NEXT-GENERATION BROADBAND

High-bandwidth services via

carrier Ethernet
By Shaun McFall
VP of Marketing
Harris Stratex Networks Inc.

Telecom leaders are finally realizing the benefits of carrier Ethernet

globally, especially in many Asian
economies, as network operators
migrate to multiservice microwave
systems to support backhaul and
fiber extension services.
The dividends of implementing carrier-class Ethernet are
clearEthernet is highly reliable,
easy to implement and use, and
highly interoperable. It is also easily configured and provisioned.
Ethernet carries voice, data and
multimedia traffic, which are
now vital as applications converge in business, residential
and mobile market sectors. For
mobile operators, this results in
reduced backhaul cost and the
ability to serve higher-speed
backhaul requirements, providing more bandwidth and higher
throughput to serve multimedia
applications.
Ethernet is far more scalable
than SONET, ATM or frame relay
technologies. Moreover, there
are good reasons for moving to
Ethernet. The technology is also
attractive for providers moving
toward IP- and packet-based
networks. Many of these service
providers are already deploying
Ethernet in the access and aggregation parts of their network
to serve IPTV, storage and similar
applications as efficiently as
possible.
Carrier Ethernet is now playing
a significant new role in metro,
edge and core networks as part
of a mixed-technology solution, as Asias mobile operators
increase their focus on HSDPA
technologies. Common hardware
platforms are emergingthey
use multiple access and trunking
products to address standard
plesiochronous digital hierarchy
(PDH), Super PDH, SONET/syn-

Figure 1: The optimal wireless carrier Ethernet transport solution incorporates

link aggregation inside the radio, using an embedded L2 Ethernet switch.

chronous digital hierarchy (SDH)

and Ethernet.
This doesnt imply that the
move to Ethernet is simple and
directintegration and operational challenges remain, including operations, administration
and maintenance. Furthermore,
to avoid cost-inefficient implementations, the methods used
to transport Ethernet data must
also be considered.
Operators and vendors have
to adapt Ethernet, long a best-effort transport technology, to provide the carrier-class performance
they have experienced with
time division multiplex (TDM)
technologies such as PDH and
SDH/SONET. The Metro Ethernet
Forum and other organizations
are addressing these challenges
through new initiatives with the
help of vendors and operators.
Ideal setup
An ideal carrier-class wireless
transmission equipment supports
various schemes to protect traffic

against link or network impairment.

The equipment must be protected against device failure using
monitored hot-standby terminals
with redundant transmitters and
receivers. The online transceiver
is protected with a redundant set
to automatically switch online in
case of failure. Space and frequency
diversity, in accord with other
mechanisms, protect against link
failure or disruption caused by path
impairment.
Another more cost-effective
network-protection scheme is
self-healing switching of traffic around a point of failure, by
switching traffic through another
route in the network. This protection can take the form of a
simple ring, or the operator can
opt for a more complex mesh
architecture.
Typically, Ethernet ring and
mesh network protection is implemented via Ethernet switches using Rapid Spanning Tree
Protocol (RSTP). However, the
switching or convergence times

supported by this method are

unpredictable and can exceed
several seconds, which does not
meet the carrier-class standards
demanded by network operators.
The ideal GbE switch solution
supports advanced RSTP through
a Resilient Wireless Packet Ring
capability that can deliver carrier-grade convergence times for
Ethernet ring and mesh networks
of less than 100ms.
Carrier Ethernet meets the
throughput, speed, latency and
reliability metrics required for
todays high-bandwidth services.
Throughput is a critical metric,
since it defines the maximum
amount of data that can be transported over an Ethernet connection or link. A microwave link has
a total data capacity determined
by the bandwidth and modulation setting applied to its modem.
The amount available for payload
traffic is the Ethernet throughput;
it is equal to total data capacity
minus the overhead for auxiliary
data channels, FEC and network
management, including management telemetry. For wireless systems operating on the licensed
bands, this throughput is dedicated or guaranteed. If the link is
installed correctly, variable path
conditions or interference dont
affect the link throughput.
Transport technology is also
critical. A simple mapping of
data into the framing of PDH
(NxE1/DS1) or SDH/SONET radio systems will not workthis
would waste bandwidth, and
increase jitter and delay. The
best solution doesnt distinguish
between Ethernet and TDM data,
but provides native support for
both kindswith data mapped
into byte-wide frames that provide efficient and flexible wireless
transport. When configured for
Ethernet data and/or TDM, the
configured capacity is fully available. An optimal solution should
be configurable for full-duplex

