In July of 2004, British Telecom, NTT, Rogers Wireless, Brasil Telecom, Korea Telecom and Swisscom (in total accounting for 122 million land-line and 23 million mobile telephone accounts) came together to form the Fixed-Mobile Convergence Alliance (FMCA), an industry body with the aim of facilitating telecommunications convergence by creating universal interoperability standards and other mechanisms to smooth the dovetailing of fixed and mobile communications.

The term 'convergence' has also been used to describe the integration of disparate networking services, such as circuit-switched voice, Ethernet and private line services, public Internet and secure private data services, into a unified infrastructure.

One key motivation behind convergence is cost savings in obviating the need to maintain separate networks for each of the services, and reducing capital and operational expenditure (CAPEX and OPEX). According to research analyst Infonetics, worldwide service provider router and switch revenue will reach USD 8.4 billion in 2007, up from USD 4.8 billion in 2003. With the increased uptake of infrastructure equipment, the pressure to minimize overhead, and maximize return on investment, is higher than ever.

Packet-based networking technologies promised to evolve to support the goal of convergence. Over the last decade or so, there have been several technology attempts at convergence, starting with Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), Frame Relay and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM).  The present technology of choice for converged infrastructures is Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS).  MPLS-based networks have evolved to a stage where they are the most practical, feasible and scalable platforms for convergence today.

In addition to allowing the service provider to reduce CAPEX and OPEX, MPLS-based converged networks have opened avenues for a wide range of value-added service offerings.  More and more service providers today are opting for MPLS-based converged networks not just to reduce cost, but as a revenue-generating engine.

"Triple Play” Services on Broadband Networks

Broadband Networks are being increasingly deployed in the region. The primary application of broadband networks is for high speed Internet access.  However, with a converged network infrastructure, service providers have the capability of offering voice, video and data over a single connection to customers – both enterprises and home users.  This service offering is popularly known as "Triple Play".

The most popular access technology in use today is ADSL.  Ethernet networks are also fast emerging as an access alternative that is cheap and ubiquitous. 
More and more service providers are deploying Metro Ethernet networks.  Network Elements that terminate multiple access technologies and provide an IP connection into the backbone are called Broadband Remote Access Servers (BRAS).  The BRAS is a highly flexible and scalable edge device, which when combined with powerful policy-based subscriber management software, can provide revenue-generating services based on the Triple Play paradigm.  Examples of such services include Interactive Gaming, Tiered Internet Access, Video-on-demand for cable providers, IP Centrex and PBX termination, and Multicast Video. The policy-based subscriber management system allows the service provider to offer multiple levels of Quality of Service (QoS) based on user-level or application-level granularity.  It also allows for various billing models, such as volume-based billing or usage-based billing and strict control for bandwidth-on-demand applications.  This is a key component of revenue-generating broadband services.

Virtual Private Networks and Managed Services

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) allows customers to enjoy the security and services of a private network without having to pay for a dedicated private network.  The most popular use of an MPLS-based converged network is Layer 3 MPLS VPNs (also known as RFC2547-based VPNs) – a service that is offered by a majority of the service providers that have deployed MPLS.  In principle, this service is similar to Frame Relay-based data VPNs.  Each edge router of the service provider’s network maintains separate routing tables for every VPN customer connected to it.  Customers’ traffic is isolated using MPLS tunnels in the core, much like Frame Relay circuits.  Thus, a common infrastructure is shared by multiple customers without the core being aware of customer-specific information.  Layer 3 MPLS VPNs allow the customer to outsource IP routing and network management functionality to service providers, opening the avenue of Managed Network Services as a revenue generation opportunity.

In order to provide Managed Services as a value-add to the customer, the service provider may offer to position a router at the customer site (managed CPE service).  In addition, the service provider may offer managed security services, in the form of firewalls, Intrusion Detection and Prevention, Anti-spam, or Anti-virus. 
Other managed service opportunities include web-hosting and data center management.

There are various other add-ons to the basic Layer 3 MPLS VPN technology. For example, multicast-based services can be enabled on a per-VPN basis.  Organizations can define "extranets" for business collaboration.  Carriers can offer wholesale services by providing MPLS VPNs to smaller ISPs, which in turn can offer VPN services to their customers – this application is called “Carrier of carriers”.

Private Line Replacement

One of the biggest advantages of converged networks is that customers don’t have to buy expensive leased lines from service providers.   Layer 2 services over MPLS are gaining importance.  The principle is similar to Layer 3 MPLS VPNs, except that customers can use their favourite Layer 2 technology (ATM, Frame Relay, Ethernet).  This Layer 2 traffic is then tunneled through MPLS across the service provider core.  In effect, the entire service provider core appears to be a large Layer 2 switch to the customer. MPLS technology allows users to have point-to-point Layer 2 circuits across an MPLS backbone, as well as Layer 2 VPNs.  Layer 2 VPNs allow the customer the flexibility to run their own IP routing and topology without having to rely on the service provider to do this.  Layer 2 tunneling over MPLS also allows service providers to support legacy customers on their current access technologies before migrating to IP.

Interconnecting Local Area Networks over MPLS

A key emerging application of converged MPLS networks is Virtual Private LAN Services (VPLS).  VPLS is another extension to MPLS VPN technology and allows multiple separate Local Area Networks (LANs) to be interconnected over an MPLS backbone.  In this case, the service provider’s MPLS backbone appears like a large Ethernet switch.  This is a very important technology because enterprises can continue to use simple, well-known LAN technologies over a wide-area and treat multiple physical locations as part of a single large LAN.  With the emergence of Ethernet as a key access mechanism for broadband networks, VPLS promises to be the technology of the near future.

Application-level security using SSL VPN

Secure Socket Layer (SSL) VPNs are an emerging area of technology that is well suited for remote and mobile users. It is significantly cheaper than IPSec and PPTP VPNs and does not require special encryption software, as it is available with most standard web-browsers.  SSL VPNs can be used to allow telecommuters to access their corporate intranets from a hotel or an internet café.  With the emergence of mobile handheld devices capable of accessing data networks, where IPSec is not widely available or user-friendly, the importance of SSL VPN technology is being felt today.

Carriers can offer managed SSL VPNs as a value-added service.  In order to do this, a highly scalable SSL VPN device is placed at the carrier’s network edge. This device has “virtualization” capabilities that allow a customer to have their own secure access to the device.  This can be done by dedicating a VLAN to a customer.  The carrier can then choose to terminate the SSL VPN customer onto his company’s MPLS VPN, thus allowing remote access to a corporate MPLS VPN. 

Attention: Convergence Ahead

In summary, revenue-generating opportunities are enabled by deploying converged networks. The importance of MPLS as the enabling technology for convergence cannot be over-emphasized.  Triple play services, Managed Network Services, Layer 3 and Layer 2 VPNs, VPLS can benefit from an MPLS-based infrastructure. Dynamic policy engines can provide subscriber management, flexible billing and QoS.  Managed SSL VPNs are yet another revenue-generating opportunity for supporting mobile users.  The key to offering these services is to build a highly scalable MPLS-based infrastructure that can offer all of these services at the same time, without compromising on performance and security.

Juniper Networks has led an industry call-for-action for next-generation converged infrastructure. The “Infranet Initiative” is charged with defining interfaces and interoperability requirements for a ubiquitous infrastructure using MPLS to offer IP-based services and applications. Carriers looking at creating revenue based on converged infrastructures will benefit from participating in this initiative.

More information can be found at http://www.infranet.org