A Solution Framework for NextGeneration Network Planning

Sukant K. Mohapatra
Director, Product Management VPIsystems, Inc.

Mark H. Mortensen
Senior Vice President, Marketing VPIsystems, Inc.
Abstract Content digitization, network packetization, and service convergence have been key technical factors in the evolution of emerging next-generation networks (NGNs). Meanwhile, economies of scale, rapid and flexible service delivery, reduction of capital expenses (CAPEX) and operating costs (OPEX), changes in telecom policy and deregulation, and ever-increasing competition are driving their deployment. Major telecommunications carriers and service providers worldwide have been migrating their networks or deploying new NGNs to meet market and competition demands. These next-generation Internet protocol (IP)centric converged networks aim to provide a multitude of services over a single integrated network infrastructure rather than multiple segmented and overlay networks, as have existed for decades. But complex migration issues mean that existing legacy networks will co-exist along with NGNs for the foreseeable future. The deployment of these NGNs have brought unique challenges for network planners they need to grow them to meet uncertain market demand of new bandwidth-hungry services without overbuilding. Simple trending, often used by carriers as their primary planning mechanism, is not enough. And since an NGN is a single converged network, the traffic load in one technology domain has a profound impact on the loads on other domains of the network. This paper addresses all the core issues of NGN planning challenges faced by wireline telecom service providers and describes a unique architectural approach for integrated end-to-end NGN planning. Introduction To bring innovative new services to market, service providers traditionally adopted a one service per network approach (and usually a separate operations structure, including planning). But to decrease CAPEX and OPEX and improve economies of scale, the focus shifted to designing a single network capable of delivering multiple services. Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) technology had that promise, but it is IP technology, with the newer multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) capabilities, that has brought this to a reality. Meanwhile, telecom policy changes and deregulation, along with technology innovation, have changed the competitive landscape of the telecom industry, allowing cable operators to provide broadband data and voice service in addition to traditional broadcast TV service and wireline telecom service providers to provide IP television (IPTV) service in addition to their typical voice and data service as part of bundled

total service offerings to the customerswith triple and quadruple play meaning everyone is in everyone elses business. The portfolio of triple-play/quad-play service offerings will likely include the following:

IP video serviceBeyond typical broadcast TV services, including broadcast digital TV such as high-definition (HDTV) and digital television (DTV), video on demand (VoD), and pay-per-view (PPV), interactive TV such as home shopping, personal video recording (PVR), network gaming, Internet access through TV, videoconferencing, video phone, and video instant messaging (IM). Depending on the type of video services, number of channels used, and encoding technology, the video service would typically require tens of Mbps bandwidthmore than 20 times that of simple voice service. Voice over IP (VoIP) serviceTraditional time division multiplex (TDM) voice networks provide excellent grade of service (GoS) for voice calls, with dedicated bandwidth for the duration of the calls. VoIP introduces a very different approach in transporting voice calls by digitizing voice messages and transporting them as IP packets over an IP network. The bandwidth need for VoIP service depends on the type of encoding/compression technology used in the gateways but is the same order of magnitude (especially after the IP overhead is counted) as traditional voice service. Data serviceThough data service is primarily used today for Web browsing, e-mail, and Internet chat, applications such as IM, music, and video downloading and file sharing are gaining in popularity.

The NGN will support these services over a single IPcentric converged network. But the existing legacy network will not be decommissioned immediately and will co-exist along with the legacy network for the foreseeable future, spanning technology domains with interconnections to the legacy network. All the services will be delivered over logical layers with different encapsulation mechanisms over the same physical network infrastructure. Meanwhile, IP multimedia subsystem (IMS)introduced by the third-generation partnership project (3GPP) standards body and being rapidly adopted across wireless, wireline, and broadband/cable envisions an NGN architecture that will support multimedia service seamlessly across wireline and wireless networks along with service intelligence [1]. All the services described above have different quality of service (QoS) characteristics, bandwidth need, and traffic delivery mechanisms (e.g., unicasting, multicasting) to deliver these services to end users. The next-generation and IMSbased network would deliver all these and new services to end users with service intelligence in a reliable and cost-effective manner over various logical layers and physical network infrastructure. This brings up a very difficult question as to what would be the effective bandwidth needed for these services, what technology option is suitable, and how effectively the network could be rightly sized and planned strategically and tactically with minimal capital investments. The scope of this paper includes an analysis of key challenges for planning of NGNs and proposes an architectural framework for end-to-end planning in order to deploy an NGN in a most optimal and cost-effective way. An Overview of NGNs and Their Planning Challenges Figure 1 provides an architectural view of a typical NGN.

