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SmartEdge 1200: Edge is Rising

Operators around the world are striving to achieve Full Service Broadband, the ability to deliver any service to any device, anywhere in the world. With Full Service Broadband, video, voice, and data services are seamlessly portable across multiple devices and the user experiences a personalized experience each and every time. A key to delivering Full Service Broadband is the Multi-Access Edge, which personalizes video, voice, and data services for both wireline and wireless services.

Redback’s new SmartEdge 1200 helps service providers by redefining the multi-service edge router category with industry leading throughput, scalability, and three new applications: session border controller (SBC), peer to peer (P2P) traffic control, and firewall security. These new applications eliminate the need to deploy separate, dedicated network devices reducing network complexity and resulting in significant CAPEX and OPEX savings.

SmartEdge 1200 Highlights:

• Obsoletes a whole category of single service edge routers by integrating three new applications
• Session border controller, peer to peer traffic management, firewall Security
• Category leading scalability for edge routing, Ethernet aggregation, B-RAS
• Video and Mobility Innovation
• Purpose built for IPTV and mobile TV
• Accelerates convergence of wireline and wireless networks
• Upgrades scalability and introduces new services for entire SmartEdge chassis family
• Increased scalability and new services for SmartEdge 400 and SmartEdge 800
• Modular operating system and architecture with interchangeable line cards and control modules

Operators have realized that the Multi-Access Edge is the key to delivering Full Service Broadband.  Up to early 2000, operators have made significant upgrades to their IP backbones and implementing new technologies such as MPLS.  This was necessary due to the increase in IP traffic, and the higher number of broadband subscribers.  This occurred as the Internet became more and more accepted as a medium for commerce and communications.  Although the IP backbone or core of the network migrated to IP, the edge of the network was largely unchanged.  As a result, most carriers today operate and manage a set of disparate networks that were built for a single service such as high speed Internet or voice over IP.

Today, carriers are realizing that the intelligence IP brings to the network allows them to build a converged broadband network that can consolidate all of their disparate networks.  In addition, video is becoming a key revenue growth engine with the proliferation of IPTV and Internet video services.  So with the investment they have made in their IP backbones, carriers around the world are now making investments at the edge—where the convergence will actually occur. 

A fundamental change that has occurred in the market and reflected in the market forecast numbers is that edge routers have surpassed the performance and scalability of the smaller core router products, which typically starts at 320 Gbps of throughput.  The SmartEdge 1200 has 480 Gbps of capacity and can manage over 512,000 subscribers.  In addition to the SBC, P2P, and firewall services, it also has carrier class MPLS/VPLS features and ATM to Ethernet migration capabilities.  As a result, the network footprint of core routers has been getting smaller as operators choose to deploy service rich edge routers.

In addition to throughput and scalability that exceeds some core routers, the SmartEdge 1200 features a modular operating system that is highly resistant to failures.  The SmartEdge Operating System (SEOS) is architected so that each routing protocol is a separate process rather than a single, monolithic code base.  If there are problems experienced in the network related to a particular protocol, the SEOS isolates the problem and resolves it so that the actual system availability, and hence services such as video, is not affected.

Operators are upgrading their networks to deliver IPTV and mobile broadband services to fight the decline in average revenue per user (ARPU) they are experiencing.  With traditional voice revenues declining, many operators have made strategic moves either through acquisitions or partnerships to offer wireless services.  However, as competition increases wireless voice service ARPU is also under pressure and declining year over year.  The overall revenue is increasing, but the revenue per subscriber is decreasing, which puts pressure on profit margins.

As voice revenue for fixed and mobile telephony decreases, the opposite trend is occurring for data services.  Initially, data services included features that allow a user to personalize their mobile service with ring tones, calling circles, and pictures.  Increasingly, it also includes music downloads and mobile video services.  Unlike voice revenues, data revenues has been increasing over the past few years and is forecast to continue rising. 

Personalization is key to reducing churn and enhancing the end user’s experience and increasing revenue.  For IPTV, personalizing the experience is expected to be a critical component to generating significant revenue.  In 2006, Accenture and The Economist surveyed 350 executives from telecommunications, broadcasting and media companies.  The survey found that targeted advertising had the highest expectation to generate significant revenue over premium content and access fees. 

To offer targeted advertising, the operator must know who the subscriber is beyond just the IP/MAC address or VLAN.  They need to know the users’ viewing patterns, the device that they are using to access video, and where they are located.  The most effective way is to build subscriber awareness into the network itself rather than relying on a complex array of applications running in a centralized server farm.  Over the next few years, broadband mobility will grow into billions of subscribers, and a natively subscriber aware network will allow service providers to build a scalable network that can become a strategic advantage.

The next few years is a critical period for operators as they evolve from offering connectivity services to offering content and entertainment services.  The SmartEdge 1200 is a significant step forward and will help service providers implement a Multi-Access Edge for Full Service Broadband so that any content can be delivered to the screen of your choice.