Vitesse® - Making Next Generation Networks a Reality

The Challenge
Carriers and network providers offer services to customers including voice, video and data. To do so, they rely on different methods depending on the type of service offered. For voice transport and real-time applications, such as stock/investment trades or security authentication, along with other time-division multiplexing (TDM) services, carriers use a circuit switched network (SONET/SDH) for service delivery. For more bandwidth-intensive services as video or data, a packet switched network (Ethernet) is the main vehicle for carriers to deliver subscriber services.

The emergence of new data-intensive applications such as Video on Demand (VOD), IPTV, and next-generation wireless services including video and data centers, is fueling substantial traffic growth through the communications infrastructure. As consumer demand for these services grows, the main challenge for carriers is to develop next-generation networks (NGN) that support the newer services quickly and affordably without compromising network performance and QoS.

Designing for Tomorrow's Carrier Ethernet...Today
Essentially, the bandwidth required to deliver new data services forces carriers to change the existing TDM (circuit) core infrastructure to one that is packet-based. However, once the core infrastructure migrates to packet-based, the challenge becomes one of how the circuit-based network edges can continue functioning?

The ideal way to implement this change is to make the transition transparent to the existing client networks at the edge by providing network timing capabilities in the core. Emulating TDM clocking inside the core network enables a heterogeneous system to interwork. TDM clouds at the network edge can coexist, and more importantly, function seamlessly with a packet-based core.

Ethernet timing is the most critical component required to interconnect TDM services to a packet-based core. This is equally critical for migrating mobile networks from costly T1/E1 connections to low-cost, scalable Ethernet backhaul services. Today, comprehensive Ethernet timing can be delivered in two ways: Layer 1 (Synchronous Ethernet), as well as Layer 2 (IEEE 1588v2) packet-based timing. The ideal silicon solution for tomorrow's Carrier Ethernet networks should contain support for both.