Next Generation Network

BRAS

Internet
PE

ATM / FR

IP/MPLS

Metro Ethernet
HGW xDSL, FTTx HFC Wireless

Gateway

Application Servers

VoIP

PSTN

Premises

Access

Aggregation

Core

Figure 1: An Architectural View of a Next-Generation Network It is a converged network supporting various technology domains that span from user premises to the core network. The segments of the NGN are typically organized as follows:

Premises networkThis is the network used by end usersa residential home or business entity. Local-area networks (LANs) are the natural way for businesses to connect to NGNs, while residential homes are increasingly networked via a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) network and gateway connected to the provider network. The gateway supports a variety of home networking technologies, including Ethernet, home phone line (Home Phoneline Networking Alliance [HPNA]), and universal serial bus (USB). Business entities typically connect through a customer-premises equipment (CPE) router to the providers network. Access networkThe access network of the service provider gives an ultra broadband connection in last mile. The NGN is expected to use various access technologies, including DSL, fiber-to-the-node (FTTN), fiber-to-the-home (FTTH), and evolving worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) technology. Aggregation networkThe aggregation network, also called the metropolitan network, provides traffic aggregation from the access network and connection to the core IP/MPLS network. Ethernet technology, which for decades was primarily used in enterprise networks in a LAN environment, has made significant deployment inroads in carriergrade networks in the wide-area network (WAN) environment, primarily due to costeffectiveness and simplicity. [2] provides an overview of Ethernet technology and its deployment and growth worldwide. However, there exist large deployments of ATM/frame relay (FR) network infrastructure in most carrier networks. Though the growth of ATM and FR network is declining, it is expected that ATM/FR will be used as a part of aggregation networks for the near future. Core networkThere have been significant innovation and technological growth in IP in recent years, and MPLSbased IP network in core provides the current best solution. Its attractiveness is primarily due to the reduction of CAPEX and OPEX by the replacement of multiple overlay networks with a single core infrastructure, while supporting scalability, resiliency, and ease of supporting new service and interoperating with existing technology and protocols such as ATM and FR [3].

In addition to above, the brief description of various segments of NGNs that cover support of various services and upper layers (i.e., layer 3 [L3] and L2), the network infrastructure at transport layer (i.e., L1) could include synchronous optical network (SONET)/synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH), dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) and automatically switched optical network (ASON) technology using ring and, increasingly, mesh configurations. One of the key components of NGNs is the infrastructure to provide application contents for the end user. To enable content delivery, various application servers delivering digital contents shall co-exist and be interconnected to the networktruly integral parts of these NGNs. The 3GPP, European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), and Parlay Forum have defined a service architecture, the IP multimedia subsystem (IMS), to support service intelligence for multimedia services over wireline, broadband, and wireless networks. Figure 2 provides an overview of IMS architecture.

IMS Architecture
Content Services FTTx Data

Call/Session Control
3G Mobile

Core Network

Application Service
xDSL

Access Networks Aggregation Network

HFC

Video

Voice

Application Layer User Service and Application

Media & Endpoint Layer Network/Communication Infrastructure

Session Control Layer Session Control and Service Intelligence

Figure 2: IMS Network The IMS services architecture is a collection of logical and physical functions that can be divided into the following layers:

Application layerThe application layer contains application servers that provide service logic for delivery of various services such as data, video, voice, and multimedia contents to end users. IMS components, Diameter-based authentication, and session initiation protocol (SIP) signaling flexibly support the variety of traditional telephony and non-telephony application servers [4, 5]. Transport and endpoint layerThis layer provides bearer network infrastructure and resources for transport and delivery of multimedia services to end users. Session control layerThe call session control layer provides service intelligence for registration of endpoints and routing of SIP signaling messages to the appropriate application servers.

