WHITE PAPER

OTN INTERFACES FOR

IP OVER DWDM
IP-Optical Integration for Managing
Wavelengths in Routers

Copyright © 2010, Juniper Networks, Inc. 1

WHITE PAPER - OTN Interfaces for IP Over DWDM

Table of Contents
Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Evolving to a Simplified Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Realizing IP Over DWDM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Introduction to OTN, G.709, and IP over DWDM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

OTN: Digital Wrappers and G.709 Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Integrated Management and Service Velocity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Juniper’s OTN Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Appendix: ITU Specifications for OTN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

About Juniper Networks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Table of Figures
Figure 1: IP over ATM over SONET/SDH over DWDM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Figure 2: IP over SONET over DWDM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Figure 3: Regeneration becomes less costly with improvements in optical technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Figure 4: Standards-based transponder on a router . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Figure 5: IPoDWDM – Before and after . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Figure 6: Segments in the optical transport network: OTU, ODU, and OPU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Figure 7: Structure of a G.709 frame. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Figure 8: Integrated IP-optical management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

2 Copyright © 2010, Juniper Networks, Inc.

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Executive Summary
Traffic growth across core networks has proven to be a major driver for IP-optical integration. As time-division
multiplexing (TDM)-based framing at Layer 2 has been discarded in favor of simpler architectures, there has been an
increasing need for a technology to replace the performance monitoring and fault-handling characteristics of SONET.

Thus, the Optical Transport Network (OTN) with G.709 framing has emerged as a way to add management capabilities
to wavelengths. Juniper Networks® has incorporated this technology into 10-Gigabit Ethernet interfaces to provide IP
over Dense Wavelength-Division Multiplexing DWDM (IPoDWDM). Integrating OTN technology into routers enables
the evolutionary next step in a carrier’s infrastucture while providing optimal utilization of transport capacity. Layer
3 intelligence ensures prompt responses to topology changes and extends optical capabilities to a router without
requiring fixed DWDM termination equipment, allowing providers to offer on-demand services to their customers.

Integrated IPoDWDM networks reduce the number of components in the network for providing end-to-end IP
connectivity and routing. Converged IP and DWDM networks provide significant benefits to service providers, as router-
integrated transponders eliminate transponder shelves, thus providing both CapEx and OpEx savings. In addition,
standardized management interfaces provide end-to-end network monitoring and performance management, and
control plane integration facilitates faster introduction of new services.

Juniper offers a variety of optical transport (Ethernet & SONET) options including 10 and 40 Gbps short, intermediate,
and long reach interfaces; tunable optics at 10 Gbps; and an inverse-muxed 4xOC-192 interface that can be used to put
either 10 or 40 Gbps wavelengths on the transport network (uniquely providing carriers a choice about whether to use
standard management in their transport network or support alien wavelengths).1

Juniper also provides a G.709-compliant interface at OTU2 (10 Gbps). The key architectural shift in G.709 is to integrate
standard-based (OTN), long-reach transponders into the router. This achieves a clear partition between optical and
electrical network layers. The advantages of OTN are discussed in this paper.

Introduction
It is widely accepted that service providers cannot add bandwidth to their networks fast enough to keep up with the
exponential growth of data traffic—IP traffic is growing on the order of 80 to 100 percent per year. The principle driver
for this growth is high-definition television (HDTV) and high-speed broadband penetration. Consumer IP traffic is
predicted to grow twice as fast as business IP traffic, and the traffic generated for transporting video content will grow
even faster.

Another deviation from the past is the amount of traffic growth in metro areas compared to core networks. This implies that
faster service velocity will be needed—and this service velocity will require provisioning in both the IP and optical domains.

Evolving to a Simplified Architecture

To deal with the challenges of exponential traffic growth and faster service velocity, adequate transport bandwidth must be
available. Fortunately, fiber optics innovations have substantially increased the bandwidth-carrying capacity of fiber.

The evolution of carrier networks shows how this capacity has been used in the past, and will be used in the future. As
shown in the following figure, networks were built in layers: a service layer (voice and IP) required a data adaptation
layer such as ATM or Frame Relay, and all traffic was transported using SONET/SDH. When wavelength-division
multiplexing (WDM) became prevalent, it resulted in another layer.

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T Series T Series T Series

IP ATM SONET/SDH DWDM

T Series
OC3/0C48 DWDM

Figure 1: IP over ATM over SONET/SDH over DWDM

In this model, each layer acts as the “requirement specification” for the layer below. The DWDM layer is built first,
SONET/SDH is provisioned on the optical layers, and ATM is then provisioned on these transport systems. Finally, a
service layer is provisioned. Traditional plain old telephone service (POTS) traffic is managed by a cross-connect layer
and mapped onto the SONET/SDH layer.

