TheVIRTUAL NETWORK Volume X, Issue 2 - Walker and Associates
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Volume X, Issue 2 walkerfirst.com/skinny-wire Logistics Solutions for Telecom Professionals
theVIRTUAL
NETWORK
In This Issue . . .
Feature Articles Managing change in our industry is an ongoing challenge
Building better 4 More Than Fast Internet: Network Virtualization and SDN Make
New Applications Possible
By Timothy Downs, SmartGig Media, LLC
regardless of the position we hold or how long we’ve been in
the industry. I recently celebrated my 20th year in telecommu-
nications with Walker and Associates, and the shifts along that
networks for the 6 Don’t Get Burned. Bake Security into Your Virtualized
Network
journey have been significant. For anyone in the industry lon-
ger than that, it must feel like living in a science fiction novel.
connected world. 8
By Franklin Flint, TIA
What NFV and vCPE Will Bring to Service Providers
My dad worked in the industry nearly all his life, having worked
for Western Electric almost 30 years until well after divestiture,
By Timothy Brown, NUF followed by a second career with a start-up venture among
15 Taking the Next Step in Innovation retirees and their families. His second retirement came only
By Trey Hall, Walker and Associates two years ago at age 83. We lost him very suddenly last
February, a month before his 85th birthday. Part of my duty
16 Open Access Fiber Network Launches in Virginia now is cleaning out a large building behind his home, filled
By Jennifer Eaddy, RVBA with electronic relics he accumulated as a young electrical
25 In A Virtual Network World, Policy Matters engineer with Western Electric, and more equipment he col-
By Steven Berry, CCA lected thinking perhaps it held some future value. He kept
everything, it seems.
30 Navigating the Mid-Career Crisis
By Brenda Abdilla, Management Momentum I’ve carted literally tons of hardware to the recycling yard. I’ve
disposed of boxes of manuals, circuit boards, resistors, transis-
tors, cables, lamps, vacuum tubes, connectors and assorted
Resource Articles items about which I have no guesses regarding their purpose.
7 Using Virtualization to Reduce the Business Risks of Sorting through all this material, I thought of the shifts in tech-
Launching New Services nology my dad experienced in his 60 years of industry experi-
By David Noguer Bau, Juniper Networks
ence. The truth is all that “stuff” held incredible value at one
10 Leveraging Existing Networks for Virtualized Services time, but the reality is they were all merely bridges to where
By Prayson Pate, ADVA Optical Networking we find ourselves now.
12 The DevOps Revolution: The “Jig is Up” for Legacy Telco
The hardware market is changing. The methods of maintaining
Software Vendors
By Dr. Recep Ozdag, Ciena network functionality are evolving. The skillsets of those who
perform the important work of network design are shifting.
14 Virtualization and the New Business as Usual Customer expectations are increasing, our world gets smaller,
By Rhonda Holloway, Fujitsu the needs for greater bandwidth and higher speeds grows at
exponential rates. Virtualized and automated solutions are
19 Orchestrating Success in a Changing World
taking our industry to its next logical stage in its evolution
By Gina Williams, ADTRAN
process.
23 Virtualization: The Key to Personalized Service Creation and
See your Network From a Business Perspective Delivery
By Juniper Networks
In its 2015 report, investment researcher IHS noted the global
market for NFV hardware, software and services is set to surge
27 Fiber Indexing: A Cost-Optimized Approach to FTTH to $11.6 billion in 2019. A recent report from ACG Research,
You’ve heard the message loud and clear: radical change is happening. The buzzwords Networks and sponsored by Affirmed Networks and VMware, found
By CommScope mobile operators would begin saving money on NFV deploy-
are all too familiar: disaggregation; software-defined networking; virtualization; other ments within the first year and realize an investment payback
28 SDN Use Cases for OpenFlow within three years. In addition, the ability to turn up a virtual-
“disruptive technologies.” You need a commonsense business point of view. How will By Pete Moyer, Brocade
ized network much more quickly (less than 6 months) than
these technologies help you execute your business strategy? 29 Timing Matters with traditional networks (15 months on average) is a sharp
By Paul Skoog, Microsemi contrast. The proverbial writing is on the wall.
If you’re uncertain of the way forward, we’ll help you through the gridlock. Fujitsu 32 Testing and Monitoring in a Virtualized Network This issue of Skinny Wire focuses on many aspects of the
By Christian Illmer, Viavi virtual network, its challenges, its requirements and its value.
combines business expertise with comprehensive solutions for your network. Talk
Walker’s partnerships within the manufacturer community are
37 Fear of NFV Failing
with us about how our access, backhaul, metro-to-core packet optical and dense, By Prayson Pate, ADVA Optical Networking growing to reflect the changes in our industry, and we are tak-
ing a leadership role that we believe best serves our custom-
high-performance data center applications can grow your network—and your business. ers. Be sure to read Trey Hall’s article on page 15.
Walker News And, if you’re in the market for some truly vintage electronics,
31 Walker and Associates Awarded Multi-year U.S. Navy
Equipment Supply Contract let me know! I still have a lot of work to do in my dad’s building.
34 In the Spotlight
38 Upcoming Events Randy Turner
Editor, Skinny Wire
Letters to the editor may be sent to SWEditor@walkerfirst.com Director, Marketing Communications
Walker and Associates
Skinny Wire is a bi-annual publication of Walker and Associates, Inc. 336-731-5246
“Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer m/f/d/v” randy.turner@walkerfirst.com
SWEditor@walkerfirst.com
Fujitsu Network Communications, Inc. • 2801 Telecom Parkway, Richardson, TX 75082 Tel: 888-362-7763 • us.fujitsu.com/telecom
© Copyright 2016 Fujitsu Network Communications, Inc. FUJITSU (and design)® and “shaping tomorrow with you” are trademarks of Fujitsu Limited in the United States and other countries. All Rights Reserved. Opinions expressed by contributors and commentators do not necessarily reflect the views of Walker and Associates, Inc.
2 3
More than Fast Internet: the Internet of Things.
