelength layer,
Ethernet
decouples service rates
from line rates
Photonic
The key capabilities OTN delivers can be used to reshape the economics
of high-capacity networks. Some significant use cases and applications
of OTN are described as follows:
23
• M
ultiplexing/switching for 40G/100G lines: For years, service
providers have used OTN dedicated wavelength point-to-point
links to interconnect client equipment. These have employed
either transponder- or muxponder-based network elements.
Despite the simplicity of this approach, it can prematurely
exhaust network resources (ports, bandwidth, fiber, and so on)
because of sub-optimal capacity fill across a network. After
periods of service churn or network upgrade, it might also lead
to bandwidth fragmentation, resulting in even lower network
utilization. Introduction of OTN switches into networks can
improve wavelength fill and periodically be used to reduce
fragmentation through grooming of OTN payloads at key
locations across networks.
Because the optical lines are dedicated, the service is inflexible and
results in underutilized hardware and stranded bandwidth. These
hard-wired connections are extremely labor-intensive for engineering
and operations, and often require truck rolls for maintenance or circuit
changes.
24
Back-to-back transponders
25
1400 Point-to-Point OTN Aggregation/
muxponders Switching
1200
Deployed Wavelengths
40%
1000 reduction
100G
800
40G
600 10G
400
200
Recovered 40%
of the bandwidth
Fragmented Defragmented
Bandwidth Bandwidth
26
Figure 9: Tandem Connection Monitoring (TCM) Provides Management Visibility
at Multiple (Nested) Levels
Packet Aggregation
(with or without over-subscription)
OTN Core
Lossless Core
(with dedicated OTN links)
Packet Aggregation
(with or without over-subscription)
27
*EOL/MD “Expensive” Replacing failing Add new links
equipment capacity equipment and to extend mesh
growth “recover” spares
Step 1
Baseline Step 2
OTN
Mesh
SONET/SDH SONET/SDH
SONET/SDH SONET/SDH
Ring Ring
Ring Ring
OTN mesh
Inefficient ring overlay for Improve space Add new Evolution to
interconnect high-capicity and power footprint OADM OTN/Packet-enabled
circuits location intelligent mesh
*End of Life/Manufacturer Discontinued equipment
28
(GMPLs) control plane. The control plane automates many network
operations such as service turn-up, modification, and tear down;
maintenance planning and execution; and automatic discovery of the
network including network extensions. The control plane also provides
automatic restoration and routing of impacted traffic without human
intervention. Service feature sets can be expanded to support many
options, including various levels of service availability and dynamic
services.
• A
utomated network operations: The control plane provides
the intelligence needed to streamline operations by automating
many network operations, leading to faster service turn-up,
better management, and significantly faster service restoration.
The primary functions of the control plane include:
Automated connection management
°
Automated self-inventory and maintenance
°
Automated discovery
°
Automated restoration
°
• Tiered availability: Service providers can now design
customized, tiered service classes from a rich set of available
building blocks, as shown in Figure 12. Options can be
constructed such as restoration time (50ms, 250ms, 500ms), the
number of failures protected against (one or many), and provision
of minimal or no protection for low-priority traffic. Offering
flexible, tiered services helps expand the capability of OTN
to meet the needs of an increasing customer base while also
meeting the requirements of sophisticated applications.
• Real-time latency measurement: Complying with a maximum
latency SLA is a key factor in many OTN applications such as data
center interconnection. Latency measurements are native to OTN
and can be used to ensure SLA compliance.
29
Figure 12: Increase Network Survivability with OTN and Control Plane
Cloud
Applications
and Services
Intelligent Network
Figure 13: OTN and Control Plane as a Dynamic Pool of Resources for the Cloud
30
• O
ptical Virtual Private Networks (O-VPNs): O-VPNs enable
service providers to virtually partition their networks by allowing
specific links, wavelengths, sub-wavelengths, or even nodes to
be dedicated for use by a single customer, such as an enterprise.
