nairobi, kenya, 30 – 31 july 2010 interoperability challenges in isps operations tamer m. kamel,...

Nairobi, Kenya, 30 – 31 July 2010

Interoperability Challenges in ISPs’ Operations

Tamer M. Kamel,Networks Operation & Maintenance

Division, TE-DATAEgypt Manager

Regional ITU Consultation on Conformance Assessment and

Interoperability for the Africa region (Nairobi, Kenya, 30-31 July 2010 )

Agenda

TE Data @GlanceMulti-Vendor EnvironmentInteroperability ExperienceRecommendation

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TE Data @ Glance

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TE Data MarketMarket Leader as an internet provider and data communication solutions~ 1 million home customers with 60% market share ~ 2000 enterprise customers with advanced solutions with 50% of Egypt market share~ 100 Gbps of international bandwidth capacity with 70% of total internet capacity in Egypt

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TE Data Services

Basic ServicesADSL Broadband WiFi InternetInternet Dial-up L2/L3 MPLS VPNInter-AS VPN IP Transit

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TE Data Services (Cont.)

Value Added ServicesIPTV, VoDClean Internet Video Conferencing Domain NamesVirtual Call-Center for small businessIP-SurveillanceVirtual BranchingHosting Packages, Managed Data-center

Multi-Vendor Environment

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Multi-Vendor Environment Benefits

Minimize CostReduce RiskEnrich ServicesFlexibility That Drives Innovation

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TE Data Multi-Vendor

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Core

Access

Data Center

Interoperability Experience(Time Bomb)

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1. LACP (IEEE 802.3ad)

Failed to establish port bundle between DSLAM uplink (Vendor-A) and the access switch (Vendor-B) due to mismatch in LACP parameters.Impact:

End customers experience instabilityAdded operational cost and resourcesLoosing redundancy feature

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2. MTU (RFC-1191)

BRAS (Vendor-X) failed to establish subscriber sessions forwarded from MSAN (Vendor-Y); due to MTU mismatchImpact:

Extra Configuration and customizationAdded operational cost and resources

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3. SELT (ITU-T Study group 15)

Couldn't perform copper line inspection by an application (Vendor-A) due to limited functionality of some DSLAM platform in SNMP and SELT test (Vendor-B) DSLAMImpact:

No access to SELT servicesDifficulties in maintenance operations

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4. xDSL (ITU G992.x)

CPEs commit support of line-codes; while some are not functioning well Impact:

Extra configuration neededDifficulties in maintenance operations

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5. MAC Address (IEEE 802)

many CPE brands use non-unique and fake MAC address during encapsulating PPP frame; causing duplicate MAC at DSLAM side and session may be dropped.Impact:

Difficulties in maintenance operationsAdded cost to replace CPEs

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6. SNMP

ATM DSLAM (Vendor-X) not supporting the standard an complete MIB tree; causing poor discovery and management through the SNMP servers Impact:

Hard to provision and to operate through management serversAdded operational costs and resources

Recommendations

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Recommendations

Operators should share their experience and knowledge regarding interoperability through standard bodies.ITU and Standard Bodies should make a program to enhance operator skills regarding standards in technology.

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Recommendations (cont.)

Local and international standard bodies help in establishing and accrediting regional LABs.Monthly Bulletin by local countries NTRA with vendors’ problems and actions

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Recommendations (cont.)

Hardware and software suppliers should mention the certificates of the products regarding the introduced features and its interoperability with other suppliers.   

THANK YOU

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