“We are quickly reaching a point in many
is that we have combined the capabilities
of software defined infrastructure, SDN
orchestration, network functions virtual-
in the telecom industry are about pro-
visioning and orchestration. Just like in
cloud services, the ideal is that a custom-
Network Virtualization and Software cities across the country where the exist-
ing infrastructure is not sufficient for the
ization with cloud-like functionality (auto-
mation, programmability, virtualization,
er goes online, signs up, and provisions a
service how they want it and when they
Defined Networking Make New
bandwidth demands. Fiber optic infra- multi-tenancy, anytime-anywhere access, want it.”
structure provides both bandwidth and on-demand self-service, rapid provision-
speed advantages and the ability for ing, easy-to-use interfaces, and manage- The ‘Softwareization of the Network’
Applications Possible data to travel greater distances. In many
situations, fiber may be more expen-
sive to install but will likely prove less
ment efficiencies) in an open access envi-
ronment. Always on, ubiquitous access has been
around for many years. What’s new here
By Timothy Downs expensive to manage over the long run,” The changes will be tangible for every is the move to high-bandwidth access
Managing Director Christensen says. user connected to the network. The networks: gigabit networks. While few
SmartGig Media LLC results will be real competition for broad- consumers and small businesses actu-
If the actual cost to move from 100 Mbps band services, a groundswell of innova- ally need a full gigabit per second speed,
to 1,000 Mbps with fiber optic infrastruc- tion in new services, and much more flex- the move to gigabit networks eliminates
Incumbents beware: Municipalities are ture is relatively inexpensive, why do ibility, control, and utility for users. We bandwidth as a constraint.
discovering that the next generation gigabit Internet Service Providers and Network
Operators treat bandwidth like a scarce
can’t anticipate the new ideas and solu-
tions that will come from open networks High-bandwidth applications such as
network enables an explosion of compelling resource? Partially because they have a and open API’s but we believe the impact Netflix, will run better with more band-
tight grip on yesterday’s business models will be broad and will drive innovation in width. More bandwidth will drive the
new services and benefits. and their current control allows them to telemedicine, smart grid, distance learn- global innovation engine to create new
keep bandwidth scarce - even in cases ing, emergency communications, smart applications we haven’t even thought
Broadband access is not a business for The founding member of Virtual Gateway and has altered every sector of the global where they are upgrading infrastructure homes, entertainment, transportation, of. This occurred when we moved from
the faint of heart. The access network Labs and developer of the world's first economy. to fiber optics. private clouds, Internet of Things, and 56 Kbps voice band modems to the few
has thousands of miles of facilities that SDN-capable Virtual Broadband Gateway Smart City applications. megabits of broadband. The same also
radiate from head-ends and hubs and enabling multi-tenancy for service pro- Just as we saw with the Internet revolu- occurred when the few meg’s jumped to
terminate in nearly every home and viders, Sehgal’s disruptive business tion, the implications of the transforma- a few 10’s of meg.
building in the serving area. model upends the status quo. tive shift to network virtualization and
“Open access networks will give the a software centric communications net- In addition to the raw speed, gigabit
It has specialized outside plant electron- people choices for all of their services. work well beyond our ability to predict. networks also offer very low latency. This
ics deployed in cabinets, underground Today, some have the choice to switch too will stimulate applications we haven’t
vaults and mounted to utility poles. from a telco triple play to a cable triple According to Jeff Christensen, President thought of yet. Gigabit low-latency net-
Adding to the challenges are onerous play. These are closed access networks. of Entry Point Networks, “By shifting to works eliminate distance as a concern.
federal, state and local regulations that You may have a choice but the choice is software-centric networks, innovation To grasp the implications of this, the dis-
hinder flexibility. Plus, there are real between triple play bundles. Switching will move at the speed of software devel- tance between a CPE and Memory could
operational challenges, including light- between providers can be done with the opment rather than at the speed of hard- be miles apart, not millimeters.
ning, floods, backhoe fades and squirrel frequency of their contract duration of ware development. That is a shift from
chews. one or two years,” Segal continues. months to hours.” The ‘Softwareization of the Network’ will
“With open access, consumers have a EntryPoint and many others are advo- mean lower costs for services, choices
Adding to “access network realities” is choice for every service. You would go to “The impact won’t just speed up innova- cating for a dismantling of this model In time, software controlled fiber optic for all services, new services and better
the cost and complexity incumbents a portal and see a menu. You can select tion, software control will also give more by separating the network infrastructure networks will be essential to attract new services. Software Defined Infrastructure
face. They have decades-old access a data service (bits/$) from a number flexibility and control to users through and network services and then opening businesses, improve city services, and will greatly simplify the ongoing opera-
infrastructures and limited CAPEX bud- of ISPs. Similarly, you can select a video automation and easy-to-use interfaces,” up the network. The incumbent operator reduce the costs of running a city. Small tions and maintenance of the access
gets. Upgrading to gigabit networks is service from numerous providers and Christensen continues. “Young children could continue as an operator or as a ser- cities, which are the most underserved network, driving down costs and reduc-
an expensive undertaking. At the same you could select a voice service the same will be able to provision a network slice vice provider but should not exclusively communities in America, will be the first ing the burden on rate payers. It will
time, people across the country read way. The service experience can be for a short term need (perhaps to play perform both roles. The model that is to adopt these technologies. Ironically, also enable new services and business
about Google Fiber and gigabit broad- described as “Internet-Like” meaning that a game over the network) and then they most favorable for all stakeholders is to for a time, communities with 10,000 resi- models.
