Ovum on Infinera's Intelligent Transport Network strategy
Infinera announced that TeliaSonera International Carrier (TSIC) is extending the use of its DTN-X to its European network, having already adopted the platform in the US. Infinera has also outlined the next evolution in its networking strategy, dubbed the Intelligent Transport Network.
Dana Cooperson
Gazettabyte asked Dana Cooperson, vice president and practice leader, and Ron Kline, principal analyst, both in the network infrastructure group at market research firm, Ovum, about the announcement and Infinera's outlined strategy.
What has been announced
TSIC is adding Infinera's DTN-X to boost network capacity in Europe and accommodate its own growing IP traffic. TSIC already has deployed 100 Gig technology in its European network, using a Coriant product. The wholesale operator will sell 100 Gig services, activating capacity using the DTN-X's 'instant bandwidth' feature based on already-lit 100 Gig light paths that make up its 500 Gigabit super-channels.
Meanwhile, Infinera has detailed its Intelligent Transport Network strategy that extends its digital optical network that performs optical-electrical-optical (OEO) conversion using its 500 Gig photonic integrated circuits (PICs) coupled with OTN (Optical Transport Network) switching to include additional features. These include multi-layer switching – reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers (ROADMs) and MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching) – and PICs with terabit capacity
Q&A with Dana Cooperson and Ron Kline
Q. What is significant about Infinera's Intelligent Transport Network strategy?
Dana C: Infinera is being more public about its longer-term strategy - to 2020 - which includes evolving from its digital optical network messaging to a network that includes multiple layers and types of switching, and more automation. Infinera is not announcing more functionality availability now.
Infinera makes much play about its 500 Gig super-channels. More recently it has detailed such platform features as instant bandwidth and Fast Shared Mesh Protection supported in hardware. Are these features giving operators something new and is Infinera gaining market share as a result?
Dana C: Instant Bandwidth provides a way for Infinera’s operator customers to have their cake and eat it. They can install 500 Gig super-channels ahead of demand, and not pay for each 100 Gig sub-channel until they have a need for that bandwidth. It is a simple process at that point to 'turn on' the next 100 Gig worth of bandwidth within the super-channel.
By installing all five 100 Gig channels at once, the operator can simplify operations - lower opex - and allow quicker time-to-revenue without having to take the capex hit until the bandwidth needs materialise. This is an improvement over the DTN platform, which gave customers the 10x10 Gig architecture to let them pre-position bandwidth before the need for it materialised and save on opex, but at the cost of higher up-front capex than was ideal.
Talking to TSIC confirm that this added flexibility the DTN-X provides has allowed them to win wholesale business from competitors while tying capex more directly to revenue.
Ron K: Although pay-as-you go capability is available, analysis of 100 Gig shipments to date indicate most customers are paying for all five up front.
Dana C: I have not directly talked with an Infinera customer that has confirmed the benefit of Fast Shared Mesh Protection, but the feature certainly seems to be of value to customers and prospects. Our research indicates the continued search for better, more efficient mesh protection. Hardware-enabled protection should provide better latency (higher speed).
Ron K: Resiliency and mesh protection are critical requirements if you want to participate in the market. Shared mesh assumes that you have idle protection capacity available in case there is a failure. That is expensive. However, with Infinera’s technology - the PIC and Instant Bandwidth - it is not as difficult.
Restoration is all about speed – how fast can you get the network back up. It is not always milliseconds, sometimes it is half a minute. But during catastrophic failure events such as an earthquake, where a user can loose entire nodes, 30 seconds may not be so bad. Infinera has implemented the switch in hardware, based on a pre-planned map, so it is quicker.
Dana C: As for what impact these capabilities are having on market share, Infinera has climbed to the No.3 player in 100 Gig DWDM in three quarters since the DTN-X has become available.
They’ve jumped back up to No.4 globally in backbone WDM/CPO-T (converged packet optical transport) after sinking to sixth when they were losing share because they were without a viable 40 Gig solution. They made the right call at that time to focus on 100 Gig systems based on the 500 Gig PIC rather than chase 40 Gig. They are both keeping and expanding with existing DTN customers, TSIC being one, and picking up new customers.
