ALCATEL-LUCENT

7750 SR WLAN GATEWAY

ENABLING FLEXIBLE AND SCALABLE WI-FI ACCESS

FOR WIRELINE AND WIRELESS PROVIDERS

Integrate carrier-grade Wi-Fi as an access technology and a strategic platform

to drive service innovation
Keep end users always connected with trouble-free anytime/anywhere coverage
Supports both wholesale and retail deployments for new service and revenue
opportunities

Wireline and wireless providers are investing in Wi-Fi as an access

technology to expand their service footprint. Wi-Fi enjoys widespread
device support and end user acceptance as evidenced by the proliferation
of both paid and free Wi-Fi services. Because Wi-Fi uses unlicensed
spectrum, it is a very cost-effective wireless solution without the costs
of licensing spectrum. The problem for a wireline or wireless provider
occurs when the end user uses someone elses network, the provider
not only loses customer visibility, but also the end users loyalty to the
providers services.

Alcatel-Lucents lightRadio Wi-Fi solution is

a complete, carrier-grade, end-to-end Wi-Fi
solution for both wireline and wireless providers.
Within the solution, the Alcatel-Lucent
7750 Service Router (SR) acts as the WLAN
Gateway where it leverages the technical
expertise that has made the Alcatel-Lucent
7750 SR an industry-leading mobile packet
core Packet Gateway (PGW) and service edge
Broadband Network Gateway (BNG). The
WLAN Gateway functionality added to the
Alcatel-Lucent 7750 SR uses the latest
standards-based approach to provide a scalable
solution built on a modern service routing
platform that is suitable for both wholesale
and retail deployment scenarios.

OVERVIEW
As a key element in the Alcatel-Lucent lightRadio
Wi-Fi solution, the Alcatel-Lucent 7750 SR acts as
the WLAN Gateway for aggregating traffic from the
WLAN Access Points (APs). The 7750 SR-based
WLAN Gateway supports a variety of wholesale
and retail service models suitable for service
providers, multiple service operators (MSOs),
mobile network operators (MNOs) and mobile
virtual network operators (MVNOs).

COMPONENTS

Figure 1. Alcatel-Lucent lightRadio Wi-Fi solution

8950 AAA

8650 SDM

Enterprise

9362 Enterprise Cell

9471 WMM
(MME/SGSN)

Wi-Fi ENABLED
lightRadio NETWORK

9900 WNG

WIRELESS
PACKET CORE
9764
Metro Cell
Outdoor

WLAN AP
(Wi-Fi)

5780 DSC
(PCRF/ANDSF)

Internet

7750 SR
(WLAN GW)

Residential

9363 Metro Cell

Indoor MS

7750 SR
(SGW/PGW/GGSN)

CDN

NETWORK MANAGEMENT
5620 SAM

The traffic between the APs and the WLAN Gateway

is transported in Layer 2 tunnels where the WLAN
Gateway can police the individual Wi-Fi user
equipment (UE) traffic and apply traffic shaping
to the tunnel. Alcatel-Lucent favors a Layer 2
tunneling technique between the APs and the
WLAN Gateway because there are no requirements
on the UE, such as an IPsec client, and the Layer
2 tunnel can transparently support both IPv4 and
IPv6 services.
The WLAN Gateway coordinates with a wireline or
wireless providers policy infrastructure for user
authentication and accounting which simplifies

7750 SR WLAN Gateway

ALCATEL-LUCENT SOLUTION SHEET

operations for the provider and provides an

end user experience that is far superior to using
free Wi-Fi services. Unlike free services where
the user must terminate sessions and reconnect,
the WLAN Gateway supports mechanisms that
allow an authenticated user to seamlessly move
between APs (inter-AP mobility). Furthermore
for mobile providers, the WLAN Gateway
supports mechanisms to coordinate with the
mobile packet core to allow an authenticated
user to seamlessly move between Wi-Fi and
cellular access technologies (Wi-Fi cellular
intermobility).