band communities. No one wants to be end users can select and change services will dismantle the network when they are have a local municipality install software dents will have much more powerful
on the wrong side of the “digital divide”, instantly. The provisioning is automated done. Historically that kind of provision- defined fiber optic infrastructure and networks than large urban centers. As Timothy Downs is Managing Director
which gigabit cities will make even wider. so the service is available immediately.” ing was expensive and required that a manage it as a public utility and then the technologies are validated and inno- of SmartGig Media LLC, producers of
network technician come to your house make broadband services available in a vation accelerates, adoption will move to ‘SmartGigabit Cities’ conference series and
All is not lost. Today, incumbents have “Why Software is Eating The World” – - sometime between 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 cloud ecosystem where the private sec- larger cities. There are many cities that ‘Smart Gigabit Cities.com” information and
the opportunity to re-make themselves. Marc Andreesson, 2011 p.m.” tor has an opportunity to innovate and are not even thinking about deploying resource publication. He can be reached
According to Aman Segal of Virtual compete. a fiber optic network today. Three years via email: tdowns@smartgigmedia.com
Gateway Labs, “By taking advantage of “We are at the dawn of a new era: Software EntryPoint’s vision is that Fiber Optic from now they will start to realize that
proven software defined networks as Defined Infrastructure . . . a starting networks can provide much more value - The proposed model is analogous to they run the risk of putting themselves at
well as virtualization and open source point of a very deep revolution that will beyond just delivering fast internet. New life before/after the app store on Smart an economic development disadvantage
solutions, incumbents can build the right reshape our global computing infrastruc- technologies including Software Defined Phones. The app store gave innovators and they will need to pay attention to this
network for the next 20 years.” “If they ture.” That, according to a February, 2016 Networking, Network Virtualization, and both a technology and business platform issue to stay vibrant.
continue the five- to seven-year upgrade National Science Foundation Workshop Network Automation make it possible to from which they could deliver new ser-
cycle many ILECs will get left behind. Report. That’s a bold statement given the deliver new applications that make a dif- vices. This will lead to evolvable, dynamic Scott Raynovich of SDX Central notes,
They will face competition from gigabit global transformation that has occurred ference in people’s lives in open, secure, networks that foster change. “The cloud model is only just getting
community networks that will severely over the past 30 years; a transformation cloud-like ecosystems. The same tools started in communications and it’s likely
limit their options and perhaps put them that was driven by computers, smart that enable automated Open Access also EntryPoint is focused on Dynamic Open to follow the path that enterprise soft-
out of business.” phones, and communications networks provide a platform for Smart Cities and Access. The difference between historical ware has followed. I think this change is
Open Access and Dynamic Open Access coming in telecom. The new buzzwords
4 5
Don’t Get Burned. Bake Security into Your able architecture.
Building New Solutions and Business
Models
try will see several NFV and SDN networks
deployed and fully functional, and these
trailblazing efforts will produce best
Virtualized Network In these exciting times of building new
technologies and solving issues faced by
practices and important lessons. They’ll
allow new technologies to be vetted, lead
a broad spectrum of companies in the to educational programs, and help the
By Franklin Flint ICT industry, there is an unprecedented industry better understand what it takes
Chief Technology Officer opportunity afforded to companies to to secure a virtualized network. TIA is
TIA utilize NFV and SDN to creatively resolve committed to being at the center of this
security issues. Security can be built effort – serving as a catalyst for indus-
The pressure on network operators is industry. The Working Group benefits pany resources, and many companies directly into NFV and SDN systems, put- try collaboration and information shar-
building like never before. Data driven from the combined thought leadership are attempting to avoid making such ting a solution in place at the beginning ing. Working through the NFV Security
demands, the onset of 30 billion connect- of the organization’s member compa- investments. It’s time for all operators to avoid more serious problems in the Working Group, TIA will dive more deeply
ed “things” in four years, the unquench- nies and associated carriers, includ- to accept that inaction is not an option – future. into the needs identified and continue
able consumer demand for over-the-top ing Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, Red Hat, after all, vulnerability in one point of the producing educational content. The Telecommunications Industry
(OTT) entertainment content, and new ADTRAN, Intel, and Dell. network can compromise whole systems. The IT industry has dealt with security Association (TIA) (TIAonline.org) is a non-
developments in augmented and virtual issues for decades, and many of the solu- Franklin Flint is the Chief Technology profit trade association representing the
reality are putting extraordinary strains Having met in June 2016 at TIA’s annual Labor Skills and Training tions from the data center world are Officer of The Telecommunications manufacturers, OEMs and vendors who sup-
on existing networks. At the same time, Network of the Future Conference, NFV While the benefits of SDN and NFV are applicable, with or without adjustment, Industry Association (TIA). TIA represents ply products and services to telecommunica-
network operators must meet changing Security Working Group members dis- gaining global recognition, there is still a to meet the needs and goals of carriers. the manufacturers and suppliers of tions carriers. TIA provides standards, policy
needs and provide new capabilities to cussed the top priorities for their compa- need to educate companies on the latest Where needed, the development of new global communications networks through advocacy, market intelligence and other
allow customers to set up and operate nies and what they believe the industry network virtualization technologies and solutions not already available from the standards development, policy and services to its members. TIA publishes an
their own virtual networks and service. needs. on the inherent vulnerabilities. A broad IT market offers opportunities for both advocacy, business opportunities, market annual market intelligence report, and tech-
industry understanding of where vulner- startups and established companies intelligence, and networking. To learn more nology and market analysis white papers.
The information and communications Securing NFV and SDN Systems abilities exist will inform a concerted to innovate and build businesses that about the TIA NFV/SDN Security Working It holds a number of events including its
technology (ICT) industry is actively Themselves effort to fill the gaps in knowledge and support these activities. Companies are Group, which will hold a workshop on annual conference TIA 2016 (TIA2016.org),
working to develop solutions to address Among the most pressing concerns that lead to the development of innovative developing new service business models December 7th in Silicon Valley, contact workshops, webinars, seminars, standards
demand and advance functionality, and were discussed by the Working Group solutions. to match the needs of the many new Germaine Palangdao at gpalangdao@ meetings and more. Its video news service is
the two current key solutions are net- is how to ensure that network software products and services being deployed. tiaonline.org. To learn more and attend TIA NOW (TIANOW.org).
work functions virtualization (NFV) and deployments are themselves secure. NFV Working Group members specifically TIA events visit TIAonline.org; to view TIA’s
software-defined networking (SDN). But Given the increased sophistication of noted the difficulty in finding qualified The next 12-18 months will be a remark- collection of NFV/SDN expert interviews on
as operators begin to deploy or plan for attacks on carrier, government and engineers with the skills and knowledge able period for NFV and SDN. The indus- video, visit TIANow.org.
the implementation of these solutions, enterprise private networks, software to effectively manage NFV and SDN net-
Using Virtualization to Reduce the
one thing has become clear: security is vulnerabilities are particularly challeng- work deployments, along with the secu-
not always the focus of their agenda, ing. rity issues. Carriers and their solutions
since so many other pressing issues still providers are implementing training pro-
need to be resolved. That said, security is
of paramount concern and importance,
as a network is only as strong as its weak-
Host operating systems, hypervisors,
cloud platforms, and management tools,
as well as virtual machines and dock-
grams to address the dearth of market
ready engineers, but more needs to be
done.