As this evolution continues, legacy Frame Relay/ATM traffic has been phasing out in favor of IP networks, slowly
dissolving the ATM/Frame Relay layer. Integrated Layer 2 and Layer 3 traffic is directly mapped onto the SONET/SDH
system layers, as depicted in the following diagram.

T Series T Series T Series

IP SONET/SDH DWDM
T Series
DWDM

Figure 2: IP over SONET over DWDM

During the aforementioned stage, though SONET/SDH is tightly integrated, it still acts as a separate layer from
capacity planning and provisioning perspectives.

In traditional architectures, the transport cost was dominated by the cost of regeneration of the optical signals, by
converting to electrical and then back to optical signals. Improved technologies such as dispersion compensation
modules, forward error correction (FEC) techniques, enhanced modulation techniques, tunable lasers, and multi-
degree reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexers (ROADMs) have shifted the economic focus from the transport
links to switching nodes.

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TRANSPORT
LAYER
X-ponder X-ponder
Shelf Shelf

Regen
Optical Mux Optical Mux
Multiplexer Multiplexer

Optical Technology
Evolution

TRANSPORT
LAYER
X-ponder X-ponder
Shelf Shelf
OPTICAL
NETWORK

Optical Mux Optical Mux

Multiplexer Multiplexer

Figure 3: Regeneration becomes less costly with improvements in optical technology

Realizing IP Over DWDM

Though IP-DWDM convergence has been underway for some time, a comprehensive transport solution based on
an IP routing platform is the next logical step. A key architectural shift to complete the convergence is to integrate
standards-based, long-reach transponders into the router itself, thus realizing true IPoDWDM.

TRANSPORT
LAYER
X-ponder X-ponder
Shelf Shelf
OPTICAL
NETWORK

Optical Mux Optical Mux

Multiplexer Multiplexer

OTN Interface
on the router

OPTICAL
NETWORK

Optical Mux Optical Mux

Multiplexer Multiplexer
Figure 4: Standards-based transponder on a router
A clear partition between the optical and electrical layer is complete. The optical layer contains all passive optical
elements (fiber, DWDM, amplifiers, ROADMs). The IP layer has integrated all of the electrical functions—starting from
packet processing, switching, cross connecting, and multiplexing—and producing a long-haul optical signal that is
directly provisioned on the optical layer. This is made possible by the OTN and G.709 frames.

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Introduction to OTN, G.709, and IP over DWDM

Early generations of optical networks were based on TDM-based SONET/SDH to provide performance monitoring and
protection from fiber or equipment failure. The reliability and management capabilities of SONET/SDH contributed to
the success of optical networks. But carriers face new challenges as networks that traditionally were optimized to carry
voice traffic are now increasingly being used for high-bandwidth data and video services. Many of these challenges, of
course, were addressed with the advent of DWDM.

By itself, DWDM lacks the protection and management schemes of SONET/SDH. Furthermore, it requires additional
network elements—such as optical amplifiers, multiplexers, and demultiplexers—and dispersion compensation
units. These devices require continuous monitoring to ensure reliability. The International Telecommunication Union
Telecommunication Standardization (ITU-T) specification of the G.709 Optical Transport Network, or OTN, applies
much of the management functionality of SONET/SDH networks to today’s DWDM optical networks. Using OTN,
overhead information is appended to the front of the signal as a header, and a FEC trailer is appended to the rear. Thus,
an optical channel can be much more easily provisioned, monitored, maintained, and corrected.

The G.709 standard helps to manage multi-wavelength networks. A feature of G.709 called FEC extends optical span
distances by increasing reliability through reduced bit error rates (BERs). OTN has recently found its way into IP router
interfaces. Converged IP and DWDM networks provide significant benefits to service providers, as router-integrated
transponders eliminate transponder shelves, thus providing both CapEx and OpEx savings.

BEFORE AFTER

Router Transponder Mux/ROADM Router Mux/ROADM

Optical Mux Optical Mux

Multiplexer Multiplexer

Figure 5: IPoDWDM – Before and after

The immediate benefits are lower CapEx and OpEx—with the latter due to fewer shelves—which means a savings in
space, cooling, power and management, and of course fewer interconnects.

In addition, standardized management interfaces provide end-to-end network monitoring and performance
management. Control plane integration facilitates the faster introduction of new services, while integrated
management simplifies network operations, improving network availability and utilization.