Accurate network plannings goal is to provide a network that is ready to handle current as well as future traffic, with an objective of minimizing CAPEX and OPEX while ensuring the right QoS. This has always been a challenging task, and the next-generation services and shared fabric

network add complexity to the network planning challenge. But, at a high level, the planning process, as depicted in the Figure 3, is much the same.
Current Network Infrastructure Planned Network Design
Planned Work Orders

Sales and Marketing

Forecast Demands

Aggregated Traffic

Introduce New Services

Network Planning System

Tactical & Strategic Planning

Network Deployment

Demands

Planned Build Orders

&Operation

New Technology & Equipment

Vendor-based Equipment Forecasts

Network Infrastructure Suppliers

Figure 3: Generic Planning Process and Methodology The key input to a network planning system is a snapshot of the current network infrastructure and already planed resources, including detailed information of various equipments, links, physical and logical connections, and services. The aggregated traffic demand input includes existing and forecasted traffic demands (by service, by geographical region). This could include new technologies and equipment which may needed for additional capacity built-out of the network, taking advantage of innovation in technology and cost advantages, or providing fundamentally different but required support for new, innovative services. It also should include decommissioning of old equipment and networks, which may not be able to meet new service needs and/or operationally may not be cost-effective. A planning system takes all this input and generates a detailed plan for build-out of a right-sized network for a particular time period. The planned network design information from the planning system is then used by engineering and operation team members to create a series of projects to deploy the new network, augment existing capacity, and decommission old network equipment as needed. The planning system output also is used to schedule and acquire the equipments from vendors in a timely manner via their normal logistics process. Given the support of multiple services (existing and evolving) over the converged NGN, the endto-end planning of an entire network in a seamless manner poses the following challenges:

Capturing the service need, market demand, and forecast in a accurate and consistent manner Capturing the existing network infrastructure, connectivity, and services Supporting the planning of different network domains spanning access, aggregation, and core Supporting multiple technologies used in different domains of the network and equipment and infrastructure from a multitude of vendors Evaluating technology options available to build the network in a cost-optimal way, using the best technology in the market Determining the impact of traffic demand from one network domain to another and seamless flowing traffic load and design requirement information across domains

Effectively planning and visualizing services over multiple logical layers and associated physical layers Simulating failures in each domain of the network and the entire network, determining the impact of failures on inter-domain and inter-layers, developing disaster scenarios and mitigation strategies (including adding additional network resources in the right places to provide greater reliability) Addressing long-term, short-term, and even on-demand capacity planning of the network to meet operational scenarios Integrating the planning of next-generation as well as legacy networks Supporting business rules and guidelines during the planning process as desired by network planners

Requirements for End-to-End Planning of NGNs The key requirements fundamental to effectively planning NGNs are described in this section. Capture of Traffic Characteristics and Market Demand One of the key challenges is to accurately capture the service by its traffic characteristics related to bandwidth requirements, taking burstiness of traffic and QoS into consideration. One of the key ideas behind the evolution of NGNs is to support current and future services that may be needed for end users. Since neither the traffic characteristics for these services nor the adoption rates are known a priori, the traffic model should be generic and flexible enough to capture existing and potential future service that may evolve. Accurate capture of service characteristics is a key factor, as the effective bandwidth need of various services aggregated based on customer demand is required to size the network appropriately. Beyond capturing service characteristics, it very important to capture market demand so that the network capacity is built based on projected market need rather than just empirical historical trends and assumptions. The market needs to be captured based on customer demographic type as different customers may subscribe to different servicesestimated number of customers, and growth or decline over the planning period. Customer types and population density vary by location, so it is essential that the planning system should be able to capture the market demand along with its geographic location. The population density of a customer type could be distributed over a geographic region, or there could be aggregated traffic demand at a specific location such as an enterprise customer or a multiple-dwelling unit. For cases where historical data is available, the system should be able to forecast the customer growth or decline based on the historical datafrom performance monitoring, billing, or network traffic data systems. Planning of New and Existing Networks The planning solution should be able to support the planning of new networks (e.g., greenfield deployment) as well as enhancements to existing networks. In order to plan augmentations to the existing network, it is very critical to capture the current network topology, including network elements, configuration, and intra-site and inter-site physical and logical connectivity. The equipment model should be able to handle the variety of network elements from a multitude of vendors spanning all technologies. Logical connectivity could include logical connections such as ATM permanent virtual circuits (PVCs), switched virtual circuits (SVCs), virtual path (VP), Ethernet virtual LAN (VLAN), and IP/MPLS label switch paths (LSPs). The planning system should be able to import this information from other systems (typically, an inventory system) and/or an information store or through auto discovery. Support of Intra-/Inter-Domain and Inter-Layer Planning