Business Risks of Launching New Services
By David Noguer Bau
est link. And, through virtualization, the er containers hosting Virtual Network Senior Manager Service Provider Marketing
number of potential links are rising into Functions (VNFs), must all be secured. Standardization and Guidelines Will Juniper Networks
the billions. Switches, modems and other links, both Drive Adoption
physical and virtual, also present points Implementation of NFV and SDN is an Launching a new service by the telecom- optimization with lots of options to the market. A cus-
There is no question that, when working of network vulnerability. In addition, rou- industry-wide initiative in which a wide munication industry is not an easy task: • Automate the service provisioning tomer can personalize services through
in tandem, NFV and SDN are revolutioniz- tine aspects such as common administra- range of companies are coming together it requires a lot of research and planning with NFV MANO a self-service portal with ‘instant’ activa-
ing network infrastructure and business tion interfaces and logging mechanisms; to address the needs and opportunity. in order to make sure the huge invest- • DevOps to accelerate the tion.
models – moving them from being sole- system authorizations; and credential Of course, not all companies can apply ment is safe. Profits come from taking development of new services
ly proprietary, hardware-specific, fixed systems with legacy protocols present the same resources, and standardiza- business risks, but in front of a huge • Transforming the Service Provider After working with some customers, we
models, to being fluid, transmutable, obvious challenges, particularly if mul- tion will be important for easing deploy- investment, corporations prefer to take Organization have identified some key advantages:
scalable on-demand, virtual models and tiple vendors are both competing and ments with lower capital and operational calculated risks. The dependency of tele- • Building an Open platform reduces
technologies. The transformation they collaborating together. expenditures. com services to heavy network invest- The new culture helps Service Providers the vendor lock-in risks.
bring is taking communications infra- ments, limits the amount of innovation to innovate faster over a common plat- • Each new service will be based in
structure to the next evolutionary step, Work is quickly proceeding in this area, they bring in the portfolio, specifically form and reduce the upfront costs in VM instances with no hardware
strengthening the infrastructure. The Cost of Securing a Network - or including addressing application pro- when compared with the Over-the-top launching a new service. dependencies.
Not gramming interface (API) standardization OTT providers. • Rapid time-to-market with simplified
But it’s also opening it up new vulnerabili- Integration of NFV and SDN in exist- among vendors. This has become a par- Where do we start? integration.
ties. The incredible opportunity present- ing networks is complicated and labor ticular point of frustration, and the lack Those Telecom Providers looking to A good place to start experimenting
ed by these solutions will be severely lim- consuming in its own right. The chal- of standards in this area is making the reduce their investment risk while con- using the new techniques for service-cre- It is true that the price/performance ratio
ited, and possibly even lost, if operators lenge becomes even more daunting orchestration layer more complex than tinuing to innovate in new services, ation is in areas of real potential revenue for some services is better in physical
aren’t thinking about security from the when operators must consider complexi- it needs to be. Also, virtual network func- should introduce the following technolo- growth with high uncertainty. infrastructure than virtual. Virtualization
very start. To address rising security risks ties such as multi-tenancy, and adding a tion (VNF) orchestration interfaces can gies in their processes: Many service providers see the potential mitigates the risk by allowing carriers to
and concerns, the Telecommunications layer of security to which all participating benefit from standards development. As • Virtualization in x86 compute of the ICT services market for enter- experiment with new services, and if they
Industry Association (TIA) has formed parties need to agree, or the need to standards development proceeds, guide- platforms to reduce the dependency prises. The traditional approach requires are successful in the market, they can be
the NFV Security Working Group, which deploy quality assurance certifications lines can provide first steps toward unity on dedicated infrastructure sophisticated CPEs but the scope of ser- transferred to a more scalable physical
is analyzing the issues and developing requiring Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). of deployments, with noted areas of • Build a common platform for vices is too limited, expensive and inflex- infrastructure.
approaches to resolve them. The result- These issues demand increased require- focus being host operating system hard- innovation ible. With infrastructure virtualization,
ing solutions will be shared with the ICT ments of skills and commitment of com- ening procedures and consistent scal- • Automated network analysis and carriers could build a modular platform
6 7
What NFV and vCPE Will Bring to
Service Providers
By Timothy Brown
Director, Virtualization and Security
Network Utility Force
Service providers often have to do more that span several ILECs and traditional allows us to move around the CPE itself.
with less. Beyond basic bandwidth and service providers, as well as the cloud. Rather than having to roll a truck to
limited business services as voice, small These sites might have different kinds of premise, there are several options now
to medium service providers often strug- CPE and connectivity. With SDN, these for pulling the most involved CPE func-
gle with how to deploy new services resources can all be tied together and tions closer to the data center or central
and capture more revenue from their integrated into a single holistic network, office.
customers, and want to continue to see and changes to that network can be
performance from their existing invest- interpreted to each type of CPE and con- The hardware versions of these devices
ments as long as possible. nectivity. are typically a larger cost than most
smaller service providers can afford and
Over the past several years, academia Provisioning time is often a very slow justify in an investment cycle without
and research teams at major carriers operational process in many operators. drumming up significant demand. The
and OEMs have been developing solu- SDN makes the promise of a much more software versions now available offer a
tions designed to make the most of a automated, streamlined, less error prone very attractive set of deployment pos-
bad situation: the commoditization of process. Orchestration solutions can sibilities to service providers, allowing us
hardware and bandwidth. These solu- be used to make the changes on many to deploy them on a per-customer basis
tions center around making hardware devices at once. This can help mitigate at much lower cost. The performance is
programmable, manageable at scale, human error from manual provisioning suitable for this use case even in large
and in some cases using generic off the and allow much quicker response to a enterprises. If you're selling colocation
shelf hardware that we'd normally see failed device or network segment. or managed services, now that offering
in desktops and servers repurposed for can add security, VPN, advanced routing,
networking needs. SDN means many things to many people, and other features and keep you com-
of course. There are many other use petitive.