Ron Kline
Ron K:They are definitely picking up share. However, I’m not sure if they can sustain it. The reason for the share jump is they are selling 100 Gig, five at a time. Remember, most customers elect to pay for all five. That means future sales will lag because customers have pre-positioned the bandwidth.
Looking at the customers is probably a better indicator: Infinera has some 27 customers, maybe 30 by now, which provide a good embedded base. Still, 27 customers is low compared to Ciena, Alcatel-Lucent, Huawei and even Cisco.
When Infinera first announced the DTN-X in 2011 it talked about how it would add MPLS support. Now outlining its Intelligent Transport Network strategy it has still to announce MPLS support. Do operators not need this network feature yet in such platforms and if not, why?
Dana C: The market is still sorting out exactly what is needed for sub-wavelength switching and where it is needed. Cisco’s and Juniper’s approaches are very different in the routing world —essentially, a lower-cost MPLS blade for the CRS versus a whole new box in the PTX; there is no right way there.
Within packet-aware optical products, the same is true: What is the right level of integration of OTN versus MPLS? It depends on where you are in the network, what that carrier’s service mix is, and how fast the mix is changing.
Many carriers are still struggling with their rigid organisational structures, and how best to manage products that are optical and packet in equal measure. So I don’t think Infinera is late, they are just reacting to their customers’ priorities and doing other things first.
Ron K: This is the $64,000 question: MPLS versus OTN. I’m not sure how it will eventually play out. I am asking service providers now.
OTN is a carrier protocol developed for carriers by carriers (the replacement for SONET/SDH). They will be the ones to use it because they have multi-service networks and need the transparency OTN provides. Google types and cable operators will not use OTN switching - they will lean towards the label-switched path (LSP) route. Even Tier-1 operators who have both types of networks will most likely maintain separation.
"The trick is to optimise around the requirements that net you the biggest total available market and which maximise your strengths and minimise your weaknesses. You can’t be all things to all carriers."
If Infinera has its digital optical network, why is it now also talking about ROADMs? And does having both benefit operators?
Dana C: Yes, having both benefits operators. From discussions with Infinera's customers, it is true that the digital nodes give them flexibility, but they do introduce added cost. For those nodes where customers have little need to add/ drop traffic, a ROADM would provide a more cost-efficient option to a node that performs OEO for all the traffic. So, with a ROADM option customers would have more control over node design.
Infinera talks about its next-gen PICs that will support a Terabit and more. After nearly a decade of making PICs, how does Ovum view the significance of the technology?
Dana C: While more vendors are doing photonic integration R&D, and some - Huawei comes to mind - have released some PIC-based products, no one has come close to Infinera in what it can do with photonic integration. Speaking with quite a few of Infinera’s customers, they are very happy with the technology, the system, and the support.
Each generation of PIC requires a significant R&D effort, but it does provide differentiation. Infinera has managed to stay focused and implement on time and on spec. I see them as the epitome of a “specialist” vendor. They are of similar size to Coriant and Tellabs, which have seen their fortunes wane, and ADVA Optical Networking. So I would say they are a very good example of what focus and differentiation can do.
Now, is the PIC the only way to approach system architecture? No. As noted before, some Infinera clients have told me that the lack of a ROADM has hurt them in competitive situations, as did the need to pay for all the pre-positioned bandwidth up front (true for the DTN, not the DTN-X).
From my days in product development, I know you have to optimise around a set of requirements, and the trick is to optimise around the requirements that net you the biggest total available market and which maximise your strengths and minimise your weaknesses. You can’t be all things to all carriers.
What is significant about the latest TeliaSonera network win and what does it mean for Coriant?
Dana C: Infinera is announcing an extension of its deployments at TSIC from North America to now include Europe as well. When you ask what this means to Coriant, their incumbent supplier in Europe, the answer is not clear cut. This gives Infinera an expanded hunting licence and it gives Coriant some cause for worry.
TSIC values both vendors and both will have their place in the European network. TSIC plans to use the vendors in different regions.
I am sure TSIC will try and play each off against the other to get the best price. It is looking for more flexibility and some healthy competition.
