Implementing IP Services at the Network Edge
Authors: David Ginsburg, Marie Hattar
Venue:  (2001)

From the Book:Preface This book is about the network edge, and how to effectively deploy a new class of internetworking device, the IP services switch (IPSS). The edge is the point in the network joining the various access technologies, such as DSL, cable, and wireless, with the high-speed routed and optical core. The IPSS is a new type of internetworking platform that has fundamentally changed the way service providers deploy and offer services. Why is the network edge the subject of such intense interest among service providers, equipment vendors, and the analyst community? It is the strategic point in the network where the provider has subscriber identity and may therefore apply value-added services before handing the traffic off to the core. The edge has gained prominence with broadband deployments, as service providers are called on to provide a host of services beyond basic connectivity. IP-VPNs, content management and distribution, storage networking, and voice are just a few of the more obvious of these services. Support for these services requires a new class of internetworking platform--a platform that did not even exist before mass-market broadband deployments. This is the IP services switch. The IPSS is a platform that builds on the basic capabilities of the traditional router that at the same time provides much more in terms of provider-based services support and subscriber policy provisioning. Depending on the type of IPSS, it may do the following: Provide basic residential broadband subscriber management Adapt Frame Relay-based businesses into an IP backbone Offer more sophisticated firewalling, IPSec-based IP-VPNs, and content management Play a critical role in cable Open Access, permitting subscribers to have access to the ISP of their choice Act as the point of IP services aggregation and adaptation for next generation wireless systems The IPSS's provisioning capabilities permit the provider to quickly adapt the service parameters across any of these access technologies, sometimes even under subscriber control. The net result is that the IPSS enables a new set of network-based services, services that result in additional revenue and subscriber lock-in opportunities for the service provider be it ILEC, CLEC, IXC, or ISP. One important point is that the IPSS is increasingly being thought of as a function within the network as opposed to something that must exist as a standalone platform. As an example, edge routers, and even ATM switches, are increasingly being equipped with the additional hardware and software to perform IPSS functions that previously may have required a dedicated system. This book will help the reader understand the role of the IPSS in the network, be it a discrete device or a part of another platform; its effect on both the service provider and the subscriber; where it should be deployed; and what alternative solutions exist. It accomplishes this by paralleling the reader's decision process in evaluating the IPSS, first looking at the industry as a whole, and then delving into the various technologies that play a role in the broadband services edge. Then the book introduces the IPSS and services provisioning, and details the various end-to-end services enabled by the IPSS. Implementing IP Services at the Network Edge closes with a number of deployment examples. In focusing on the deployment examples, it is a practical guide to IP services deployment. In fact, this is the first book covering all IP services, in contrast to other books in the broadband space that focus on individual access technologies or protocols. The chapters are organized as follows: Chapter 1 provides an overview of the service provider landscape, and then introduces network-based services and the market opportunity. Chapter 2 details the broadband access network, introducing technologies such as DSL, cable, and fixed and mobile wireless. Chapter 3 offers an introduction to the different tunneling technologies, including L2TP, IPSec, and MPLS. It details how subscriber traffic arriving via any of the access technologies described in Chapter 2 may be extended across an arbitrary backbone. Chapter 4 outlines the technologies at the core of the more sophisticated services offerings. These technologies include content networking, voice, and video. Chapter 5 is the culmination of the first half of the book, introducing the IPSS and provisioning. Chapter 6 looks at implementing access services on the IPSS, and it also covers traffic management and wholesale deployments in detail. Chapter 7 details the more sophisticated service possibilities made possible by the IPSS, including in-cloud security and IP-VPNs, as well as content networks. Chapter 8 ties together everything that is discussed in Chapters 1 through 7 by detailing a number of actual implementations and their financial models. The material in this book is applicable to a wide audience, including network engineering and service development teams within carriers and ISPs, industry analysts and consultants, and anyone else wishing to understand the evolution of the network edge.