You've probably heard the terms SDN, cases that I haven't described here. What
NFV, and vCPE, and wondered what they I’d like to do next is talk to you about Why do all this? A few reasons. In the
mean and what they mean for your busi- NFV and vCPE, and how products that next couple of years, 5G wireless and
ness. Is it all hype? I hope in this article are currently shipping can make your life millimeter wave technologies for the last
to help you cut through the marketing easier and increase stickiness for your mile are going to put an enormous set
messages to get to the reality of where customers. of pressures on service providers and
the market is heading. usher in a new era of competition. While
Virtual CPE represents a compelling set some of us may even be a part of that
Software Defined Networks (SDN) are of use cases for providers. If you're one wave, the closer relationship we have
a collection of approaches designed to of the many service providers who has with our customers by offering them
change the way we think about networks. wished that you could put a PBX or ses- more services and capturing more rev-
Despite the fact that network engineers sion border controller on site with your enue from them will help keep service
often use protocols that are "dynamic" customer, sold them a cheap firewall, or providers relevant. Other technologies
to route around failure and error, and helped them diagnose elements deeper being deployed today, such as Openstack
employ methods designed to classify inside their network, vCPE offers you and OpenFlow, will help us come up with
and act on traffic in real time, networks options to put these features as close to new service offerings at a very low cost
tend to be statically configured. SDN is the customer as possible: at your ONT and build our own clouds. It's an exciting
designed to give operators new tools to or NID. and challenging time for the next wave of
make the network more responsive to investment, and Walker is ready to help.
the customer and to the provider. Today's devices support a general pur-
pose compute capability inside the ONT
An often-cited example is firewall pro- or NID, allowing us to deploy virtual
visioning, a process that takes a great machines that contain a virtual firewall,
deal of time in implementing the change router, SBC, intrusion detection device,
and managing the change process and you name it. These features are being
business assurance once a change is cre- deployed today in products from the likes
ated. What if my customer could try out of Adtran and Adva/Overture. The virtual
a new firewall whenever they wanted, or machines are provided by major OEMs
send a copy of their production traffic to including Juniper, Cisco, F5, Fortinet, and
a firewall that has the new rules defined? Palo Alto, and the fact that we can now
deploy them anywhere we have a server,
Another example from our own experi- ONT, or NID totally changes our land-
ence is a need for a VPN that doesn't scape.
require additional hardware. A large
manufacturing company has resources Another compelling case for virtual CPE
8 9
Leveraging Existing Networks for
Virtualized Services
By Prayson Pate
CTO, Ensemble Division
ADVA Optical Networking
Service providers want to use network services delivered natively on Layer 3 VPNs are built using customer
functions virtualization (NFV) to improve the network. Operators need to edge (CE) routers at the customer site,
the cost and dynamism of their services. integrate new technologies such as and provider edge (PE) routers in the
However, they must figure out a way NFV with their existing networks to operator network. Together, they allow
to apply NFV without re-inventing their enable SLAs. customers to have private networks with
network, processes and OSS/BSS infra- • Integrated with OSS/BSS. The OSS/ high bandwidth and assured quality of Illustration B
structure. The good news is that goal is BSS is the heart of an operator’s service.
now achievable. Service providers can business. Any new technology The service order contains the • Offer customers dynamic
leverage existing infrastructure to offer needs to be integrated at some level … and Add NFV in the Cloud information about the VPN incremental virtualized services.
virtualized services to their current cus- to enable dynamic services and It’s possible to build small clusters of serv- instances and PE ports, and the • Centralized NFV offers lowest TCO.
tomers. accurate billing. ers in the provider network and use them orchestrator passes this information • Very distributed and scalable
• Pay-as-you-grow model. An ideal to host VNFs, as shown in Illustration B. on to the eBGP engine. approach - Each VNF hosting server
Before going into the details of how ser- technology has costs that start low 5. eBGP engine signals route insertion. need only support a single customer
vice providers can incrementally apply and grow only as new revenue is The question is: How do you dynamically The eBGP engine now has the VPN.
NFV, let’s step back and look at what NFV generated. connect a new VNF with an existing layer needed information to create eBGP • Starting cost at each point of
is and how it can be applied. 3 VPN? messages and send them to the PE instantiation is very low – a single
Some Obstacles router. server.
NFV: The Basics As described above, truly cloudy NFV Solution: Use BGP 6. VPN traffic redirected to VNF(s). • Required integration to OSS/BSS is
The original intent of NFV is to replace offers tremendous advantages to opera- The answer is to use an existing technol- limited to sending the service order
closed appliances (e.g. routers, firewalls, tors. So, why aren’t they moving faster to ogy: the exterior border gateway pro- Once the PE router receives the eBGP to the orchestrator.
etc.) with software virtual network func- deploy it? Some questions remain: tocol (eBGP). eBGP is the standard way message, it redirects traffic to the rel- • We Can Get Started Today!
tions (VNFs) that can be hosted anywhere • Integrated with network. NFV is that today’s MPLS networks propagate evant port. The VNFs are inserted and
in the network on any open hardware, as fundamentally different than today’s topology information. We can use eBGP the virtual service is live! By augmenting existing MPLS VPNs, ser-
shown in the following diagram. network equipment. How can to inject a VNF into an existing service. vice providers can get started on NFV
By moving to NFV, service providers can operators gracefully insert VNFs into Benefits of Using Existing and at the same time offer dynamic new
take advantage of low-cost servers as existing services? Here are the steps that are shown in Infrastructure services to their existing customers. It’s a
well as independent innovation on the • Integrated with OSS/BSS. Operators Illustration C. The approach described here has many win-win situation!
software side. Even so, simple replace- and their suppliers shudder at the 1. Customer makes request at benefits, including:
ment of appliances does not provide all time and effort required to integrate portal. They choose from a menu • Layer NFV on top of existing
the benefits that are available from the new technologies into existing OSS/ of incremental services such as infrastructure and OSS systems.
cloud. BSS systems. How can that effort be gateway router, security service, • No change to existing CEs, PEs or L3
minimized and contained? VPN gateway, traffic analysis, etc. VPNs.