Carrier Ethernet switch chip for wireless small cells
- 6-port low power 12 Gigabit Carrier Ethernet switch chip
- Used for intra and inter-board comms, and back-hauling
- Supports MPLS and MPLS-TP
"Multi-carrier OA&M performance monitoring allows you to manage your network for your users through another carrier’s network”
Uday Mudoi, Vitesse Semiconductor
Vitesse Semiconductor has launched an Ethernet switch chip for Long Term Evolution (LTE) small cells.
Small cells are being adopted by mobile operators as a complement to their existing macrocells to boost signal coverage and network capacity. The small cells include microcells and picocells as well as femtocells for the enterprise.
The Serval Lite chip, the VSC7416, from Vitesse will be used to aggregate and switch traffic and will reside at the interface between the access and the pre-aggregation segments of the mobile network.
According to Uday Mudoi, director of product marketing at Vitesse, two units make up a carrier’s small cell: the base station and the back-hauling. The base station itself comprises baseband and general purpose processing. “What we are seeing on a base station – whether it is a macro or a small cell – is the use of multi-core processors, and you may need more than one such device on the baseband card,” says Mudoi. The Serval Lite IC can be used as an interface between the baseband and general purpose processors, and to other hardware on the card.
The basestation features baseband (BB) and general purpose processing (GPP) cards. Source: Vitesse
The backhaul unit also features the Serval Lite IC. “The backhaul is more interesting from a switch perspective,” says Mudoi. The switch takes traffic from the base stations and places it on the outgoing interface, typically a microwave or fibre link, says Mudoi.
The switch also supports Carrier Ethernet for the traffic back-hauling. Such features include hierarchical quality of service (QoS), performance monitoring and operations, administration and management (OA&M). "Multi-carrier OA&M performance monitoring allows you to manage your network for your users through another carrier’s network,” says Mudoi.
Switch characteristics
The Serval Lite is implemented using a 65nm CMOS process. The IC has six ports: four at 1 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) and two that run at 1GbE or 2.5GbE. There is also a choice of NPI and PCI Express interfaces to connect to processors.
The chip has a full line rate switching capacity of 12 Gigabit. “It is a standard switching device, from any port to any port, that is standards compliant,” says Mudoi.
The switch supports the IEEE1588v2 timing protocol needed to synchronise between cell sites. The device also supports MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) and MPLS-TP (Multiprotocol Label Switching Transport Profile).
“The 1588 timing issue is more complex when you are dealing with small cells,” says Mudoi. The back-hauling happens over millimeter wave or microwave links which adds extra timing constraints. This requires additional hardware to support the timing standard.
The device has been designed to achieve a low power consumption of typically 1.5W with the maximum being 3W. Vitesse has stripped out a T1/E1 processor used for back-hauling, with the chip supporting Ethernet only. The device also adheres to the IEEE 802.3az (Energy Efficient Ethernet), powering down the ports when inactive.
The switch features a single core 416 MHz MIPS processor used for overall management of the small cell. Samples of the VSC7416 are now available.
High fives: 5 Terabit OTN switching and 500 Gig super-channels.
Infinera has announced a core network platform that combines Optical Transport Network (OTN) switching with dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) transport. "We are looking at a system that integrates two layers of the network," says Mike Capuano, vice president of corporate marketing at Infinera.
"This is 100Tbps of non-blocking switching, all functioning as one system. You just can't do that with merchant silicon."
Mike Capuano, Infinera
The DTN-X platform is based on Infinera's third-generation photonic integrated circuit (PIC) that supports five, 100Gbps coherent channels.
Each DTN-X platform can deliver 5 Terabits-per-second (Tbps) of non-blocking OTN switching using an Infinera-designed ASIC. Ten DTN-X platforms can be combined to scale the OTN switching and transport capacity to 50Tbps currently.
Infinera also plans to add Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) to turn the DTN-X into a hybrid OTN/ MPLS switch. With the next upgrades to the PIC and the switching, the ten DTN-X platforms will scale to 100Tbps optical transport and 100Tbps OTN and MPLS switching capacity.
The platform is being promoted by Infinera as a way for operators to tackle network traffic growth and support developments such as cloud computing where applications and content increasingly reside in the network. "What that means [for cloud-based services to work] is a network with huge capacity and very low latency," says Capuano.