As shown in Figure 14, virtual network partitions provide all of
the bandwidth, manageability, and security required, but without
the expense and inflexibility of building a completely separate
dedicated service infrastructure. O-VPNs provide a secure, high-
bandwidth private network that connects end-user sites with a
flexible, managed virtual infrastructure over fractional, single,
or multiple transparent optical wavelength connections. This is
done with a wide variety of client interfaces, including Ethernet,
OTN, SONET, SDH, Storage Area Networks (SANs), and video. In
addition, O-VPNs provide a virtual infrastructure for end users to
manage their own site-to-site connections, bandwidth allocation,
and circuit protection options within the O-VPN domain.
In Figure 14, as a way to illustrate virtualization, the Enterprise
A partition could provide high-availability mesh-protected
connections to support mission-critical applications for a variety
of packet and storage protocols. The Enterprise B partition may
be established to support cloud services in which customers can
schedule large data transfers required for storage mobility or
virtual machine migrations.
Service Provider’s
Infrastructure
31
Despite O-VPNs being offered across a service provider’s
network, they provide dedicated bandwidth to connect multiple
end-user sites in a mesh configuration with multiple parallel line
rates available, while maintaining full separation of user traffic
and restoration bandwidth. Full visibility of the network and
optional control over provisioning, protection, and bandwidth-
on-demand may also be provided using a secure, Web-based
customer portal.
OTN has been deployed into networks with increasing scope since
its inception in 1998. Hundreds of thousands of OTN ports have been
deployed and are now carrying mission-critical traffic across a wide
spectrum of applications.
32
The deployment of OTN is also expanding into new application
landscapes. For example, industry experts see an expansion of OTN
from the core of the network to its metro edge, thus extending the
benefits of service transparency and efficiency directly to end-users for
data services such as 1GbE and 10GbE. Meanwhile, the evolution of
OTN is not restricted to dry land. Instead, it is expected that all sub-sea
cable networks that currently operate over SDH will be migrating to
OTN sometime in the near future, to gain the benefit of OTN’s higher
bit rates (40 Gb/s and 100 Gb/s), latency awareness, and advanced
management features.
Use Cases
33
wavelengths, and rebalancing traffic to avoid congestion. Key benefits
realized include:
The mesh topology of OTN and native support for IP/Ethernet traffic
increases network efficiency, simplifies network architectures, and
reduces latency. By supporting multiple service line rates on one
common network, OTN provides a clear upgrade path for service
34
providers who need their network infrastructure to easily scale along
with their customers’ service requirements. To that end, OTN networks
are designed to simultaneously support services with a variety of line
rates from 1G to 10G to 40G and beyond. As a result, when a customer
requests an increase in their contracted line rate, that rise can be
implemented with just a few changes to the service provider’s network
configuration, typically requiring no upgrade to network hardware,
software, or applications. OTN-based providers can also allow for
automated, dynamic expansion and contraction of line rates based on
customer utilization or specific customer requests.
35
Conclusion
Why Ciena?
36
Ciena remains committed to OTN innovation, including:
• Coherent optical processing
• Rich network design tools
• Agile photonic networking
• Unmatched scalability
37
OTN Glossary of Acronyms
39
OC-n: Optical Carrier Level n (1, 3, 12, 48, 192, 768)
OCh: Optical Channel
OCC: Optical Carrier Channel
ODU: Optical Channel Data Unit
OMS: Optical Multiplex Section
OOS: OTM Overhead Signal
OPU: Optical channel Payload Unit
OTN: Optical Transport Networking (see G.709)
OTS: Optical Transmission Section
OTU: Optical Transport Unit
O-VPN: Optical Virtual Private Network
Packet-over-SONET: GbE over an OC-48/STM-16
ROADM: Reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer
SAN: Storage Area Network
SDH: Synchronous Digital Hierarchy
SLA: Service Level Agreement
SONET: Synchronous Optical Network
Tbps: Terabits per second
TCM: Tandem Connection Monitoring
VCAT: Virtual Concatenation
VLAN: Virtual Local Area Network
VOIP: Voice Over IP
WAN: Wide Area Network
WDM: Wavelength Division Multiplexing
40
Paul Littlewood
Principal, Network Architecture
Office of the CTO
Paul has seven patents granted and has written a number of papers on
optical networking. He has an honors degree in pure physics from the
University of Newcastle upon Tyne in Great Britain
Fady Masoud
Senior Advisor, Technical Marketing
Ciena Portfolio Solutions