Typically end users employ various applications such as e-mail, chat, gaming, and VoD. These applications are carried as end-user service demand and could be grouped or categorized into various service types. For example, e-mail, chat, and IM could be grouped as best-effort data services, while gaming and VoD could be categorized as interactive video services. These services are typically carried over logical connections across the network. The type of logical connections depends on the network domain and technology used. These logical connections of one domain could be aggregated into logical connections in other domainfor example, multiple PVCs in an ATM aggregation network domain could be carried over a single LSP in the MPLS domain. The logical connections are carried over the physical network infrastructure such as network elements and fiber. Figure 4 below depicts a typical hierarchy among the various layers.
User Service and Network Layer Hierarchy
Applications

Email, File Download, IM, Chat, IP Video, VoD, Video Gaming

VoIP, IP Video, Interactive Video, Data, Broadband Wireless.. IP, L3 VPN, IPSec VPN ATM/FR PVC, VLAN (L2 VPN)

Service Layer Layer 3 Layer 2

SONET/ SDH/ DWDM

DWDM

Layer 1

Home

Access

Aggregation

Core

Figure 4: User Service and Network Layer Hierarchy The planning application should support capacity planning for each of these layers, including logical and physical layers taking into account user service demand. Intra-Domain, Cross-Domain, and Interlayer Traffic Distribution To plan the logical layers capacitywhich in turn determine physical capacity needs, including fibers and network elementsthe planning system should able to handle the traffic distribution in one network domain or across the network domain. As an NGN is a single converged network, the traffic in one network domain would typically pass to other domains. For example, some traffic from the access network will pass through aggregation to core if part of the traffic is local to an access domain. Also it is likely that the traffic load will not always follow the strict hierarchy of access to aggregation to core. For instance, Ethernet traffic from a large enterprise could directly hub onto an Ethernet aggregation network, not necessarily going through the shared access network. The planning system should be able to handle all such operational situations when estimating traffic loads for each segment of the network as well as the entire network. In addition, even in one domain the traffic load in one layer will determine the sizing of the next lower layer. In the IP/MPLS domain, the load on LSP and routing of LSP will influence the underlying transport layer capacity needed. Resilient Network Design and Inter-Layer Failure Analysis Network reliability is of utmost importance for providing high-availability service to end users. The network must be planned with its targeted objective of availability criteria for the various services. The reliability criteria and protection in each domain of the network has different objectives and mechanisms based on the deployment of the technology. In the past, in general, the access network was not fully protected for failure since the last-mile equipment typically supports few customers, whereas the protection of core and aggregation network traffic was very critical,

since very large numbers of customers could be supported. However, with evolving NGNs, not only does the access network provide ultra-high bandwidth, but also the equipment supports a relatively large number of customers, assuring high reliability, which is a key need. Typically, network service reliability is assured via various protection mechanisms, with mechanisms differing from one technology domain to other. For example, fast reroute protection [6] is widely used in the IP/MPLS domain, whereas 1+1, 1:1, 1:n protection is commonly deployed in the transport layer [7]. The planning system should support planning and design of highly reliable networks using various protection mechanisms as desired, as well as analysis of various failure scenarios such as link failure and node failure. The planning solution should be able to analyze inter-layer failure impacts, for instance, how the failure in transport layer would impact L2 in the IP/MPLS domain. Multi-Period and On-Demand Network Planning The planning period granularity can vary from weeks to years depending on the network domain and operational process of the network service provider. It is also likely that the planner would desire to evaluate and analyze large on-demand service requests prior to provisioning the service in the network. Thus the planning system should be able to handle multi-period planning with varying time granularity as well as on-demand capacity planning for the NGN. Integrated and Independent Network Domain Planning Depending on the organizational structure and operational paradigm, there could be a need for planning on one network domain, one geographical region, or an entire network in an integrated way. The planning system must be flexible enough to support these network planning needs. Planning Support for Legacy Networks As we discussed before, legacy networks are expected to exist along with NGNs for some time. Thus it is obvious that the planning system must support planning of legacy networks along with NGNs. An Architecture for Integrated Network Planning for NGNs Figure 5 depicts the generic component-based architecture of a planning system to meet the requirements of NGN planning along with providing flexibility to support a new planning paradigm.

