Delivering the Future of Optical IP Internetworking Today

A l c a t e l 7 7 7 0 R C P

Today’s IP networks share two characteristics:

high traffic growth accommodated by ad

hoc network planning, and service support

based only on best effort. Due to the lack

of reliability and service level guarantees,

current networks are only generating a

fraction of the revenue earned by TDM

and ATM networks.

But the entire IP arena is changing, including

IP core networks and the service providers

who operate them.

Fierce competition coupled with falling

connectivity prices is heavily impacting

market players. The customers of bandwidth

wholesalers are no longer content with a

yearly fixed bandwidth subscription; they

want bandwidth-on-demand that supports

dynamic allocation when and how they

want it.

Super-PoPs, points of presence that contain

huge server farms, sometimes thousands

of square meters in floor size, are emerging

to support web caching and web hosting —

giving new meaning to scalability.

Upcoming applications in IP networks, such

as streaming multimedia files, e-commerce,

business-to-business applications, IP-VPNs and

electronic customer relationship management

(CRM) are contributing to the tidal wave

of traffic. The IP network must offer certain

guarantees on bandwidth and level of

service support, in addition to scalability

and reliability.

In general, the relationship between the

service provider and its customer is regulated

increasingly by service level agreements

(SLAs) that define the bandwidth

requirements and the level of service

supported by the provider. These SLAs

add to the pressure put on service providers

to build qualitative IP networks.

Even though the exponential growth of IP

traffic continues, imposing a great challenge

in terms of capacity and scalability, the dawn

of a new generation IP network and a new

breed of IP core routers is here.

The Alcatel 7770 Routing Core Platform

(RCP) is the ideal IP core router for this

demanding IP arena.

New service paradigm for the IP network

New focus on qualitative IP service delivery

IP-based services can be anything from web

browsing to multimedia streaming, IP-VPN, VoIP,

e-commerce and business to business. These

services can generate revenues for service

providers, as long as the services are delivered

according to the end customers’ requirements

regarding network delay, delay variation, or

bandwidth. These requirements are spelled out

in terms of service quality in SLAs.

In order to honor SLAs, service providers must

find means to differentiate and guarantee various

services networkwide and to apply the required

quality level to each service. This service

differentiation is even more important if the

service provider wants to integrate different

networks, such as transporting voice over the

IP network.

Cost optimization

IP networks are now considered to be full-grown

networks, not only because they carry more

traffic than the average PSTN, but also

due to their revenue-generating potential.

From the “share business” point of view, IP

networks must generate revenue and have

low operational and investment costs.

Revenue potential is determined by a service

provider’s ability to differentiate its services

and adhere to SLAs. Service providers can

lower both operational and investment costs

by optimizing the IP network. Two tools will

help do this:

• traffic engineering

• optical internetworking

Operational costs can be further lowered by

focusing on the manageability of the IP network.

N E W G E N E R A T I O N I P N E T W O R K S D E F I N E D

In addition to capacity and scalability requirements,

two new requirements have appeared for IP networks,

leading to new generation IP networks.

High Performanceand Scalability

Scalable switching fabric

The internal switching fabric is a highly scalable, hardened,Alcatel in-house developed fabric with a constant and predictable delay.

The internal switching fabric scalesfrom 640 Gb/s to 10 Tb/s andbeyond, with the same technology.

Due to the architecture of theswitching fabric, the delay throughthe fabric is constant and there-fore, predictable. This greatly facilitates the design and imple-mentation of QoS in IP networks.

Thanks to this complete scalability,super-PoPs can be built to avoidhaving to implement and intercon-nect a large number of smallboxes in a single PoP. The abilityto eliminate the need for the intra-PoP links that distribute thetraffic within the PoP avoids ahuge increase in the number of interfaces.

The switching fabric has a 3:1 redundancy, so if one ofthe switching boards fails, the switching fabric can still handlethe full traffic load without losing any packets.

Distributed forwarding

The Alcatel 7770 RCP uses distributed network communica-tion processors to guarantee fullline rate forwarding on everyinterface, even with the smallestsized packets on the fastest interface (10 Gb/s).

The distributed network communi-cation processors provide 22Mpps forwarding capability per line card. This is sufficient to guarantee full line rate IP forwarding, even at 10 Gb/sspeeds and with the smallest sizedIP packets (40 byte IP packets).

The network communication processors also allow advancedfiltering, while maintaining thesame full line rate forwarding.Filtering can be based on selectedfields of a packet or the ingressand egress context. The Alcatel7770 RCP supports a wide rangeof filter actions (acceptance, discard, police, throttle, insertin LSP, count).

The forwarding tables are distrib-uted to allow maximum scalability.All the forwarding tables areupdated simultaneously via aninternal and highly reliable multi-casting feature, which is embed-ded in the switching fabric. Thisensures that all the forwardingtables are in sync all the time.