OTN: Digital Wrappers and G.709 Frames

The G.709 framing structure (also known as the “digital wrapper”) adds management information to a wavelength. It
also adds FEC, which increases reliability through reduced BERs, and thus extends optical span distances.

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The rates for a G.709 frame are based on SONET/SDH speeds. In effect, the mapping is a hierarchical payload packager
that starts at 2.5 Gbps (OC-48/STM-16) and reaches up to 40 Gbps (OC-768/STM-256):

• OTU1: 2.5 Gbps

• OTU2: 10 Gbps
• OTU3: 40 Gbps
In essence, there are three main parts to the G.709 frame: the overhead, the payload, and the FEC data. These three
parts exist whether the frame is an OTU1, OTU2, or OTU3. The G.709 frame is further divided into three sections, each
corresponding to one of three different sections of the optical network. The overhead sections are:

• Optical Channel Payload Unit (OPU)

• Optical Channel Transport Unit (OTU)
• Optical Channel Data Unit (ODU)
Figure 6 shows the locations in the transmission network referred to by these sections.

OPU - Client
ODU
OTU OTU

Sonet Sonet
Client Client

3R 3R 3R
Optical Transport Network

Figure 6: Segments in the optical transport network: OTU, ODU, and OPU
The OTU structure, which includes the FEC, provides supervisory functions and conditions the signal for transport
between optical channel termination points where 3R functionality (retiming, reshaping, and regeneration) takes place.
The ODU provides end-to-end path supervision and supports tandem connection monitoring.

Figure 7 shows the various parts of the G.709 frame—including the overhead for each of the ODU, OPU, and OTU
sections—the framing section, the FEC, and the payload. Although the speeds are based on SONET/SDH, the payload
of a G.709 frame is completely protocol agnostic. For example, ATM or generic framing procedure (GFP) protocols can
be mapped directly into the payload of a G.709 frame. It is this feature that makes OTN a good choice for a transport
network as it can carry multiple types of traffic—data, voice, or video—with a common framing structure, while still
allowing for service-level guarantees, management, monitoring, and error correction.

4080 Columns
1 15 17 3825 4080

Framing OTU
OH
4 Rows

OPU
OH Payload OTU FEC
ODU OH

OAM Overhead

Figure 7: Structure of a G.709 frame

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There are several benefits to this flexible frame structure. The first is that it allows future DWDM networks to have each
wavelength managed as a single entity. The second is that since Operation, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM)
is carried end-to-end in the frame, it allows management to be carried across a multi-vendor network. The third is that
the FEC embedded in the OTU segment of the frame allows for longer spans in the network, reducing the amount of
equipment necessary for long-haul transmission networks.

As carriers migrate to higher speed networks, FEC becomes critical. FEC is a signal decoding and encoding scheme that
allows for the detection and correction of errors that are introduced into an optical signal during its transmission. These
errors can come from weakened signals, optical crosstalk, dispersion, or other anomalies that occur. In addition to just
allowing for error correction, the use of FEC also provides a mechanism for early warning of degradation of signal. This
early warning allows for a controlled protection before a complete failure occurs.

Another benefit of OTN is that the OTN frame supports client-mapping capabilities and backwards support for
SONET/SDH protocols without changing the format, bit rate, or timing. This means that the client signals effectively
get carried through the OTN transparently, yet they gain the added benefits of FEC that OTN provides.

Finally, OTN can adapt to growing data needs because it allows the transmission of different packet types using
GFP mapping. GFP mapping reduces the layers between the fiber and the IP layer and makes more efficient use of
bandwidth. This mapping capability of OTN allows it to be a protocol-agnostic carrier for service transparency for
SONET/SDH, Ethernet, ATM, IP, MPLS, or whatever other protocols a carrier may want to deploy.

For more information, see the Appendix on ITU Specifications for OTN.

Integrated Management and Service Velocity

With integrated optics, the complete health of the optical network is visible to the router management system. A high-
level depiction follows.

OSS

Transmission Router
MGMT.
Management Management
PLANE

E.g., SNMP
CLI
NETCONF
Control
Junos Script
CONTROL WDM JUNIPER End to end service view
PLANE GMPLS GMPLS provided by transmission
MGMT or other common
OSS

DWDM
OTN Integrated Control Plane-
DATA PLANE based provisioning

Figure 8: Integrated IP-optical management

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Juniper’s open management approach leads to more choices for customers. This provides greater flexibility in
designing network resiliency due to transparency between DWDM and IP/MPLS resiliency features, thus achieving
better utilization of network bandwidth. The potential for unified management is implicit in this approach. Integrated
management simplifies network operations while improving network availability and utilization.