Service Model and Traffic Demand Assessment

Service Service Model Model Traffic Demand Traffic Demand Assessment Assessment

Traffic Distribution Aggregation Network Planning

ATM/FR Ethernet ATM/FR Ethernet

Access Network Planning

Wireline Wireline Wireless Wireless

Core Network Planning

IP IP MPLS MPLS

IMS Network Planning

Voice Network Planning

PSTN PSTN SS7 SS7

SONET SONET

Transport Network Planning

SDH SDH

DWDM DWDM

VoIP VoIP

Equipment Model and Library

Application Database

Business Rules and Guidelines

GIS Framework External System Communication Mgmt.

XML XML

O A M & S E C U R I T Y M G M T .

W E B G U I S E R V E R

NE Communication Mgmt.
SNMP SNMP CLI CLI TL1 TL1 .. ..

Figure 5: An Architectural Framework for an NGN Planning System The various components support functionality such as service models and traffic-demand assessment, traffic distribution, access network planning, aggregation network planning, components, and operations, administration, and management (OAM) components. Components could have sub-components with similar functionality grouped in an independent unit. These components and sub-components should operate in a plug-and-play mode (i.e., added to the system as needed). All the components can communicate using a common communication mechanism such as Web services in a service-oriented architecture, or common object request broker architecture (CORBA) [8]. Thus the appropriate component could be bundled to provide a stand-alone solution for a single domain or an integrated solution for multiple network domains or an entire NGN. The system provides a Web-based graphical user interface (GUI) interface to the network operator via a Web GUI server component. Each of these components can reside in a single server or on multiple servers as needed, thus achieving a high degree of scalability. Java is the current language of choice for implementation of these components, usually in a mixed Java Enterprise Edition (J2EE)/.NET system, arranged in a three-tiered client/server architecture. The following section provides a brief description of these components. Service Model and Traffic Demand Assessment The service model and traffic demand assessment component could be built with two subcomponents: service model and traffic demand assessment. The service model components define service parameters related to bandwidth (e.g., average bandwidth, maximum/minimum bandwidth) need and QoS requirements (e.g., average delay) in a generic manner so that all existing, new, and evolving services can be defined using these parameters. This components key functionality is to compute the services effective bandwidth need based on service characteristics, which can be used to determine capacity need in NGNs in order to support a variety of services. There are various frameworks and models for computing effective bandwidth [9, 10, 11].

The traffic demand and assessment component provides function to capture market demand with respect to customer class, including type of services each customer class subscribes to and customer density with geospatial location. It supports traffic evolution and forecast using wellknown forecast models. The forecast can be based on existing historical data or trending of collected network traffic data from other OSSs. When new services are introduced, it is possible that enough historical information may not be available, but this component should be able to provide traffic demand estimates in such situations. Papers in [12, 13, 14] describe some wellknown forecast models and algorithms. Traffic Distribution This component would enable the distribution of traffic across various network domains, based on various service characteristics, while market demand/forecast for different services could be captured in the service model and traffic demand assessment component. This component could redistribute local traffic in one domain and load appropriate traffic that may be passed over to another domain. This component could use various traffic distribution models such as homogenous distribution and gravity models. Access Network Planning This component provides next-generation access network planning, including wireline and wireless. The wireline sub-component supports the design and planning of next-generation access networks supporting all wireline technologies such as DSL, synchronous DSL 2+ (ADSL 2+), very-highdata-rate DSL (VDSL), fiber-to-the-node/curb (FTTN/FTTC), fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP), and hybrid fiber-coax (HFC). It should support planning for both new deployments (i.e., greenfield) and existing deployed networks as well as provide cost optimal design for new networks and augmentation and decommissioning of existing networks. The wireless subcomponent provides planning of wireless networks with various wireless technologies and supports planning functionality for radio frequency (RF) engineering, propagation modeling, and cell site engineering. Aggregation Network Planning The aggregation network planning component covers the planning of the aggregation network component of the NGN. It contains two sub-components: ATM/FR (for ATM/frame relay network planning) and Ethernet (for optical Ethernet network planning). In general, functionality would include planning new network or capacity augmentation/reduction of existing as-built networks, including planning of logical (e.g., ATM PVC, VP, and Ethernet VLAN) layers, physical layers, and failure analysis. Core Network Planning This component enables the planning of IP and IPbased MPLS core networks. MPLS subcomponents support planning of optimized traffic engineered LSP using various routing mechanisms (e.g., constraint shortest path first [CSPF]) to meet traffic QoS requirements. In addition, for network reliability, this sub-component supports various protection mechanisms [6] and failure analysis. Transport Network Planning This component provides planning functionality at L1. It supports various optical transport technologies such as SONET, SDH, DWDM, and, increasingly, automatically switched optical networks (ASONs). IMS Network Planning