The Goal: Cloudy NFV • Hosted centrally. Hosting VNFs 2. OSS generates service order for
Ideally operators would gain the benefits centrally has many benefits, but orchestrator. This is the single point Prayson Pate is ADVA
of the cloud when they move to NFV. how do we connect them to existing of integration, where the OSS/ Optical Networking’s
Those benefits include: services? BSS sends an XML service order chief technology officer
• Hosted centrally. There are two over a RESTful interface to the for the Ensemble division
main models for NFV: centrally Build on Today’s MPLS VPNs orchestrator. and is an evangelist
hosted, and located in the access Fortunately, there is a way forward. We 3. Orchestrator instantiates VNFs via for network functions
network at the customer site or can use existing layer 3 VPNs as a basis OpenStack. The orchestrator uses virtualization (NFV).
cell tower. Both are valid and are for NFV. Service providers have deployed the standard features of OpenStack He speaks at industry
needed for different applications. layer 3 VPNs everywhere, built on fast to create and initiate the constituent events and writes posts
The central hosting model is and reliable MPLS backbones, as shown VNFs. and articles to inform,
preferred by many because it is in Illustration A below. 4. Orchestrator signals eBGP engine. educate and entertain, mostly about
more cloud-like and provides better NFV with plenty of innovation for good
economies of scale and resource measure. These include The Real CTOs of
pooling. NFV series.
• Available on demand with variable
billing. Static and flat services are Prayson received a master’s degree in
passé. End users want dynamic and electrical and computer engineering from
scalable services with an option to North Carolina State University and a
pay based on the time and amount bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering
of usage. from Duke University. Prayson has
• Integrated with network. Over-the- contributed to standards bodies such as
top services are popular but they the MEF and IETF. He is a named inventor
lack the service level agreements on nine patents.
Illustration A Illustration C
(SLAs) that are available with
10 11
The DevOps Revolution:
The “Jig is Up” for Legacy Telco Software
Vendors
By Dr. Recep Ozdag
Senior Director Blue Planet
Ciena
The “jig is up” -- kind of an odd expres- What is DevOps? Toolkit promises to bring business agility
sion isn’t it. For our non-English readers DevOps describes the value of collabora- in the form of automation, quick service
throughout the globe, it’s an expression tion between IT development resources delivery and full programmability -- free-
that means that a scheme or plot has and operations staff throughout all stag- ing network operators from the crippling
been discovered or ended. es of the software development lifecycle monolithic systems, costly professional
for creating and operating a service. This services and lock-in of traditional ven-
With that back-drop, we’re sorry to is different from the past where hard dors.
announce that the jig-is-up for legacy lines were drawn between the responsi-
telco software vendors and their soft- bilities of IT and operations.
ware professional services strategy.
How can the user rapidly
develop new services?
• L2vpn + vFirewall
What do we mean? Well, in most cases, In the new, on-demand, software defined
• L2vpn + vFirewall + vRouter
• L3vpn + WANOP + vNAT
telecom software is based on the prem- world, network operators become more
ise that you sell the customer a closed agile and are able to manage their physi-
platform for a specific purpose, and then cal and virtualized networks, their devic-
reap the rewards of perpetual software es and the services they offer -- in near
updates and support services. A good real-time. They want to go from con-
example is OSS systems, where the only cept to revenue very quickly. And this is to deliver value added services and reuse those created by other users.
way to modify, change, or adapt that enabled not just by the software tools Just as with other open communities,
piece of software is to contact the ven- they choose, but their ability to use a Ethernet Metro
A Community to Develop, Share and developers submit their work back to the
dor, engage in a software professional DevOps methodology to maximize the Profit public library. The power of the devel-
services engagement, and pay millions value of that software. The DevOps Kit brings the much But wait… there’s more; as part of the oper community is sure to turn this
of dollars in fees to evolve the software. needed business agility to CSP DevOps Tool Kit, we are also announc- platform to the ultimate service orches-
infrastructure ing an open developer and community tration platform, catapulting CSPs to take
This has been a cash cow for legacy soft- portal to bring your ideas to life, share full advantage of the value that is offered
ware vendors and an incredible bane to The Blue Planet DevOps Toolkit provides experiences and get support. Customers, by SDN and NFV.
service agility and innovative operations DevOps reduces the time it takes to a platform to create, modify, test and users and partners can collaborate,
for network operators for decades. go from concept to revenue validate service templates so that CSPs share service templates, troubleshoot Dr. Recep Ozdag (@DrOzdag) is senior
can quickly offer differentiated, revenue and quickly find a solution that will help director in Ciena’s Blue Planet division, and
But this model is unsustainable. Why? Network operators can’t get this business generating services as well as create kickstart their foray into SDN and NFV. is a regular speaker at industry events on the
On-demand applications, cloud, con- agility from their legacy OSS/BSS vendors and modify resource adapters that allow topic of SDN/NFV.
tent distribution, 5G, the Internet-of- or solutions, which require significant them to control any physical or virtual The Blue Planet DevOps Kit work flow
Things, are all drastically changing how professional services involvement, often device. Users can start creating new service tem-
networks need to operate. The age of times resulting in extremely costly and plates and resource adapters to talk to
static networks and static software are very lengthy engagements even for the Let me say that in a different way: Blue new devices in their network or access
over. Competing and surviving in the on- simplest of changes. Planet already provides WAN automation
demand age requires real-time DevOps as well as NFV orchestration across mul-
agility. This is one of the reasons many opera- tiple vendors and domains. This helps
tors are turning to next generation SDN CSPs enhance their connectivity services
DevOps in a Software-defined World and NFV orchestration platforms like with strategic managed service offerings
In order to maintain a sustainable advan- Blue Planet. Blue Planet breaks the silos such as virtual router or virtual firewall
tage in the web-scale and on-demand that are slowing down operations but services.