Both the transmission and the router management systems can have visibility into all of the equipment via GMPLS
or OTN signaling between any IP and optical device. This approach allows easy integration with existing transport
OSS systems—while OSS and Element Management Systems (EMS) may do the computation offline and push a
configuration to devices, the generalized MPLS signaling (GMPLS) is between the IP and optical devices.

The benefits of this approach are service flexibility, faster provisioning, and lower OpEx.

Juniper’s OTN Vision

Juniper’s key vision for the core network is to integrate the OTN functionality alongside the rich routing capabilities that
already exist in Juniper Networks Junos® operating system-driven platforms.

Juniper offers the following functionality on T Series Core Routers:

• A 10-Gigabit Ethernet OTN PIC

• GMPLS interoperability that allows for signaling to carry not just MPLS label information, but also optical
information such as a wavelength. This enables a transition between a traditional routed network and a
WDM network.
The 10-Gigabit Ethernet OTN PIC uses a single tunable laser to access one of 89 possible International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) grid wavelengths across the C band with 50 GHz spacing. Combined with FEC,
transmission distances in excess of 2,000 km may be achieved. Wavelengths are configured and reconfigured remotely
through the Junos OS command-line interface (CLI) in response to network dynamics. Operators can dynamically
streamline traffic patterns and reallocate wavelengths as bandwidth patterns change.

Juniper’s router-integrated OTN products support the new requirements of next-generation long-haul and metro
networks such as the increased flexibility of network design—through the coupling of longer transmission distances
with robust OAM—and single-fiber channel density. Additional benefits are realized by a reduction in CapEx and OpEx,
made possible by eliminating third-party optical transponder equipment, including regenerators.

The tunable 10-Gigabit Ethernet DWDM OTN PIC is a Type 3 PIC supported on the Juniper Networks M120 and M320
Multiservice Edge Routers, and T320, T640, T1600, TX Matrix, and TX Matrix Plus Core Routers. It enables 1024 VLANs
and many other Ethernet features.

The ITU-T (OTU2) G.709-compliant PIC provides Generic Forward Error Correction (GFEC) and Enhanced Forward
Error Correction (EFEC), selectable through the CLI. FEC supports longer transmission distances in Optical Signal to
Noise Ratio (OSNR)-limited applications by reducing the effects of optical noise caused by amplifiers, allowing more
amplifiers to be used within a single optical link.

Conclusion
The key architectural shift in G.709 is to integrate standard-based (OTN) long-reach transponders into the router. This
achieves a clear partition between the optical and electrical layers. The optical layer contains optical elements such as
fiber, DWDM, amplifiers, and ROADM. The IP layer integrates all of the electrical functions—starting from packet processing,
switching, cross connecting, and multiplexing—and producing long-haul optical signals directly provisioned on the optical
layer. This convergence also provides the ability to meet strict service-level agreements (SLAs) as transport OAM and
packet protection (G.709) give the ability to provide protection across layers in a well-coordinated manner.

Converged IP and DWDM networks provide significant benefits to service providers. Router integrated transponders
eliminate transponder shelves, thus providing both CapEx and OpEx savings. Control plane integration facilitates faster
introduction of new services, and the integrated management simplifies network operations while improving network
availability and utilization.

Additional information about this topic can be found at www.juniper.net.

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Appendix: ITU Specifications for OTN

The various characteristics of Optical Transport Networks are specified in a variety of ITU-T documents including:

• ITU-T G.872: Architecture of Optical Transport Networks and Recommendation

• ITU-T G.873: Optical Transport Networks Requirements
• ITU-T SG15: Transport Networks Systems
• ITU-T G.664: General automatic power shutdown procedures for optical transport systems
• ITU-T G.692: Optical interfaces for multichannel systems with optical amplifiers
• ITU-T G.709: Network Node Interface for the Optical Transport Network
• ITU-T G.798: Characteristics of optical transport network equipment functional blocks
• ITU-T G.871: Framework of optical transport network recommendations
• ITU-T G.874: Management aspects of the optical transport network element
• ITU-T G.875: OTN management information model for the network element view
• ITU-T G.959.1: Optical Transport Network physical layer interfaces

About Juniper Networks

Juniper Networks, Inc. is the leader in high-performance networking. Juniper offers a high-performance network
infrastructure that creates a responsive and trusted environment for accelerating the deployment of services and
applications over a single network. This fuels high-performance businesses. Additional information can be found at
www.juniper.net.

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