The IMS network planning component specifically enables the planning of the session control layer in an IMSbased network, optimal placement of servers over time, and optimal network connections. Voice Network Planning The voice network planning has three sub-components: PSTNIt enables the planning of PSTN networks with sizing of PSTN switch and traffic trunks and supports various routing mechanisms widely used in PSTN networks. SS7It enables planning and reliability analysis of security system 7 (SS7) networks that support signaling for PSTN networks. This component also supports the planning of IN network components in PSTN domains. VoIPIt provides planning of bearer VoIP networks and signaling networks supporting various signaling protocols such as SIP and H.323.

Equipment Model and Library This component contains generic equipment models and a framework for capturing configuration of equipments. The equipment library contains vendor-specific equipment configurations. Application Database This component is primarily the persistent data repository for various planning applications. The relations are designed and normalized so there is no data dependency among planning applications. Business Rules and Guidelines This component provides a framework for supporting business rules and guidelines in the planning process. For example, the business rule could be that all new deployments in particular locations have to use specific equipment. This component, with its workflow and communication mechanism and appropriate planning application component, will enforce such rules as appropriate. Geographical Information System (GIS) Framework This component provides a GIS framework so that each planning application can use geospatial information and provide planners with a GISbased visualization of a designed/panned network. External System Communication Management This component provides basic communication interface support for communicating with external systems. The external system could include other OSSs such as inventory systems and business management systems. For example, this component can retrieve network topology information, including NEs and their interconnectivity at physical and logical layers, for use by appropriate planning applications. As this component could potentially interface with a multitude of external systems that may need different interfaces and communication mechanisms, appropriate subcomponents could support such varying needs. NE Communication Management The NE communication management component provides basic communication and protocol support for communicating with the network elements across domains. Since various technologies are deployed in different domains, the NEs could use different interfaces. Thus various sub-components such as simple network management protocol (SNMP), command line interface (CLI), and transmission language 1 (TL1) could support interfaces for different types of NEs as desired. For instance, SONET optical NEs typically use TL1 interfaces, whereas IP

routers use SNMP and CLI interfaces. The key functionality of this component is to auto-discover network topology, including NEs and their interconnectivity at physical and logical layers. This functionality enables various planning applications to capture the as-built network topology. OAM and Security Management This component supports functionality such as user administration, task-based user privileges, authentication, authorization, auditing, and secured communication [15]. Web GUI Server This component provides Web-based access to planning systems from a client workstation. As described in the architecture, the access network planning, aggregation network planning, core network planning, IMS network planning, voice network planning, and transmission network planning are the components that are planning applications for various domains of NGNs as well as legacy networks. The core components are OAM and security management, Web GUI server, equipment model and library, and application database. Service model and traffic demand assessment, traffic distribution, business rules and guidelines, external system communication management, NE communication management, and GIS framework components could be optional or core depending how the specific planning application is used in a particular operational environment. For instance, if the need is for core IP/MPLS network planning with traffic forecast and auto-discovery of network topology, then the solution should include core components, service model traffic demand assessment, traffic distribution, core network planning, and NE communication management component. For total end-to-end planning of nextgeneration and legacy networks, all the components would be needed. Since the architecture is component-based, various components can be chosen and bundled in a flexible way to support specific planning solution needs. Figure 6 shows a typical workflow process during end-to-end planning of next-generation and legacy networks.
Service Model and Traffic Demand Assessment

