Tutorial on Network Availability

Dr. Patrick Trischitta

KDDI-SCS America, Inc.
 Items to be Discussed

• Network Availability - definitions & calculations

• Relating Network Availability to undersea systems & networks

• Network Availability of various undersea network topologies

– Point-to-Point, Rings, and Meshes

• Limitations of network topologies

• Network vulnerabilities including recent experiences

• Improving on global network availability

• Summary including Q & A

 Network Availability Tutorial

More detailed discussions of Network Availability at SubOptic 2004 can

be found at:

• We A2.4 Service Availability: from sensitivity studies to performance

improvement, Villa et. al. (Pirelli Submarine Telecom Systems)
• Th A1.1 Benefits of mesh type architectures in meeting the needs of
today’s Transatlantic Networks, Conroy et. al. (Level 3
Communications)
• Th A1.2 Converting Ring-based Architectures to Mesh, Gemelos et.
al. (Tyco Telecommunications)
• Th A1.3 Intelligent Protection and Restoration for Submarine
Networks, Doyle et. al. (Alcatel)
• Th A2.2 Importance of Operational Reliability in Submarine Systems,
Heard et. al. (France Telecom)
• Th A2.3 Network Availability and Disaster Recovery, Gros et. al.
(Tyco Telecommunications)
 Network Availability
Definitions and Calculations

Network Availability: The probability a network can perform its required functions.
Related Terms

• Unavailable Time or Outage (O)– the

amount of time usually expressed in
minutes per year that a network is not
available to perform its functions.

• Mean-Time-To-Repair (MTTR) – the

expected time it will take to repair the
network after it has become unavailable.

• Mean-Time-Between-Failures (MTTF) – the

expected time between failures that causes
the network to be unavailable.
 Calculating Network Availability

• Outage (minutes/year) = MTTR / MTBF

• Network Availability (%) = (Total Time – Outage) / Total Time * 100%

 Calculation of Network Availability

• Example: Simple Point-to-Point Network

• Assume that the elements of the network have reliability such that the
Network’s MTBF is 1 year (114,000 FITS – Failures per billion hours).

• Further assume that the network when it fails can be repaired in less than
an hour (MTTR= 1 hour).

• Therefore Unavailable Time or Outage is expected to be less than

60 minutes per year.

• Network Availability (%) = (60*24*365 – 60) / 525,600 = 99.988%

 Relating Network Availability to
Undersea Networks
• Traditional View
– Network domain is bounded by the Cable Landing Stations at the
ends of the Undersea Cable Network.

– Undersea Network is highly reliable with large amount of internal

redundancy.

– Undersea Network is part of a Maintenance Zone so undersea repairs

are made quickly and effectively.

– Cable Landing Stations are fully staffed and operational 24 hours per
day, 7 days a week.
 Network Availability of Undersea System
Traditional View

• Undersea system reliability

expressed in the number of ship
repairs expected in 25 year design
life (< 3 for a 9000 km system),
therefore MTBF = 8 years

• Cable Station fully staffed so MTTR

of cable station equipment less than
2 hours.

• Quick repair of undersea cable so

MTTR of undersea cable is
estimated at 2 weeks.

Outage = 120 minutes/1 year +

14 days*24 hours/day*60 minutes/hour / 8 years = 1.8 days/year.
 Network Availability of Undersea System

Traditional View

•Outage of undersea system divided between more frequent

failures on dry plant that can be repaired quickly and infrequent failures on
wet plant that take weeks to repair.

•Even though undersea cable systems are usually

very reliable, should a failure in the wet plant occur,
network is unavailable during repair time.
 Improving on Network Availability

• Higher reliability wet plant

• Faster repairs
• Equipment redundancy in dry plant

Or

• Diversify the Network

 Limitations of Point-to-Point Undersea System

• Long unavailability time from undersea faults not related to undersea

system reliability – man-made events and natural disasters.

• Network Availability is at risk for long periods of time.

• Point-to-Point Undersea Cable Network no longer viable unless

integrated into a Global Network for diversity and/or mutual restoration.
 RINGS

TAT-14 Ring Network

Promises 100% Network Availability but expensive to build

 Rings

TAT-14 Ring Network

Nearly 100% Network Availability

 Vulnerability of Rings

• Node Failures

• Double Faults
 Meshes

• Meshes improve on Network Availability by spreading the network

functions onto many paths while decreasing network vulnerability to the
failure of any path or node.
Transoceanic Mesh Networks

Ring network

Diagonal cable
 Transforming Ring to Mesh

Ocean Continent
Continent
2/3 unit for service Station C
StationA 2/3 unit for
1/3 unit for service
protection
1/3 unit for
protection Station D
Station B
2/3 unit for service
1/3 unit for protection
 Mutual Restoration -
Creating Mesh Networks

Images.jpg
 Using Existing Cables to Form Mesh Networks

• Plenty of Capacity on Existing Cables to Form Global Mesh Networks

• Geographic Diversity provides protection against man-made events

and natural disasters.

• 100% Network Availability achievable on Global Undersea Network

 Limitations on Network Availability Models

• Undersea Networks vulnerable to faults caused by man-made events

and natural disasters

• Rings are vulnerable to node failures and double failures

• Networks do not begin and end at cable stations - facilities to and from
cable stations impact network availability as much as undersea system

• Geographic bottlenecks and chokepoints can limit cable-to-cable

restoration and increase repair time
– Multiple Cable Faults due to common disaster
– Earthquakes – Algiers and Taiwan
 Improving on Global Network Availability

• Diversify Network by:

– Using multiple cables from multiple landing points to form Meshes
– Spreading network functions over many network facilities
– Accessing network via multiple nodes
– Geographically spreading network facilities to avoid geographic
bottlenecks and chokepoints
 Towards 100% Network Availability

Tokyo

London New York

 Towards 100% Network Availability

Tokyo
JIH for Multiple Access

TPC-5
C2C
Japan-US
EAC
Sea-Me-We 3 China-US
FLAG PC-1
Multiple US
Carriers

TAT-12/13
London TAT-14 New York
Multiple Access to Transoceanic Undersea Cables
JIH Provides Access to Many Undersea Cables
KDDI’s Global Network
 Network Availability Tutorial
Summary

• Diversify Network Nodes and Facilities to achieve Global Mesh

• Network Availability will approach 100% even in disaster conditions

• Discussion - Q&A