December 2001
 

The Three "Lucky Sevens" Revisited

BY TONY RYBCZYNSKI

SEVEN WONDERS OF OPTICAL ETHERNET -- THE NEXT FRONTIER
My first seven, the seven wonders of the IP world, identified IP attributes that have made IP networking universal across the Internet and within enterprises. It's standard, ubiquitous, and easy to use through PC browsers. It's got addressing, and it shrinks the world. It's a set of signaling and higher layer protocols that make it the platform of choice for new applications.

In the enterprise, one of the key bottlenecks to even more rapid deployment of IP-based applications and networking solutions has been at the boundary between the Ethernet-dominated LAN environment, and the highly heterogeneous WAN environment. The WAN heterogeneity is seen in the plethora of speeds, packet/frame/cell sizes, protocols, QoS mechanisms, and tariffs that exist. However, these complications will diminish with the rapid evolution of Ethernet-based MAN and WAN services, what some call the Optical Ethernet, which combines the utility of Ethernet with the reliability and scalability of optical networks. This approach is being pushed by progressive service providers, which understand the service opportunities of being joined at the LAN-hip with enterprises. In addition, this approach is being pulled by enterprises, which understand the impacts across IT.

So what are the seven wonders of Ethernet that make it so attractive in the MAN/WAN space?

1. It's a standard, for desktop, server, and now the wide area.
2. It's ubiquitous, with over three hundred million interface ports.
3. It's scalable in speed, from 10/100/1000 Mbps soon to 10 Gbps.
4. It's robust, through switching and through convergence with optics and emerging standards such as Resilient Packet Rings.
5. It's connectionless, not requiring time-consuming configurations of physical or virtual circuit meshes, while supporting one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many connectivity.
6. It's secure, through the use of private labels using switched VLANs and MultiProtocol Label Switching (MPLS).
7. It's simple, through plug-and-play operation including autodiscovery.

Optical Ethernet is poised to largely displace leased lines, frame relay, and ATM, not just between enterprise sites, but also from the enterprise into the Internet, to strategic partners, and to application and storage service providers.

SEVEN SIZZLING TECHNOLOGIES REVISITED
Let's take a look at my original list of seven red-hot technologies that I considered very important in enhancing the Web, in its broadest sense, for enterprise users, consumers, and network operators.

1. All things optical: The importance of optical technologies is evidenced by the explosive growth of metropolitan DWDM systems led by enterprises; by the introduction of Optical Ethernet services over fiber, wavelengths, and Resilient Packet Rings; and by the developments in smart optically switched network technologies which promise QoS-based wavelengths on demand.
2. Multi-protocol label switching (MPLS): Initially, MPLS was multi-protocol in name only, intended to add a lot more order into IP networking through the definition of Layer 2 label-switched connections. The importance of MPLS has grown as it has become multi-protocol above and below. Above, it will support not only IP but also cells, Ethernet frames, and bit streams. Below, it will support not only ATM and pipes but also switched wavelengths and wireless. MPLS is therefore a key strategic convergent technology.
3. Next-generation wireless: This market is bursting with large investments in licenses and packet infrastructures, all driven by the dream of Mbps access to the Internet. A key challenge is identifying the right service mix for which subscribers will pay.
4. IPSec, public key encryption, and related security standards: These continue to be critical for e-commerce and Internet-based virtual private networking. An important development has been the introduction of IP service switches that allow carriers to offer VPN and firewall services from the safe confines of the central office, offloading the complexity of supporting this functionality for every mobile and remote user.
5. IP telephony: While finding limited acceptance over the last few years, IP telephony is ready for wider deployment as a small business solution, as an evolution of the installed base, as a enabling feature-rich technology for IP networks, and as a seamless public/private network communications system. Optical Ethernets make the WAN just an extension of the campus, making it much easier to deliver business-grade telephony and collaboration applications.
6. Intelligent Internet technologies: These technologies correspond to a range of capabilities that provide content switching, management, and streaming services. These operate at Layers 4-7 and open the door for significant new revenue sources for service providers and for improved customer service through personalization.
7. Storage networking: This specialized but extremely important area for the enterprise is exploding in the form of DWDM-based storage networking, Network Attached Storage, and Storage Service Providers. Developments in intelligent wavelength switching and Optical Ethernet will be leveraged to distribute and manage storage within the enterprise.

The last three weren't on my original list, and replace the following:

• xDSL and cable modems are slugging it out with cable modems still enjoying their early lead, and both technologies becoming rapidly commoditized. xDSL has also become a platform for delivering T1 speeds to business sites. This is a stop-gap measure, since enterprises are starting to recognize the freedom achieved via fiber-based access.
• IP QoS has seen as a must-have for IP telephony; however, for data-only environments, throwing bandwidth at the network seems to be winning out. Looking forward, simplicity will drive classification schemes based on IP's DiffServ and Ethernet's IEEE802.1p.
• The H323 family of real-time multimedia communications and conferencing standards exist, but have hardly become mainstream. H323 formed the early foundation for IP telephony, but recently more specialized protocols such as the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and H.248/Megaco have emerged. At the same time, audio and video streaming has become a much larger application space to-date.

THAT'S THE SIZZLE. BUT WHERE'S THE MEAT?
Seven is a good number so here's my list of seven high-level benefits derived from these developments:

1. Faster networks through end-to-end Ethernet.
2. More reliable networks through convergence of IP and Ethernet with optical networks.
3. Simpler networks through Ethernet throughout, and increased centralization of routing, storage, and processing.
4. More personalized experiences for customers anytime, anywhere.
5. Online collaboration tools to serve customers better and to support a highly distributed workforce.
6. Opportunities to rethink the distribution of processing and storage given end-to-end Ethernet networks.
7. More resources for strategic investments such as multi-channel customer care.

THE GRAND VISION
These developments are leading us down the path towards next-generation networks that eliminate the boundaries between LAN and WAN protocols, between latency and bandwidth, between voice and data, between wireline/wireless, and between service providers and enterprises.

Tony Rybczynski is director of strategic marketing and technologies for Nortel Networks' Enterprise solutions unit. E-mail questions or comments to tonyryb@nortelnetworks.com.

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