Traffic Distribution

Aggregation Network Planning ATM/FR

Access Network Planning

Voice Network Planning VoIP PSTN SS7

Core Network Planning IP

Ethernet

MPLS

Transport Network Planning SONET SDH DWDM

Figure 6: Typical End-to-End Planning Process Flow

Overcoming the Challenges of NGN Planning The architectural framework as described previously meets the challenges and requirements for the total planning of next-generation as well as legacy networks. The planning application components cover all the planning domains of NGNs as well as legacy networks such as ATM/FR, PSTN, and SS7. The service model and traffic demand assessment component captures the traffic characteristics and market demand requirements for NGN planning. The GIS framework component provides geospatial analysis and visualization of market service demand. The traffic distribution component enables intra-domain and inter-domain traffic load distribution. This component distributes traffic load based on how the network is interconnected and operated. The specific way the traffic needs to be loaded/distributed across domains can be captured in the business rules and guidelines component. The architecture also provides the capability to plan greenfield and brownfield deployments. Existing network topology, including network elements and logical and physical topology, can be made available to the system using either the external systems communication management or NE communication management component. Each planning application component supports the planning of various logical layers. The flexible backplane communication mechanism and component-based model provides capability for planning application components to work in a seamless and integrated manner to support intra-/inter-domain and inter-layer planning. Each planning application component supports resilient network design and failure analysis in specific domains. Intra-domain resilient network design capability enables the support of technology/domain-specific protection mechanisms. Again, the flexible backplane communication mechanism and component-based model provides capability for planning application components to work seamlessly to support inter-layer failure analysis. The component-based model provides a very effective mechanism for both integrated and isolated network domain planning. All the components in the architecture truly enable integrated end-to-end planning of NGNs. Depending on the need to plan a specific domain or multiple domains, appropriate planning components, core components, and optional components can be aggregated in a plug-and-play mode to support specific solution needs. Conclusion NGNs promise a single converged network while enabling service providers to offer a broader range of revenue-generating services with an objective of reducing OPEX and complexity. This paper provides an overview of the evolution of NGNs, including IMSbased architecture. When deploying such a network, network planning is key to building and deploying the right-sized network. This paper addressed the challenges and requirements of planning NGNs. The primary focus of this paper was an architectural framework for a planning system that would enable optimal planning of next-generation as well as legacy networks. It also addressed how the proposed architecture would meet the planning challenges and requirements during the planning process. Some of the future work for this paper will include specifics on integrating the planning system into other OSSs for the operation of NGNs, covering the full life cycle of network planning, engineering and deployment, customer service order activation, integrated network operation, and decommissioning of legacy networks. Some areas of additional interest could include new service models and algorithms for optimal planning of NGNs.

Content Provided by:

Sukant K. Mohapatra, Director, Product Management, VPIsystems, Inc.

Mark H. Mortensen, Senior Vice President, Marketing, VPIsystems, Inc.

Dr. Sukant K. Mohapatra has a Ph.D degree in Computer Science with specialization in Telecommunication Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey, US. He has worked several years at Bell Laboratories in the areas of data communications, optical networking and network management. Currently as a director of systems engineering at VPIsystems, New Jersey, he leads the product strategy and evolution for design and planning of next generation networks. His research interest includes: Optical Networking, IP-MPLS Network, Next Generation and IMS based Network, Network Security and Management of Converged Networks. He has numerous publications in various journals, conferences and seminars in the areas of his expertise. He is a recipient of DMTS award at Bell Laboratories and senior member of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Dr. Mark H. Mortensen joined VPIsystems in December of 2005, responsible for marketing, product management, and business development. Dr. Mark has been on a 25-year quest while at Bell Labs, Granite Systems, Telcordia, and now VPIsystems, to transform the operations of service providers by radically transforming their underlying data infrastructure and processes for planning and operating their next generation networks. During that time he has held a number of technical and business positions, including Lucent Management Systems Chief Scientist, Chief Marketing Officer at Granite Systems, and VP of Strategy at Telcordia Technologies. He has worked with Tier 1 through 3 Communications Service Providers and large enterprises in the US, EMEA, and Asia/Pacific. Mark holds a BS from Lowell Technological Institute and an MPhil and PhD in physics from Yale University.

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