That is Half II of a three-blog collection on options to beat challenges related to bridging the digital divide.

Within the earlier weblog (see Bridging the Digital Divide with Subscriber Edge), we mentioned the normal broadband community design. On this weblog, we’ll give attention to a brand new structure for broadband networks, and the challenges that they deal with.

Transferring to a distributed structure

The flexibility to allow subscriber features on completely different layers or gadgets within the community gives a possibility to optimally place subscriber edge within the community to assist match economical and user-experience wants. For instance, on condition that video quantities to greater than 75% of the quantity of complete subscriber site visitors, versatile termination permits for the environment friendly offload of video site visitors nearer to the subscriber by cautious placement of content material caches and the addition of peering factors. Distributed termination of subscribers improves the general person expertise because the site visitors follows a extra superb path that optimizes capability utilization and helps decrease latency for demanding functions.

With this distributed structure, communication service suppliers (CSPs) can save prices by decreasing unneeded bandwidth upgrades of your entire community by site visitors offload additional downstream. Nevertheless, with extra distributed placement of subscriber edge features utilizing completely different termination fashions, CSPs might face challenges with scaling, managing, and working subscriber companies networks.

To resolve these challenges, Broadband Discussion board outlined the Management and Person Airplane Separation (CUPS) mannequin for the Broadband Community Gateway (BNG) in TR-459 (see Determine 1). CUPS permits distribution of person/knowledge planes nearer to the subscriber, permitting the management aircraft operate to be centralized. It is a important change from the normal BNG structure—the place management aircraft and person aircraft features are tightly built-in and carried out by the identical gadget. This new distributed architectural method takes benefit of CUPS to supply newer broadband companies and use circumstances which can be completely different from conventional choices.

Centralizing the management aircraft operate helps decrease operational prices in a distributed subscriber edge operate that may be non-uniform with various necessities on scalability, kind issue, and function.

CUPS additionally permits new income streams or fashions, which weren’t attainable with the normal structure, similar to differentiated service plans. For instance, service suppliers can provide a day/night time plan, the place subscribers are provisioned or moved to a smaller set of person planes through the night time for price financial savings and potential sustainability advantages.

Prospects can even provide tiered plans with Platinum, Gold, and Greatest-Effort, based mostly on redundancy capabilities to assist defend premium subscribers from person aircraft, entry, or web site failures. With the management aircraft now not tightly built-in with the person aircraft, and full visibility of all person planes, CUPS permits larger flexibility for CSPs to seamlessly transfer subscribers to completely different nodes with out disruption.

The most recent growth by the Broadband Discussion board is Subject 2 of TR-459 Multi-Service Disaggregated BNG with CUPS specification (see Figure2), which permits improved resiliency, scalability, and quicker deployment occasions to assist present a greater end-user expertise with a extra dependable and constant service.

Within the third weblog, we’ll share particulars on the Cisco Subscriber Edge answer, together with the structure, technical benefits, and buyer advantages.

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