Platform details
The 5x100Gbps PIC supports what Infinera calls a 500Gbps 'super-channel'. Each super-channel is a multi-carrier implementation comprising five, 100Gbps wavelengths. Combined with OTN, the 500Gbps super-channel can be filled with 1, 10, 40 and 100 Gigabit streams (SONET/SDH, Ethernet, video etc). Moreover, there is no spectral efficiency penalty: the super-channel uses 250GHz of fibre spectrum, provisioning five 50GHz-wide, 100Gbps wavelengths at a time.
"We have seen 40 and 100Gbps come on the market and they are definitely helping with fibre capacity issues," says Capuano. "But they are more expensive from a cost-per-bit perspective than 10Gbps." By introducing the 500Gbps PIC, Infinera says it is reducing the cost-per-bit performance of high speed optical transport.
DTN-X: shown are 5 line and tributary cards top and bottom with switching cards in the centre of the chassis. Source: Infinera
Integrating OTN switching within the platform results in the lowest cost solution and is more efficient when compared to multiplexed transponders (muxponder) configured manually, or an external OTN switch which must be optically connected to the transport platform.
The DTN-X also employs Generalised MPLS (GMPS) software. "GMPLS makes it easy to deploy networks and services with point-and-click provisioning," says Capuano.
Each DTX-N line card supports a 500Gbps PIC but the chassis backplane is specified at 1Tbps, ready for Infinera's next-generation 10x100Gbps PIC that will upgrade the DTN-X to a 10Tbps system. "We have already presented our test results for our 1Tbps PIC back in March," says Capuano. The fourth-generation PIC, estimated around 2014 (based on a company slide although Infinera has made no public comment), will support a 1Tbps super-channel.
Adding MPLS will add the transport capability of the protocol to the DTN-X. "You will have MPLS transport, OTN switching and DWDM all in one platform," says Capuano.
OTN switching is the priority of the tier-one operators to carry and process their SONET/SDH traffic; adding MPLS will enable extra traffic processing capabilities to the system, he says.
Infinera says that by eventually integrating MPLS switching into the optical transport network, operators will be able to bypass expensive router ports and simplify their network operation.
Performance
Infinera says that the DTX-N 5Tbps performance does not dip however the system is configured: whether solely as a switch (all line card slots filled with tributary modules), mixed DWDM/ switching (half DWDM/ half tributaries, for example) or solely as a DWDM platform. Depending on the cards in the DTN-X platform, the transport/ switching configuration can be varied but the 5Tbps I/O capacity is retained. Infinera says other switches on the market do lose I/O capacity as the interface mix is varied.
Overall, Infinera claims the platform requires half the power of competing solutions and takes up a third less space.
The DTN-X will be available in the first half of 2012.
Analysis
Gazettabyte asked several market research firms about the significance of the DTN-X announcement and the importance of combining OTN, DWDM and soon MPLS within one platform.
Ovum
Ron Kline, principal analyst, and Dana Cooperson, vice president, of the network infrastructure practice
"MPLS switching is setting up a very interesting competitive dynamic among vendors"
Dana Cooperson, Ovum
The DTN-X is a platform for the largest service providers and their largest sites, says Ovum.
It sees the DTN-X in the same light as other integrated OTN/ WDM platforms such as Huawei's OSN 8800, Nokia Siemens Networks' hiT 7100, Alcatel-Lucent's 1830 PSS and Tellabs' 7100 OTS.
"It fits the mold for Verizon's long-haul optical transport platform (LH OTP), especially once MPLS is added," says Kline. "NSN is also claiming it will add MPLS to the 7100. Once MPLS is added, then you have the big packet optical transport box that Verizon wants."
The DTN-X platform will boost the business case for 100 Gig in a similar way to how Infinera's current PIC has done at 10 Gig. "The others will be forced to lower price," says Kline.
Having GMPLS is important, especially if there is a need to do dynamic bandwidth allocation, however it is customer-dependent. "When you start digging, it's hard to find large-scale implementations of GMPLS," says Kline.