Due to the flexibility of the network communication processors, the Alcatel 7770 RCP is also IPv6 ready.

Port density

The port density of the Alcatel7770 RCP is the highest in theindustry — up to 30 slots of 10Gb/s each, per rack.

Each of the 30 slots can handle10 Gb/s, leading to an initialinterface capacity of 300 Gb/s.Service providers can scale up to 5 Tb/s by increasing the slotcapacity and by going to multi-rack configurations.

The slots can incorporateSDH/SONET interfaces (from OC-3/STM-1 up to OC-192c/STM-64c, both clear andchannelized), Gigabit Ethernet (1 Gb/s or 10 Gb/s) or veryshort range (VSR) interfaces.

The Alcatel 7770 RCP architectureis OC-768 ready.77

70 R

CP

Traffic Engineeringfor OptimizedNetworking

(Distributed) TE + (Networkwide)TE = Fully Optimized NetworkResources

Distributed approach

The Alcatel 7770 RCP is equippedwith a highly sophisticated, distrib-uted ALMA Vision IP – TrafficEngineering (AVIP – TE) tool. Thistool works in conjunction with an advanced and fully integratednetworking algorithm to monitorand control LSP traffic flows in thenetwork. The AVIP – TE algorithmbalances traffic in the network,redirects traffic flows, relieves congested paths and identifies thepotential need for new networkinglinks quickly and accurately. TheAlcatel 7770 RCP MPLS-guidedintelligence compiles meaningful

d d l k ff f

The calculations are made withAlcatel’s GRATE algorithm. Thiscentralized approach guaranteesthe best possible network resourceoptimization and offers the uniqueability to proactively generate“what if” scenarios that can beused for capacity and disaster risk analysis. These scenarios can be tailored for future planningneeds or in anticipation of extraordinary traffic conditions.The AVIP – TE application alsoallows service providers to extendthe path setup to the optical layer,leading to MPLambdaS.

Flexible OpticalInternetworking

VSR

The Alcatel 7770 RCP providesvery short reach (VSR) interfacesfor a cost-optimized and flexibleconnection to transmission

By keeping the Alcatel 7770 RCP separate from the transmis-sion equipment, both platformscan evolve individually, ensuringthe most up-to-date combination at all times. It also gives serviceproviders the flexibility to choosethe transmission technology (SDH,SONET, DWDM, etc.)

The Alcatel 7770 RCP comes witha complete management solutionthat includes the Alcatel 5620 Network Manager (NM), formerlythe 46020 Network Manager*for managing broadband datanetworks and the Alcatel 1354RM for managing optical net-works, complemented with ALMA Vision IP (AVIP) for serviceassurance.

Co-ordinated multilayerrestoration

Alcatel 7770 RCP multilayerd h

IP trunking

The Alcatel 7770 RCP offerhuge traffic pipes with increresilience through IP trunkin

The Alcatel 7770 RCP provian excellent means to increabandwidth between two adjrouters: IP trunking. An IP trulogical grouping of multiple cal interfaces between adjacnodes into one logical IP inteThe complete trunk is advertas one IP link with the combcapacity of the trunk membeIP traffic with same IP destinaaddress is distributed evenly the trunk members in such a that packet order within a flopreserved. If a trunk memberall traffic is immediately rediuted over the available trunkoffering additional reliability

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re

Alcatel has the unique ability toextend this capability over longhaul, intercontinental optical submarine facilities, as well.

MPLambdaS

The Alcatel 7770 RCP providescross-domain dynamic lambdaallocation and IP managementcapabilities.

The Alcatel 7770 RCP has a built-in carrier’s carrier VPN networkintelligence feature that allows itselement manager to provide cross-domain lambda and IP manage-ment capabilities.

The resulting packet and photonconvergence facilitates dynamiclambda allocation by optical cross-connects or DWDM devices, andhelps service providers cope withextreme traffic loads, higher routerf ll d l

Complete optical core networksmust still be provisioned accordingto SLAs or more dynamic schemesfor traffic reservation. The samefunctionality is required as forMPLS to provision wavelengthsthroughout the core. MPLambdaSprovides the ideal solution.

Service Assurance:ALMA Vision IP

The service quality managementand service assurance processesfor the Alcatel 7770 RCP are supported by the ALMA VisionIP product.

ALMA Vision IP is the Alcatel service assurance solution dedicat-ed to IP-centric networks and services. It delivers a comprehen-sive set of applications allowingthe direct link between the network's health and the servicesh h

• Fully customizable, so operatorscan flexibly create new QoSindicators and SLAs

Traffic Engineering

• Calculates the optimal MPLSpath configuration in the network

• Takes into account customerimportance, SLAs, networktopology, and traffic measures

• Foresees backup paths, whichensure that most important customers receive uninterruptedservice, even when parts of the network fail

Intelligent fault management

• Uses all information available in ALMA Vision IP, includinginformation from customers and services

• Finds the root cause from hundreds of interrelated faults

IP trunking

The Alcatel 7770 RCP offershuge traffic pipes with increasedresilience through IP trunking.