EE Times-Asia | October 1-15, 2007 | eetasia.com

connection capacities of up to
300Mbps or more on a single
wireless link.
Latencydefined for wireless
Ethernet as the delay that packets
encounter as they move through
a network of wireless links, routers and other equipment from
source to destinationis another key factor. Low latency is
particularly important for voice
callswhether traditional or
VoIPand should not exceed
150ms across the network. Oneway latency for live video should
be under 1s. Carrier Ethernet
solutions are now equipped to
meet the latency requirements
of emerging applications. Wireless carrier Ethernet transport
solutions support one-way link
latency well below 50s for highcapacity applications and typically less than 1ms per hop.
Transport methods
Todays wireless transmission
radios must be able to support
various transport methods (including Ethernet, STM1/OC3, E3/
DS3 or E1/DS1) all using a single
hardware/software platform and
regardless of whether the traffic
is uniform or mixed. The ability
to alter throughput and payload
mix and to select the RF channel
bandwidth saves on upgrade
costs. Moreover, it eliminates the
need for many of the equipment
change-outs required in the generations before software-configurable radios. This enables users to
mix and match network services
and re-scale capacity as requirements expand or change.
Redundancy is another key
requirement. GbE provides ultrahigh-speed links and link aggregation with cost-efficient
redundancy. Link aggregation is
used to achieve extremely high
throughputs by combining the
capacity of two or more physical
links on a single virtual connection. The aggregated capacity
is the sum of the individual link
capacities and is accessed on a
single optical or electrical GbE
interface. Implementing a single
interface eliminates the need for

Figure 2: The ideal GbE switch solution supports advanced RSTP through RWPR capability, with the ability to deliver
carrier-grade convergence times for Ethernet ring and mesh networks.

expensive external switches. If

one link in the aggregated group
fails, the data from the failed radio is restored automatically on
remaining links.
The optimal wireless carrier
Ethernet transport solution incorporates link aggregation inside
the radio, using an embedded
L2 Ethernet switch. This enables
the aggregation of two, three or
four physical links. Two or more
300Mbps links can be aggregated
to provide 600Mbps, 900Mbps or
1.2Gbps throughput. Optional
cross-polar interference cancellation can then be used to maximize channel efficiency.
Channel efficiency is the
ability of a radio to send larger
amounts of data over a single
radio channel, compared with
other radios in its class. Radio
links achieve high efficiencies by
using high modulation rates with
an efficient modem design that
can squeeze more payload into
a given bandwidth and deliver
bigger throughputs compared
with less-efficient modems.
This method, however, has
a trade-off. As modulation rates
go up, system gain (a measure

eetasia.com | October 1-15, 2007 | EE Times-Asia

of the usable signal that reaches

a receiver from a transmitter)
is reduced, and maximum hop
distances are lowered. As a result,
an efficient and flexible solution
should offer the network operator two throughput choices:
a system optimized for frequency
efficiency or a system optimized
for performance over longer path
distances.
Ethernets proven QoS and
integrated traffic-management
capabilities are also essential for
wireless transport solutions as
long as they can be implemented
without costly external switching
devices for QoS or performance
monitoring capabilities.
Radio systems have a fixed
and finite bandwidth. Thus, they
must be able to manage peak
traffic flows by incorporating an
embedded L2 switch to support
industry-standard QoS protocols, enabling operators to segregate and prioritize Ethernet
traffic based on service levels or
traffic type for voice, data and
video applications. A switch can
also support remote monitoring
transmission statistics to enable
advanced troubleshooting and

packet network optimization.

The most advanced wireless carrier Ethernet transport
solutions incorporate multiport,
wire-speed, Fast Ethernet or GbE
L2 switches. QoS features include
port priority, priority mapping
for 802.1p/DiffServ and virtual
LAN tagging including QinQ.
Advanced remote network monitoring diagnostics include data
dashboards, and comprehensive
remote monitoring stats per port
and channel.
To maximize the use of Ethernet and to support efficient
delivery of large amounts of
data, wireless carrier Ethernet
solutions should support jumbo
frames greater than the standard
1,518/1,522bytes. Core network
devices can typically handle
more than 9,000byte frames.
Edge network devices may support smaller-sized jumbo frames.
Currently, most major network
operators require support for
jumbo frames up to 4,000bytes.
A 10/100/1,000Base-T/Lx GbE
switch enables frame sizes from
64bytes to 9,600bytes, supporting traffic at the network core
or edge.