economy, network operators are learn- also brings an open and programmable
ing how to innovate and react faster to (DevOps enabled) service orchestrator to With the DevOps kit, a CSP can now eas-
competitive threats. An important tool in the world. ily and quickly customize this service by
transforming their business is SDN and adding other virtual functions or other
network virtualization software technolo- CSPs need to easily change the infra- vendors, thereby, significantly improv-
gies designed to orchestrate, automate, structure and services for agile business ing their competitive advantage because
standardize and expedite service cre- services they can now more quickly adapt to
ation and delivery across multi-vendor changing business requirements. Not to
networks both physical and virtual. Introducing the DevOps Toolkit for mention, with the DevOps kit, they can
Blue Planet do so without being slowed by costly and
But this new set of open and program- lengthy professional services engage-
mable software tools are useless without To unleash the full programmability of ments.
a new agile method of software develop- Blue Planet, today we are introducing
ment. That’s where DevOps comes in. our DevOps Toolkit. Our new DevOps Creating an industry standard platform
12 13
Virtualization and the New Taking the Next Step in Innovation
Business as Usual By Trey Hall
VP, Marketing
Walker and Associates
“To be competitive By Rhonda Holloway
Product Marketing Manager Software networking technologies are fuel the next big surge of networking
in the digital Software Business Unit
Fujitsu Network Communications, Inc.
breaking paradigms, creating opportuni-
ties, and causing a lot of sleepless nights
advancements. And yes, it will cause
us all to evolve, too. Network opera-
economy, service Mobile broadband will account for es these wide-ranging use cases and
for network operators and equipment
providers alike. As we meet the chal-
tions organizations will continue to adopt
technology and develop new operational
almost 70% of global connections by more.
providers need 2020, while new services will increase
lenges of today’s telecommunications
indusrty the only constant is accelerat-
skills. Equipment providers will focus
on new forms of added value. Agile
data traffic tenfold by 2019.[1] At this Software-defined networking, in com-
to dedicate more rate, most of the world will soon be bination with network functions virtu-
ing change. It’s a fun debate to rank
software networking’s impact on our
development cycles will speed innova-
tion. Open source communities and
mobile. The “cloud” has become syn- alization, creates a single resource to
budget and onymous with mobility, and is matching manage and traverse an abstracted
industry alongside some of the histori-
cal moments such as the 1984 divesti-
standards bodies will provide platforms
and basic building blocks that fulfill the
customers with new services more and and unified fabric so that application
resources to service more. More customers are coming, and developers and network operators
ture, the World Wide Web, the dot.com
bubble burst, and so forth and regard-
promise of interoperable networks.
more services are coming. More, more, don’t have to worry about network con-
innovation.” more. nections; the intelligent network does
less of where we rank it -- it’s clear that
software networking technologies are
Walker and Associates is no exception to
this trend of change. As a value added
“This technology
that for them. Imagine seamlessly con- driving changes to our industry today. distributor, Walker has a rare combina-
To drive this digital revolution, service necting applications and delivering new The concepts of network automation and tion of supplier partner breadth and
providers must adopt a new ‘business services, automatically, at the will of
isn’t going to
function virtualization carry promises of technical depth which has presented the
as usual’ mentality. Unlike the static the end user. Virtualization delivers this service agility, optimized network utiliza- opportunity to solve a significant prob-
operating models of the past, a new new business as usual: best-of-breed tion, elimination of vendor lock-in, and lem facing our customers: interoperabil-
put us all out of
dynamic network is emerging, but it’s components that are intelligent, opti- reduced capital expense. This treasure ity. Walker has always had a consultative
not about the network at all. It’s about mized end-to-end, fully utilized, and trove of benefits has captured the atten- approach to supporting our customers
the applications that deliver services to much less expensive. Budget previous- tion of our industry, but only a small with complex multi-branded solutions in
business. It’s
subscribers and consumers wherever ly dedicated to network infrastructure portion of service providers have made areas such as core routing, optical trans-
they are, however they want them. That can now be freed up to support new meaningful progress toward achieving port, access networks, and CPE. To sup-
requires intelligence, extreme flexibil- applications and services for whole
going to serve
these results. port our customers Walker is creating
ity, modularity, and scalability. It means new categories of customers. a software networking lab environment
innovative, differentiated services and The adoption rate so far is no mystery that will test, integrate, deploy and main-
as the platform
the kind of customer experiences that Enterprise customers and communi- to most who are familiar with the state tain virtualized and automated versions
create relationships so tight, so inte- cations service providers will get bet- of software networking offerings today. of the same hardware versions of net-
grated, that highly personalized ser- ter tools, on-demand provisioning, and The technology was not ready. But today works we sell and support today.
to fuel the
vices can be delivered on-demand and tight integration between the carrier in 2016 we are realizing the potential
billed “automagically.” network, enterprise network, and cloud of SDN. Commercial suppliers’ offer- As Walker builds the capability of this lab
Rhonda Holloway is Head of Product builders. Business customers will get
next big surge
ings are maturing, standards bodies are we are working with our OEM partners to
Marketing for the Fujitsu Network To be competitive in the digital econo- on-demand services and always-on developing, open source communities test and package turn-key solutions for
Communications Software Business Unit. my, service providers need to dedicate mobile connectivity. Some customers are creating carrier-grade platforms and specific use cases. But the really exciting
With over 20 years in high-tech marketing
of networking
more budget and resources to service will get bundled services; others only building blocks, and the integrators and aspect of our lab is that we working with
and technical writing, Rhonda has worked innovation. Yet today, the lion’s share high-bandwidth mobile connectivity. value-added channels are reformulating our customers to design, test, and deploy
with multiple on premise and cloud enter- of any budget is dedicated to the net- Service providers will be able to accom- what value add means in this new world. solutions that are custom-tailored for
advancements .”
prise systems management solutions work itself because of the necessities modate diverse use cases like these each customer’s network. We believe
including network software, supply chain of multilayer, multivendor designs. The and differentiate their service offer- .
