CTIA: Next-generation backhaul hits the floor

Wireless backhaul vendors increase capacity, ease Ethernet migration

LAS VEGAS -- As bandwidth hogs like mobile video and high-capacity data applications get shown off at this week’s CTIA show, so too will mobile backhaul platforms touting the latest ways to accommodate the anticipated influx of bandwidth-intensive applications. Outside of which backhaul technologies offer the most capacity and fastest speeds, the migration to Ethernet and the proper technology to address the backhaul bottleneck will be among the most prevalent themes at CTIA.

“Essentially, if you look at a number of operators – T-Mobile or AT&T or any number of operators – in the last two years, they’ve seen tremendous growth in their mobile data traffic,” said Mallik Tatipamula, head of Juniper Networks’ mobile and FMC segment. “One of the weakest links in the network today is the backhaul.”

To strengthen wireless backhaul, Juniper today unveiled its BX7000 Multi-Access Gateway, an aggregation site gateway that consists of an M-series edge router with new circuit-emulation interface cards and JUNOScope, an integrated network management platform.

Juniper aims to push IP/MPLS all the way to the base station, though the company recognizes that carriers are not going to suddenly rip up their existing legacy infrastructure.

“We want to offer a solution that is flexible enough and at the same time scalable enough to not only support legacy radio infrastructure, such as 2G technology, but also to address upcoming next-generation mobile technologies, such as LTE [long-term evolution] or WiMax,” he said.

IP/MPLS vice chairman Dave Sinicrope, also chief scientist at Ericsson, said that the IP/MPLS Forum would like to see every carrier start to migrate towards Ethernet over any infrastructure today as the networks evolve and the need for faster, fatter pipes grows. Ethernet offers the flexibility and capacity to handle 3G and 4G technologies, he said.

Aviv Ronai, chief marketing officer at Ceragon Networks, agreed that the move to Ethernet is inevitable, but not every company today is ready to make that leap.

“Today we see only very few and scattered carriers and early adopters that have started deploying Ethernet microwaves for their applications, but going forward we think this is going to be the main thing,” Ronai said. “In the coming years – and we are talking to almost all the mobile carriers, small and big -- everyone is at one stage or another in planning the migration to Ethernet, whether they are planning it for next year or three years. They are starting to look and ask for a product that will enable the migration from TDM to Ethernet at the mobile backhaul.”

To expedite the movement to IP, Ceragon today introduced a new family of carrier-grade wireless Ethernet platforms that combine advanced IP and TDM functionalities. It is not the vendor’s first platform to support both Ethernet and TDM for the backhaul; however, Ronai said this one was designed to fit any migration scenario involving any combination of pseudowire, TDM, CDM and Ethernet, making it essentially risk-free.

Despite the variety of options, many vendors are sticking to the argument that carrying T-1 traffic over Ethernet in packet form with psuedowire technology uses network resources more efficiently and saves money compared to T-1 in its native form. One such company is Turin Networks, which today announced an enhancement to its MASTERseries wireless backhaul bandwidth to include new pseudowire capabilities. This is the first announcement Turin has made since acquiring Carrier Access in February, and it is aimed at a new class of packet-optimized wireless backhaul platforms to transition carriers to a converged Ethernet/IP-based infrastructure to support their legacy 2G, 3G and emerging 4G services.

“[Data] services are growing in terms of bandwidth requirements for backhaul networks, but those are the lower margin types of services, and they are growing at much faster rate than the voice services,” said Ralph Santitoro, Turin’s director of carrier Ethernet solutions.

Because of this, wireless operators are faced with the dilemma of having data services that are eating up all their backhaul bandwidth but not making significant revenue. Turin’s MASTERseries enhancement with pseudowire at the cell site will allow carriers to potentially minimize the number of T-1s they have to use, Santitoro said. The pseudowire technology allows operators to run their backhaul over one converged carrier Ethernet network, which brings CAPEX and OPEX savings on the transport network.

Broadband wireless solution provider Radwin also announced an upcoming, high-capacity sub-6GHz radio system – the Radwin 2000 – designed to reduce costs while meeting the backhaul needs of both today and NGN, specifically 3G, 4G and WiMax. The dual platform offers native Ethernet and native TDM over a single wireless link to allow carriers to migrate to Ethernet at their own pace.

According to the company, industry estimates put US deployments of new 3G and 4G networks will double today’s backhaul capacity. This latest radio system is Radwin’s highest capacity platform, with speeds of 50 Mb/s symmetrical, software-upgradeable to 100 Mb/s symmetrical.

“We have a radio system that we think is going to be a category killer in the sense that it is extremely efficient in terms of the most bits and megabits for the least amount of bandwidth,” a Radwin spokesman said. “We also feel the price point on the radio will make it an extremely cost-effective alternative for carriers as they are expanding their backhaul.”

On the timing and synchronization side of backhaul, technology provider Symmetricom will demo its TimeProvider 5000, an IEEE 1588 version two carrier-class grandmaster clocks designed to meet NGN apps including Ethernet backhaul, circuit-emulation and passive optical networks. The clock can interoperate with any variety of 1588 clients on the market, according to Mike Vizzi, product manager at Symmetricom.

Knowing that the migration to Ethernet backhaul will be slow, Symmetricom is focused on building a translator that can sit on the remote site of the base station controller and allow the service provider to take advantage of the cost and capacity benefits of Ethernet backhaul without having to touch their base station.

“It is a no-brainer for service providers to want to migrate to Ethernet backhaul ASAP,” Vizzi said. “The cost savings are so compelling and so immediate that they can’t afford not to do it. That is what is driving the whole Ethernet backhaul model.”
These backhaul platforms will be demoed at the Las Vegas Convention Center this week as well as discussed at the Next Generation Backhaul conference on April 2 in conjunction with CTIA.