White Paper

Positioning the BRAS in the Next Generation Access Network

Traditionally, ATM has been used in access networks with PVCs providing connectivity from the CPE device through the DSLAM to the Broadband Remote Access Server (BRAS). This design worked well enough in the early days when the primary if not sole application was lowest cost Internet browsing, but with the reality of next generation services this model is now struggling to deliver the bandwidth and scalability required by these new applications. Every competitive carrier and incumbent needs to deploy a network that is capable of delivering these new services, more specifically networks able to support the triple play of services - Voice, Video and Data - if they are to compete in the new market - it is no longer possible to profitably deliver simple Internet access.

Positioning the BRAS in the Next Generation Access Network.................1 Figure 1. Traditional ATM DSL Access Network .......................................2 The Problem with the BRAS in the Core ...........................................................2 Moving the BRAS to the Edge...........................................................................3 Figure 2. Distributed mini-BRAS architecture............................................4 Migrating to Native IP ........................................................................................4 Figure 3. Next Generation Ethernet Access Network................................5
Figure 1 shows the traditional way of connecting subscribers to the network, using ATM edge switches to aggregate the PVC's and an ATM based BRAS to terminate all the PVCs to an IP router or forward the sessions on to the service provider. Note that the service provider may not necessarily own the access network, as in the wholesale model common to many incumbent operators.

Net to Net Technologies Author Charlie Hampson champson@nettonet.com

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Customer

Access Network

Service Provider

ATM

IP
Service Providers

ADSL CPE

ATM DSLAMs BRAS

IP

Figure 1. Traditional ATM DSL Access Network

The Problem with the BRAS in the Core

The main problem with adding triple-play services to the existing network model is scalability. The scalability issues are mainly down to two factors: Firstly, each triple-play subscriber will require a new PVC for each service (this is mainly because of the QoS requirements in the ATM network) thus adding up to 3 times as many PVCs for a basic service; this is not always possible with the existing ATM switches and may require expensive equipment and network upgrades. Secondly, most triple-play video services use IP multicast to transmit television channels over the network. The ATM based access network is connectionoriented so in addition to their serviced PVCs each subscriber must be connected via their own PVC all the way through to the BRAS.

Any multicast IP traffic will have to be distributed to the PVCs at the BRAS, so even if all the users on a particular DSLAM are watching the same TV channel they will all require a separate stream connected through the whole access network to the BRAS. With video streams typically running at 3-5 Mbps this bandwidth requirement can soon add up and become unsustainable.

Net to Net Technologies Author Charlie Hampson champson@nettonet.com

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For example, if a DSLAM has 500 ports and every user is watching a TV channel then a massive 2.5 Gbps of bandwidth will be required on the backbone just to connect up this single DSLAM. It is clear from these figures that if triple play services are to be viable, a multicast protocol will need to be used in the access network to reduce the bandwidth requirements. Although the ATM standards do allow for the use of an ATM based multicast, this has never really been an option mainly due to the extreme complexity and high costs involved. IP is the obvious choice for multicast video distribution and this technology has been tried and tested for some time. Various solutions may be implemented in the access network including Gigabit Switch/Routers, MPLS etc; whichever option is chosen it should support IP multicast. Using these IP multicast based solutions we can resolve the issues of multicast support in the access/metro network, but there still remains the problem of the ATM based DSLAMs out at the central office.

Moving the BRAS to the Edge

Equipment vendors have invested much time and effort in developing these platforms and dont wish to abandon them just yet. In response to this problem many DSLAM vendors are attempting to move the BRAS functionality closer to the DSLAM, in some cases integrating the BRAS into the DSLAM itself. This solution allows a migration to an Ethernet or IP based core network as the ATM PVCs from the subscriber are terminated near the DSLAM in a mini-BRAS.