The Alcatel-Lucent 7750 SR WLAN Gateway

is a highly scalable platform that can easily
accommodate any future growth in both the
quantity and bandwidth requirements of Wi-Fi
devices. Alcatel-Lucent is a leading proponent of
the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)
fat pipe tunneling model where the traffic is
tunneled between the AP and the WLAN Gateway.
In the thin pipe 3GPP model, the Wi-Fi traffic
is sent in an encrypted IPsec tunnel between the
UE and the data gateway. The fat pipe model
improves scalability by reducing the number of
tunnels (one per AP instead of one or more per
UE (handset)) and does not require IPsec in the
UE which is a processor intensive protocol that
will affect battery life and is not supported by
the vast majority of handsets and mobile devices
today. The fat pipe tunneling model places no
new requirements on the UE, so it can effectively
address the existing UE installed base.
A Layer 2 Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE)
tunneling mechanism is used between the APs
and the WLAN Gateway because it transparently
supports both IPv4 and IPv6 traffic independent
of whether the access network supports IPv4 or
IPv6. The Alcatel-Lucent 7750 SR natively supports
IPv4 and IPv6 dual-stack services based on its
heritage as an industry-leading BNG in wireline
service deployments. When the access network
is trusted, the scalability of the WLAN Gateway
is further enhanced because the GRE tunnels can
be auto-created (soft GRE tunnels) when a UE
attaches to the AP.

When the access network is untrusted, the fat

pipe tunnel between the AP and the WLAN
Gateway can be secured with IPsec, which is also
an existing feature on the Alcatel-Lucent 7750 SR.
Full Alcatel-Lucent Service Router Operating
System (SR OS) functionality is supported on the
Alcatel-Lucent 7750 SR WLAN Gateway including
Carrier Grade NAT, Lawful Intercept, RADIUS and
Diameter accounting and credit control (to support
prepaid Wi-Fi services) and Application Assurance
which are important for Wi-Fi services.

Figure 2. Inter-AP mobility and Wi-Fi cellular intermobility

Inter-AP
mobility

WLAN AP
WI-FI
SERVICE CORE
WLAN AP

WLAN GW

Internet

802.11i
security

THE 7750 SR ADVANTAGE

WLAN Gateway within an industry-leading
Service Routing platform that is part of the
complete, end-to-end lightRadio Wi-Fi solution
Flexible wholesale and retail deployment
options for IPv4 and IPv6
Carrier-grade Wi-Fi service scale and user
experience

Wi-Fi to
Cellular
Mobility

SWx

STa

AAA

HSS/HLR

S2a

WLAN AP

WLAN GW

PACKET CORE

802.11i
security

Protected tunnel

7750 SR WLAN Gateway

ALCATEL-LUCENT SOLUTION SHEET

Internet

PGW/GGSN

FEATURES
FEATURE

BENEFIT

Support for wholesale and retail Wi-Fi service models

for both IPv4 and IPv6

Provides flexibility to wireline and wireless providers in deploying Wi-Fi services to meet a variety of service and
business objectives while maintaining end user visibility and fostering brand loyalty

Fat pipe Layer 2 tunneling model between AP and

WLAN Gateway

A highly scalable solution with fewer tunnels than thin pipe deployments
Supports the installed base of User Equipment
Transparently supports IPv4 and IPv6 across any access infrastructure

Inter-AP mobility and Wi-Fi cellular intermobility

Provide a superior Quality of Experience to the end user not possible when constantly changing Wi-Fi providers

Built-in Carrier Grade NAT

Simplifies network address management for Wi-Fi devices with minimal disruption to existing network services

Lawful Intercept

Ensures compliance with local law enforcement agencies for end user Wi-Fi traffic

LEARN MORE
In partnering with Alcatel-Lucent, wireline and
wireless service providers can now begin to
energize the edge of their IP service networks
by transforming standard IP edge routers into
high-performance IP service routers through the
addition of industry-leading capacity and scale,
embedded application intelligence and the
potential to support a vast selection of new
network services. Only the Alcatel-Lucent
7750 SR has the breadth and depth to be a truly
energized edge, and only the Alcatel-Lucent
7750 SR can deliver the real operational benefits
of converging multiple IP applications and
services onto a common high-performance IP
services platform.

Visit the Alcatel-Lucent website for more

information on the Alcatel-Lucent 7750 SR
product page: www.alcatel-lucent.com/7750sr
More information on the Alcatel-Lucent
lightRadio Wi-Fi solution is available at
www.alcatel-lucent.com/lightradio-wifi

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respective owners. The information presented is subject to change without notice.
Alcatel-Lucent assumes no responsibility for inaccuracies contained herein.
Copyright 2012 Alcatel-Lucent. All rights reserved. M2012032519 (March)