User manual ALCATEL-LUCENT 7750 SERVICE ROUTER DATASHEET

[. . . ] APPLICATION NOTE Next-Generation Utility Networking Building a Better Network with IP/MPLS Table of Contents 1 1 2 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 6 6 7 8 9 9 10 10 10 10 10 11 Overview The Traditional Utility Networking Infrastructure Bandwidth and Quality of Service CAPEX/OPEX and Scalability Next-Generation Utility Network Requirements Bandwidth Reliability Mobility Manageability The Alcatel-Lucent Next-Generation Utility Network Solution Alcatel-Lucent IP/MPLS Solution Building Blocks The Network Topology CAPEX/OPEX and Scalability Multiservice Support Reliability Bandwidth Efficiency Quality of Service Mobility Manageability Summary The Alcatel-Lucent Advantage Acronyms Overview Utility companies rely heavily on their communications infrastructures to ensure the flawless delivery of critical services. As the Utilities Telecom Council's May 2007 research1 indicates, information management technologies are being integrated with grid operations, to deploy new types of services, including automation systems, metering infrastructures, and control applications to improve customer service and power reliability. Increasingly, the utility network infrastructure must deliver integrated voice, data and video communications to ensure a non-disruptive information flow among all utility personnel and customers. While traditional communications systems have been effective, these newer services can be more effectively delivered alongside the utility's legacy services, in a converged next-generation network. [. . . ] Voice mobility allows users to roam across the utility network footprint, including WiFi access points, rather than being tethered to a physical location. For most efficient operations, mobility requires an IP core. 4 Alcatel-Lucent | Next-Generation Utility Networking Manageability The management of a utility network has a direct impact on the operational cost of maintaining and scaling the network. OPEX should not escalate exponentially as new services are added. Service-aware management software can simplify network operations while streamlining operational processes such as maintenance, troubleshooting, scaling and commissioning. The Alcatel-Lucent Next-Generation Utility Network Solution To reiterate, the utility communications network must be able to: · Support critical existing utility TDM services · Support new IP-based applications and services · Minimize costs without compromising features, functionality and reliability · Provide scalability, allowing the utility to increase services and grow the number of users · Ensure network and operational system security · Be highly survivable and resilient, with no single point of failure · Enable scalable QoS to prioritize mission-critical applications over other traffic · Provide reliable transmission over wireless microwave and fiber optic systems Each utility may have a different approach or preference when implementing a communications network. The core of the operational network can be based on SONET/SDH, ATM, IP/MPLS and/or Ethernet. The Alcatel-Lucent solution portfolio includes a broad range of products to support the implementation of these different approaches. However, this application note looks specifically at the advantages to using IP/MPLS at the core of the network while leveraging microwave wireless and/or fiber optics where appropriate. Figure 4 shows an overview of the Alcatel-Lucent solution for a next-generation utility IP/MPLS network. The network leverages MPLS to bring the advantages of a circuit-based network to an IP network, and to enable network convergence, virtualization and resiliency. Figure 4. As shown in Figure 5, the topology consists of three adjacent rings. A ring architecture provides a reliable environment because traffic can be rerouted to the other side of the ring, should a failure occur. In a SONET/SDH application, every node is always transmitting on both sides, effectively duplicating all traffic on the ring. In the Alcatel-Lucent IP/MPLS solution, the network relies on the MPLS fast reroute (FRR) feature for resiliency, so it is not necessary to duplicate the traffic. All bandwidth can be fully utilized and FRR ensures the ring can reroute traffic in sub-50 milliseconds, preserving all services on top of the ring. 6 Alcatel-Lucent | Next-Generation Utility Networking Figure 5. Typical Ring Architecture Ring 2 Ring 3 Ring 1 Fiber optics Wireless microwave Junction site Ring site Spur site CAPEX/OPEX and Scalability To meet the utility's growing requirements, the Alcatel-Lucent network is extremely scalable, with the bandwidth in each ring able to scale up or down independently, according to changing requirements. For example, Rings 1 and 2 may need a ring bandwidth of 150 Mb/s over a physical Ethernet interface while Ring 3 needs 50 Mb/s of bandwidth. The system can also scale down to provide the right bandwidth offering for the spur sites. There are three typical site types (as shown in Figure 5): · Ring site ­ a site sitting on the main ring responsible for relaying traffic arriving from neighboring sites, providing connectivity for branch sites and meeting local service requirements on that site. Ring site functionality is shown in Figure 6. · Junction site ­ a site located at the junction of two rings. Must be scalable to terminate multiple MPLS rings and act as a pivotal point to provide Layer 3 services. Junction site functionality is shown in Figure 7. [. . . ] These hierarchies provide maximum isolation and fairness across different traffic while optimizing uplink utilization. With multiple levels and instances of shaping, queuing and priority scheduling, the Alcatel-Lucent IP/MPLS solution can manage traffic flows to ensure performance parameters (e. g. , bandwidth, delay, jitter) for each application are met. Mobility The Alcatel-Lucent IP/MPLS solution offers a utility's mobile field workforce ubiquitous access to critical applications that improve productivity and efficiency. In the Alcatel-Lucent IP/MPLS network, mobility is achieved by deploying WiFi access points to allow the secure transmission and reception of data wirelessly. [. . . ]