The Alcatel 7770 RCP providesan excellent means to increase thebandwidth between two adjacentrouters: IP trunking. An IP trunk is alogical grouping of multiple physi-cal interfaces between adjacentnodes into one logical IP interface.The complete trunk is advertizedas one IP link with the combinedcapacity of the trunk members. AllIP traffic with same IP destinationaddress is distributed evenly overthe trunk members in such a waythat packet order within a flow ispreserved. If a trunk member fails,all traffic is immediately redistrib-uted over the available trunk links,offering additional reliability.

Innovative ServiceDifferentiation

The Alcatel 7770 RCP supportsmultiple IP services withenhanced quality of service(QoS).

The Alcatel 7770 RCP supportsQoS with a full and customizableimplementation of service differentiation (DiffServ+) andMPLS-DiffServ. This implementationallows data to converge withvoice, fax and streaming applications in the same network.

DiffServ+

The Alcatel 7770 RCP has beendesigned for optimal assurance of service quality in both DiffServ-enabled and non-DiffServ net-works. With DiffServ, differentservice classes are supported:from services that require low loss, low latency and low jitter toservices that require predictablequalities, even in congestion. InDiffServ-enabled networks, theAlcatel 7770 RCP supports thefollowing classes:• Expedited forwarding (EF)• Assured forwarding classes

1– 4 (AF 1–4)• Best effort (BE)

• Class selector (CS) to connecttwo non-DiffServ networksthrough a DiffServ network

As an enhancement to DiffServ,the Alcatel 7770 RCP supportsRSVP reserved IP DiffServ “pipes”.

Even in non-DiffServ networks, theAlcatel 7770 RCP can offer someservice differentiation by offeringbetter best effort (BBE), in additionto best effort traffic.

In addition, the Alcatel 7770 RCPinterprets the type of service (ToS)precedence bits.

MPLS

Label switched paths (LSPs), whichare set up with MPLS, are also dif-ferentiated through MPLS-DiffServ.

The Alcatel 7770 RCP supportsboth EXP-inferred LSPs (E-LSPs)and label-inferred LSPs (L-LSPs)saccording to Internet IETF-draft:draft-ietf-mpls-diff-ext-02.txt.

Non-StopNetworking

The Alcatel 7770 RCP is a fullyredundant network element withnetwork resilience.

A carrier grade environmentneeds the combination of network resilience and high quality network elements to support current service mixes.

The Alcatel 7770 RCP’s functionsand components are fully redun-dant, resulting in a platform with no single point of failure.Reliability exceeds 99.999 percent (five 9s).

The Alcatel 7770 RCP offers anumber of network redundancyschemes, such as APS and ECMP.These schemes are in addition tothe standard resilience offered byIP routing protocols. Equipmentprotection is covered with ECMP,since ECMP implementation supports switchover on a per physical interface basis.

Co-ordinated multilayer restorationand multiprotocol lambda switch-ing (MPLambdaS) further enhancethe reliability. Both of these fea-tures are described later in thisdocument.

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Traffic Engineeringfor OptimizedNetworking

(Distributed) TE + (Networkwide)TE = Fully Optimized NetworkResources

Distributed approach

The Alcatel 7770 RCP is equippedwith a highly sophisticated, distrib-uted ALMA Vision IP – TrafficEngineering (AVIP – TE) tool. Thistool works in conjunction with an advanced and fully integratednetworking algorithm to monitorand control LSP traffic flows in thenetwork. The AVIP – TE algorithmbalances traffic in the network,redirects traffic flows, relieves congested paths and identifies thepotential need for new networkinglinks quickly and accurately. TheAlcatel 7770 RCP MPLS-guidedintelligence compiles meaningfulnode and link traffic pattern infor-mation and percent occupancy statistics. It also deploys cus-tomized thresholds triggered by clearly defined networkingparameters to meet the bandwidthwholesaler’s most demandingISP client traffic and service priority needs.

Networkwide approach

The AVIP – TE application gatherstraffic information from the entirenetwork and combines it withthe customer’s path and servicerequirements to calculate optimalLSPs through the IP network.

The calculations are made withAlcatel’s GRATE algorithm. Thiscentralized approach guaranteesthe best possible network resourceoptimization and offers the uniqueability to proactively generate“what if” scenarios that can beused for capacity and disaster risk analysis. These scenarios can be tailored for future planningneeds or in anticipation of extraordinary traffic conditions.The AVIP – TE application alsoallows service providers to extendthe path setup to the optical layer,leading to MPLambdaS.

