Professional Documents
Culture Documents
V Brett Handley
(Manuscript received April 13, 2006)
4. Adding fixed-wireless access fiber access networks, and common resources, for
It is anticipated that fixed-wireless access example, for switching, multicasting, and back-
using 802.16-based technology5) will be used to hauling, can be reused.
provide broadband connectivity in some regions
where xDSL cannot reach. While standalone 6. Meeting deployment
Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access requirements
(WiMAX) systems can be used for this, there are When considering the implementation of a
considerable operational advantages for the net- large-scale NGN consisting of connections to
work operator in using the access platform that millions of end-users, the target is for the NGN to
is already being used to deliver fixed line reach as close to the customer as economically
services: for example, backhaul interfaces and feasible. When large corporate customers are
operational procedures can be reused and/or involved, the business case for installing fiber-to-
shared. The business case for deploying a wire- the-premises makes sense. At the opposite end of
less solution can be considerably improved by the spectrum, for residential users it will usually
using MSANs that support both wired and fixed- be necessary to maintain the existing last-mile
wireless access simultaneously, allowing the technology, although fiber may gradually be
additional cost per customer of wireless access to installed closer to the end-user as time
be amortised across a wider user base. progresses.
This means that for different areas of deploy-
5. Increasing fiber penetration ment, different MSAN configurations will be
Many large operators, and smaller ones required. Some technologies will be required in
focusing on particular market segments, already one area but not in another. In other words, the
have fiber connections to some of their customer MSAN is not a one-fits-all solution, but must be
premises typically to large business customers tailored for appropriate, cost-effective deployment
who require very high bandwidth connections for in line with the operators NGN plans.
their voice and data services. Operators are also Small MSANs will be required in areas
continually investigating the feasibility of currently served by telephone exchanges with up
bringing fiber closer to smaller customers to a few thousand customer lines. In these areas,
by fiber-to-the-kerb or even fiber-to-the-home there may be very few large business customers
solutions sometimes with direct fiber or more and so there is no need to deploy the business
generally by using Passive Optical Network (PON) fiber access solution. (For customers that do need
architectures (Gigabit PON [G-PON])6) in partic- a fiber solution, they can be directly connected to
ular). Once again, the MSAN needs to support the nearest larger MSAN.) Even smaller MSANs
the existing fiber access solutions and provide a may be required for installation in street cabinets
platform to deliver deeper fiber penetration as the or other similar enclosures where exchange build-
access network evolves. ings are no longer required.
As already discussed in relation to WiMAX, Very large MSANs will be required in areas
deployment of FTTx solutions can become more currently serving 10s of thousands of customer
economically attractive when resources can be lines from an exchange. These will need to sup-
shared with equipment deployed for existing port a full range of services over copper and fiber
mass-market services. For example, the integra- today, with rapid evolution to other technologies
tion of a G-PON solution into the MSAN means in the future.
that all features and services that have evolved There will, of course, be a complete range of
for delivery over ADSL2+ can also be provided over MSAN sizes required to meet the requirements
of the small sites, large sites, and sites in between. port protocols over a single WDM connection.
Similarly, evolution to new technologies may take
place in some areas before others; therefore, sup- 7. GeoStream Access Gateway
port features such as WiMAX and G-PON need to Fujitsus GeoStream Access Gateway is an
be options on top of the basic MSAN with its POTS MSAN solution developed by Fujitsu Telecommu-
and ADSL capabilities. nications Europe Limited to meet the market
Unless an operator is deploying a greenfield requirements described above. It is a platform
NGN, or creating an overlay network to coexist composed of multiple modules that can be used to
with its legacy platforms, there will be an addi- build a variety of MSAN solutions that are
tional requirement for the MSAN to support customised to specific deployment requirements.
simultaneous connectivity to both NGN and lega- Figure 1 shows a high-level overview of the
cy core networks. This could, for example, mean GeoStream Access Gateway architecture.
supporting multiple types of backhaul connections The access gateway comprises three main
(e.g., Ethernet and SDH) either as separate in- building blocks:
terfaces or mixed onto a common fiber. In larger 1) FDX: This element can be a standalone
sites, the backhaul may also carry multiple trans- MSAN for access services delivered over
CWDM,
DWDM
STM-4/16/64
WDM GE/10GE
STM-16,
GE
FCX
STM-4/16
STM-4/16
STM-1/4/16
GE
GE
GE
10GE
GE,
GE
G-PON WiMAX
FDX FBX
OLT BS
POTS & VDSL/VDSL2
ISDN BRA & PRA
SHDSL
G-PON
STM-1
FE/GE
STM-1
FE/GE
POTS
HDSL
WiMAX
Analogue ISDN Telephony E1, E3, STM-1, Range of residential nx64k, E1, E3, STM-1,
telephone services and and Ethernet and business services and Ethernet services
service xDSL services (Ethernet, E1, )
services
Figure 1
GeoStream Access Gateway architecture.
copper lines or part of a larger MSAN config- the FCX module. FDX can also support small
uration. It can support multiple xDSL numbers of fiber access services (SDH and
technologies and offers traditional POTS and Ethernet based) alongside the mass-residen-
ISDN customer interfaces. The built-in tial copper access capabilities. Smaller
Access Gateway Signalling Function enables versions of FDX are also provided for deploy-
FDX to support multiple Virtual Access Gate- ment in street cabinets. Figure 2 shows the
ways, each controlled independently by rack layout of the GeoStream Access
centralised call servers using H.248 signal- Gateway (FDX).
ling. Over 10 000 lines can be supported on 2) FBX: This element provides business fiber
a single node, including simultaneous access services using SDH and Ethernet in
support for ADSL2+ and POTS on every line the access network. With a set of comple-
if required. The multicasting features allow mentary customer-premises network
delivery of entertainment services such as terminating equipment (NTE), a wide range
broadcast television with rapid processing of of business services can be delivered, includ-
channel change requests handled by individ- ing n 64 kb/s private circuits, n E1, E3,
ual line cards. Ethernet and Asynchronous STM-1, and multi-port Ethernet. Both SDH
Transfer Mode (ATM) services can be sup- and Ethernet based network interfaces are
ported at the same time over the 40 Gb/s supported for connectivity to legacy and NGN
packet switching fabric, with options to core networks or to the FCX module. Addi-
deploy multiple SDH ATM and Gigabit tionally, Time Division Multiplexing (TDM)
Ethernet interfaces to the core network or to and Ethernet services can be mixed on the
Figure 2
Rack layout of GeoStream Access Gateway (FDX).