Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Intrinsic Monitoring for IPv6
One of things we are researching as part of the EFIPSANS project is the use of intrinsic monitoring where performance metrics could be gathered from each router along a data path as IP packets (IPv6 in our case) traverse the network between two endpoints. Normally, you would expect performance metrics to be collected in a centralised manner by a management system at periodic intervals, so gathering metrics along a path offers an alternative way of finding out specific metrics about a specific flow.
So who would benefit from this and why would they need it? Well we're still trying to establish this. One proposal involves carrying out specific diagnostics for a data flow to identify any bottlenecks along the path of the flow. However, the challenge here is to ensure the collection of the data along the path has the same "experience" as the end-user data that you are trying to troubleshoot and what we have discovered so far is that this may not be that easy to accomplish.
How can this be achieved? Currently we are looking at two potential possibilities. The first is using the IPv6 extension header mechanism with the hop-by-hop option as defined in RFC2460. The second is using the Router Alert mechansim which is defined in RFC2711. I'll elaborate further on these at a future date.
I attended two Light Reading webinars this week also.
Webinar: Converged Backbone Transformation (Alcatel-Lucent)
Based on the Alcatel-Lucent Gigabit Ethernet products with the aim of convergence of access networks, metro and aggregation, edge, backbone and management. It describes flexible grooming mechanisms for convergence of IP to optical layers providing cross-layer control and automation between IP and Optical layers, optimising resource utilisation and converged Management sytems for both IP and optical element management.
Webinar Communications as a Service: What SMBs Really Want (HP)
HP has a CaaS offering for Service Providers that can offer services-on-demand for the SMB (or SMEs as referred to in Europe) customers (e.g. Self-service IVR, Video Surveillance, IP contact Centre, Unified Communications,...). HP predict that this market will be a $12.2B market at 28% CAGR in 2014 with the greatest opportunities for SMB with 100+ employees. The Aggregation Platform for SaaS provided by HP offers the Service Provider a one stop shop for the SMB.
In the news this week...
Ericsson, the leader in the telecom services market which has more than 40,000 staff globally engaged in managed services, systems integration, and consulting roles, generating revenues of $2.7 billion from services in the third quarter of 2009 has named Magnus Mandersson, who was previously head of the vendor's CDMA business, as the new head of Global Services. In 2008, Ericsson generated services revenues of 70.5 billion Swedish Kronor - SEK49 billion from Professional Services and SEK21.5 billion (reported as part of the networks division) - up from SEK61.4 billion in 2007. (See New Names Join Ericsson's Top Team and Ericsson's Services Head Eyes More Growth). The Managed Service business has seen enormous growth over the last few years and is something that is very much related to my area of research.
Amdocs have a new version of its customer experience system, CES 8.0, which enables operators to utilise their network, IT and data assets when pursueing new partnerships with content providers and application developers and designed to support 3 business models: end-to-end customer experience model, vertical model and the partner enabler model. (See Amdocs Adds Telco 2.0 Smarts to Its CES).
First blog post
This blog is an experimental blog that I will use to discuss what I'm doing in terms of ongoing research and technical subject matters that are of interest to me in addition to some relevant news items that caught my attention since my last update. I'm currently transitioning onto a EU FP7 research project called EFIPSANS so I figured it would be a good time to give blogging a try. I've been wanting to do this for while.
I'm sure I'll go into EFIPSANS in more detail at a future date but take it for now that its focus is on defining an autonomic management architecture for the management of IPv6 networks.
IPv6
What are the benefits of IPv6? Better address space economics or put more dramatically IPv4 addresses are running out, simplified mobility model, simplified operations model, security – end-to-end packet integrity with integrated IPv6. I'll refrain from going into the details right now. However, I did watch an interesting IPv6 webinar that discussed the importance for network administrators for planning the deployment and migration of IPv6.
Top of the list was deciding where in the network and at what network boundary to begin the transition. Use Intra-Site Automatic Tunnelling Addressing Protocol (ISATAP) to connect IPv6 islands over exisiting IPv4 networks. Whereas Dual Stacks supports both IPv4 and IPv6 on a single interface without the need for tunnels. Cisco IPv6 Network Assessor is a standalone portable tool that scans Cisco routers and switches and then provides an easy-to-read report showing the results of the assessment and what needs to be done. Upgrade DNS server to support IPv6. Acquire IPv6 address block and create IPv6 addressing scheme. Evaluate IPv6 capable transport services available from current Service Providers. Is that it?
In the news...
Cable operators in the news this week include Comcast who according to Light Reading, are planning to expand access to its Fancast Xfinity TV online video service to customers who get high-speed access from Verizon, AT&T and others. While Cox Communications will soon be providing wireless services by utilising Sprint Nextels 3G CDMA network and its own LTE network using spectrum it won at auction so maybe the days of refering to it as a cable company is no longer apt and why cable operators are commonly referred to as Multi-Service Operators (MSOs) (See Cox: Wireless Coming in March).
In Europe, TeliaSonera AB chose equipment vendors Ericsson and Huawei Technologies last year to build initial metro networks in Stockholm and Oslo, which is now live since last December. Now it has chosen Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks for its widespread LTE rollouts (See NSN Replaces Huawei in Euro LTE Rollout).
Finally, an Amdocs survey showed that that 90% of respondents indicated new business models and partnerships are critical to their future success. The days of the "dumb pipe" strategy is limited, offering premium services is the way to generate new revenues something that has become a bit of a mantra for me recently too (See Carriers Ready for New Partners, Biz Model). A lot of my own research is in this space so expect more posts on this topic in the future.