Flexible OpticalInternetworking

VSR

The Alcatel 7770 RCP providesvery short reach (VSR) interfacesfor a cost-optimized and flexibleconnection to transmission equipment.

The combination of the Alcatel7770 RCP and Alcatel’s leadingtransmission products, such as the CrossLight optical cross-con-nect switch, provides the best solution for any core IP network.

Since both are equipped with VSR interfaces, interconnectionbetween the Alcatel 7770 RCPand the transmission products isefficient and cost-effective.

By keeping the Alcatel 7770 RCP separate from the transmis-sion equipment, both platformscan evolve individually, ensuringthe most up-to-date combination at all times. It also gives serviceproviders the flexibility to choosethe transmission technology (SDH,SONET, DWDM, etc.)

The Alcatel 7770 RCP comes witha complete management solutionthat includes the Alcatel 5620 Network Manager (NM), formerlythe 46020 Network Manager*for managing broadband datanetworks and the Alcatel 1354RM for managing optical net-works, complemented with ALMA Vision IP (AVIP) for serviceassurance.

Co-ordinated multilayerrestoration

Alcatel 7770 RCP multilayerrestoration co-ordinates therestoration of paths on Layer 1,Layer 2 and Layer 3.

The Alcatel 7770 RCP multilayerrestoration feature deploys anadvanced proprietary protocol to co-ordinate restoration of pathson Layer 1 (restoration at the optical layer), Layer 2 (restorationwith MPLS with backup LSPs) and Layer 3 (restoration viaECMP, trunking and finally IPrerouting). The feature allows fullrestoration and recovery of IP traffic over single monochromaticand polychromatic links betweenthe Alcatel 7770 RCP and the

CrossLight optical cross-connectswitch. Multilayer restoration isuniquely qualified for carrier core,mission-critical operations support-ing IP and transport levelCoS/QoS, as well as bandwidth-on-demand-enabled services forSLAs. Unlike other vendors,

* This product belonged to the Newbridge family. Newbridge was acquired by Alcatel in May 2000.

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Alcatel has the unique ability toextend this capability over longhaul, intercontinental optical submarine facilities, as well.

MPLambdaS

The Alcatel 7770 RCP providescross-domain dynamic lambdaallocation and IP managementcapabilities.

The Alcatel 7770 RCP has a built-in carrier’s carrier VPN networkintelligence feature that allows itselement manager to provide cross-domain lambda and IP manage-ment capabilities.

The resulting packet and photonconvergence facilitates dynamiclambda allocation by optical cross-connects or DWDM devices, andhelps service providers cope withextreme traffic loads, higher routerfill rates and low response times.Proprietary common control mech-anisms and signaling protocols arecommunicated and shared amongAlcatel’s core products, elementmanagers and ALMA Vision IPservice assurance solution.

In short, this fully integrated net-work intelligence feature can helpbandwidth wholesalers clearlydefine, price and deliver differenti-ated bandwidth pipes for diverseToS/CoS ISP services, such asbundled IP/TDM services, multi-attribute services, lambda differen-tiated services, and more.

Complete optical core networksmust still be provisioned accordingto SLAs or more dynamic schemesfor traffic reservation. The samefunctionality is required as forMPLS to provision wavelengthsthroughout the core. MPLambdaSprovides the ideal solution.

Service Assurance:ALMA Vision IP

The service quality managementand service assurance processesfor the Alcatel 7770 RCP are supported by the ALMA VisionIP product.

ALMA Vision IP is the Alcatel service assurance solution dedicat-ed to IP-centric networks and services. It delivers a comprehen-sive set of applications allowingthe direct link between the network's health and the servicesthe customer experiences. Thisproduct is multi-technology and can manage IP networks and services on top of ATM or opticalbackbones. It can be used in a multivendor environment.ALMA Vision IP provides the following functions:

Performance and QoSmanagement

• Computes relevant QoS indicators from raw datareceived from the network

• Tracks SLAs against calculatedQoS indicators and triggersalarms when guaranteed levelsof service are not met

• Fully customizable, so operatorscan flexibly create new QoSindicators and SLAs

Traffic Engineering

• Calculates the optimal MPLSpath configuration in the network

• Takes into account customerimportance, SLAs, networktopology, and traffic measures

• Foresees backup paths, whichensure that most important customers receive uninterruptedservice, even when parts of the network fail

Intelligent fault management

• Uses all information available in ALMA Vision IP, includinginformation from customers and services

• Finds the root cause from hundreds of interrelated faults

• Identifies customers affected by network faults

• Detects the reason for violationof a customer’s SLA

Problem management

• Supports network and serviceproblem resolution and handlescustomer complaints

• Generates and dispatches trouble tickets

e,rt-

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