Net to Net Technologies Author Charlie Hampson champson@nettonet.com

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Customer

Access Network

Provider Network

IP/Eth

IP Service Providers IP

ADSL CPE

Figure 2. Distributed mini-BRAS architecture

Figure 2 shows the topology of a network where the BRAS has been distributed by moving it close to, or in some cases integrating it into, the DSLAM. However, the complexity and cost of this solution must not be underestimated. The BRAS has traditionally been a complex and expensive portion of the network with typically two or three units deployed in the network operations centre. To move this functionality into the DSLAM results in an over-complex network with distributed configuration requirements as each BRAS requires in depth configuration and costly upgrades to both hardware and software. This solution is expensive not only in terms of the BRAS capital costs for the new BRAS component but also in the cost of ownership of the resultant network. Additionally, this design based on ATM at the edge to DSLAM and IP at DSLAM to metro/core means that all traffic has to undergo a cell to packet conversion at the DSLAM adding latency into the network performance.

Migrating to Native IP
Instead of continuing to deploy legacy ATM based DSLAMs in the access network, another option is to migrate the platforms to a pure Ethernet/IP based solution that addresses the issues of scaling IP natively, without converting it to another technology such as ATM. Running a connectionless protocol (in this case IP) on top

Net to Net Technologies Author Charlie Hampson champson@nettonet.com

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of a connection oriented protocol (ATM) has always been problematic, and implementing multicast protocols on top of this presents an even greater challenge. By using pure IP based DSLAMs it is possible to handle triple play services including multicast traffic with little or no configuration and leverage the inherent scalability of Ethernet.

Customer

Access Network

DHCP Relay enabled Router

Provider Network

IP/Eth

IP Service Providers

ADSL CPE
IP DSLAMs

IP

Figure 3. Next Generation Ethernet Access Network

Figure 3. shows the next generation Ethernet access network; the susbcriber is connected via the DSLAM directly into the IP core, hence the complexity and cost of ATM is removed from the DSLAM. Advanced QoS and filtering technology in the DSLAM takes care of the bandwidth and latency requirements of voice and video traffic. Since the DSLAM is native Ethernet based, technologies such as IGMP snooping can be used to distribute multicast streams to as many users as required whilst still only requiring a single stream into the DSLAM. This means that using the earlier example of a 500 port DSLAM using 2.5Gbps on the backbone, this requirement drops to only 5Mbps if all users are watching the same video stream. The advantages to a pure IP based solution are not only to do with multicast traffic though by using an IP based access network the complexity and scalability problems associated with ATM are avoided. In the old network model PPPoA was used to authenticate subscribers, this is a legacy from dial-up accounts where users could dial in from any location and it was not always possible to identify a user from their calling number.

Net to Net Technologies Author Charlie Hampson champson@nettonet.com

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In the DSL access network, users are connected permanently to telephone lines, so there is not the same requirement for authentication but it may be useful to assign certain addresses or attributes depending on the user connecting. This is possible using DHCP with option 82. When the client connects to the network, the DSLAM will add a tag onto any DHCP requests which identify the DSLAM, slot number and port number of the connected customer. This tag can then be used by the back office systems to assign particular IP addresses or limit the number of addresses assigned etc. By using Ethernet in the DSLAM and the access network, new PoPs may be deployed faster than ever before. Native Ethernet IP DSLAMs such as the Net to Net Technologies IP DSLAMs require no configuration to start passing traffic and can easily be configured to support new services as they are added. By using an Ethernet based backplane, new technologies may be deployed in existing chassis without having to do a forklift upgrade. This results in a lower initial investment, lower cost of ownership and ability to deploy new services in the shortest timeframe. In fact, using the new BSX8000-5 Broadband Service Switch, the DSLAM may replace a locally deployed gigabit capable Ethernet access switch and provide GbE connectivity to other equipment colocated in the PoP simplifying the deployment of network elements and providing integrated management.

Net to Net Technologies Author Charlie Hampson champson@nettonet.com

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