The Ovum analysts stress that the need for OTN in the core depends on the customer. Content service providers like Google couldn't care less about OTN. "It's really an issue for multi-service providers like BT and AT&T," says Cooperson,
There is a consensus about the need for MPLS in the core. "Different service providers are likely to take different approaches — some might prefer an integrated box and others might not, it depends on their business," she says. "I think MPLS switching is setting up a very interesting competitive dynamic among vendors that focus on IP/MPLS, those that focus on optical, and those that are trying to do both [optical and IP/MPLS].
Ovum highlights several aspects regarding the DTN-X's claimed performance.
"Assuming it performs as advertised, this should finally give Infinera what it needs to be of real interest to the tier-ones," says Cooperson. "The message of scalability, simplicity, efficiency, and profitability is just what service providers want to hear."
Cooperson also highlights Infinera's approach to optical-electrical-optical conversion and the benefit this could deliver at line speeds greater than 100Gbps.
At present ROADMs are being upgraded to support flexible spectrum channel configurations, also known as gridless. This is to enable future line speeds that will use more spectrum than current 50GHz DWDM channels. Operators want ROADMs that support flexible spectrum requirements but managing the network to support these variable width channels is still to resolved.
"It fits the mold for Verizon's long-haul optical transport platform (LH OTP), especially once MPLS is added"
Ron Kline, Ovum
Infinera's approach is based on conversion to the electrical domain when dropping and regenerating wavelengths such that the issue of flexible channels does not arise or is at least forestalled. This, says Cooperson, could be Infinera's biggest point of differentiation.
"What impresses me is the 500Gbps super-channel using five, 100Gbps carriers and the size of the switch fabric," adds Kline. The 5Tbps switching performance also exceeds that of everyone else: "Alcatel-Lucent is closest with 4Tbps but most range from 1-3Tbps and top out at 3Tbps."
The ease of use is also a big deal. Infinera did very well in marketing rapid turn up: 10 Gig in 10 days for example, says Kline: "It looks like they will be able to do the same here with 100 Gig."
Infonetics Research
Andrew Schmitt, directing analyst, optical
"GMPLS isn't that important, yet."
The DTN-X is a WDM platform which optionally includes a switch fabric for carriers that want it integrated with the transport equipment, says Schmitt. Once MPLS is added, it has the potential to be a full-blown packet-optical system.
"[The announcement is] pretty significant though not unexpected," says Schmitt. "I think the key question is what it costs, and whether the 500G PIC translates into compelling savings."
Having MPLS support is important for some carriers such as XO Communications and Google but not for others.
Schmitt also says GMPLS isn't that important, yet. "Infinera's implementation of regen-rich networks should make their GMPLS implementation workable," he says. "It has been building networks like that for a while."
OTN in the core is still an open debate but any carrier that doesn't have the luxury of a homogenous data network needs it, he says
Schmitt has yet to speak with carriers who have used the DTN-X: "I can't comment on claimed performance but like I said, cost is important."
ACG Research
Eve Griliches, managing partner
"Infinera has already introduced the 500G PIC, but the OTN is significant in that it can be used as a standalone OTN switch, and it has the largest capacity out there today"
The DTN-X as an OTN/ WDM platform awaiting label switch router (LSR) functionality, says Griliches: "With the LSR functionality it will be able to do statistical multiplexing for direct router connections."
Infinera has already introduced the 500 Gig PIC but the OTN is significant in that it can be used as a standalone OTN switch, and it has the largest capacity out there today. An OTN survey conducted last year by ACG Research found that the switch capacity sweet spot is between 4 and 8Tbps.
Griliches says that LSR-based products are taking time to incorporate WDM and OTN technologies, while it is unclear when the DTN-X will support MPLS to add LSR capabilities. The race is on as to whom can integrate everything first, but DWDM and OTN before MPLS is the right direction for most tier-one operators, she says.
Infinera has over eight thousand of its existing DTNs deployed at 85 customers in 50 countries. The scale of the DTN-X will likely broaden Infinera's customer base to include tier-one operators, says Griliches.
ACG Research has heard positive feedback from operators it has spoken to. One stressed that the decreased port count due to the larger OTN cross-connect significantly improves efficiencies. Another operator said it would pick Infinera and said the beta version of the 500Gbps PIC is "working beautifully".