The elephant in the room that most that Walker’s software networking lab
management, enterprise resource plan- network as we know it must be re- ings beyond bandwidth, SLAs and price equipment manufacturers would never can fill a specific need in our current mar-
ning, customer relationship management, architected: disaggregated, flattened, points. want to directly address is that this open kets. That need is interoperability testing
performance management, and database and virtualized. Applying standard IT technology is eroding traditional forms and solution integration. Performing
management in the original cloud—the virtualization technologies to the ser- Welcome to the new business as usual. of leverage incumbent equipment manu- this work once on behalf of over a thou-
mainframe. Rhonda is a member of the vice provider network allows network facturers held over network operators. sand network operators with whom we
global marketing leadership team and a administrators to shed the expense Open source projects are eroding tradi- do business today just makes common
key strategist for our software portfolio. and constraints of single-purpose, tional areas of value-add. The industry sense. The hardware integration func-
hardware-based appliances, and create is moving and paradigms are shattering. tion is not new to Walker, nor are the
Prior to joining Fujitsu, Rhonda led mul- a unified network fabric that delivers Change is here, and just in time. Our many valued partners that trust Walker
tiple teams where she managed narrative new services to market faster, more industry has always realized that these to represent their solutions. Most of
branding and the customer journey. In profitably. evolutions are necessary. Network band- the ingredients were in our lap when we
addition to her professional roles, Rhonda
width and agility requirements aren’t started. As we take this journey together
is a third-generation beekeeper, a com- Rolling out new services over tradition- slowing down - they are accelerating. To we welcome you to contact us to learn
puter security enthusiast, and an intense al hardware-based network infrastruc- keep up with market demands our net- more about how we can work together
advocate for using technology and equip- ture used to take months or even years works need to evolve and adapt. With to achieve those benefits that network
ment to help those with neuromuscular for service providers to achieve. Many this realization comes some peace about automation and function virtualization
diseases. If you are interested in how one time-consuming steps had to be taken: our industry’s future. This technology promise.
non-profit is guiding this mission, please service design, integration, testing and isn’t going to put us all out of business.
visit http://www.teamgleason.org/. provisioning. Virtualization address- It’s going to serve as the platform to
14 15
Open Access Fiber Network
ciencies – by ignoring political boundar- the placement of open-access critically important to Blue Ridge PBS,”
ies, a collaborative network could take conduit for fiber optic cable James Baum, President and CEO said. “In
advantage of efficiencies that can’t be • Communicating broadband related this day and age, we need this as much
Launches in Virginia
achieved by an independent provider or activity to the public as we need streets, bridges and almost
just one or two local governments. any other service or facility. With the new
The newly formed Roanoke Valley broadband network, it’s now possible for
Faced significant competition – from an Broadband issued RFPs for long-term us to expand the station's programming
economic development perspective the and adaptable “telecommunications and move control of its technical opera-
region was facing significant competi- equipment suppliers to furnish, install tions to cloud computing saving staff
By Jennifer Eaddy tion both within Virginia and across the and test a complete set of packet optical time and the station money."
RVBA Communications country. Businesses looking to relocate network electronics with turnkey services Shortly after Blue Ridge PBS celebrated
Roanoke Valley Broadband Authority could find cheaper, faster, higher qual- & support.” the system launch, the Western Virginia
ity and more abundant Internet trans- Water Authority also transitioned to the
port options elsewhere. And the highly Walker and Associates in partnership new network..
skilled, high paying jobs most commu- with Ciena technology was hired to deliv-
nities wanted to attract were attached er the metropolitan network featuring “For the first time in my years in IT, a fiber
to businesses that had high technology five environmentally conditioned Points construction engagement happened on
expectations. of Presence (POPs) connecting 47 initial time and as promised” David Carter,
miles of backbone fiber. The project was Chief Technology Officer of Advanced
Next Steps to be configured in 5 redundant rings Logic Industries said.
After reviewing the report, a decision was with access to all the critical business
taken to form a task force to determine centers across the valley. Now, with a full pipeline of prospective
what next steps could and should be new customers, the RVBA’s network is
taken to address the issues revealed. Having specified the use of Ciena Network connecting businesses, schools, libraries
After 9 months of evaluation and further Electronics, Walker and Associates began and government offices to the rest of the
study the taskforce, made up of both the tasks of installing, testing and turn- world via multiple regional access points.
public officials and private citizens, rec- ing up all equipment. They documented This top-tier system and world-class
ommended the formation of a regional all network performance metrics and equipment provides security compliant
Broadband Authority whose mission provided a complete inventory of assets with U.S. Department of Defense regula-
would be to increase affordable access as well as trained RVBA employees and tions and for a cost lower than was pre-
to broadband technologies. designates on the network operating viously available in the area. Now more
When area business leaders started ask- regions made the Roanoke Valley Fiber improve telecommunications infrastruc- system. local businesses than ever before have
ing questions about the future economic Network a reality,” explained Frank Smith, ture to accelerate economic develop- Legal and support staff of the four munic- a choice in who provides their Internet
health of the region, they probably didn’t President & CEO of the Roanoke Valley ment and enhance job and educational ipalities (Roanoke County, Botetourt Throughout the installation, the RVBA service, how much they can procure, and
realize the wheels they set in motion. Broadband Authority. “From the officials opportunities in the Roanoke Valley. County, City of Roanoke and City of and the Walker team encountered what methods they can leverage to get it
Not quite five years later, the Roanoke in the Cities of Salem and Roanoke and Salem) worked together with the Roanoke unique challenges. Tight spaces allot- into their worksites.
Valley Broadband Authority is operat- the counties of Roanoke and Botetourt, The results were alarming. Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission ted in the urban and historic areas of
ing as an open-access, multi-municipality to the business owners who saw a prob- throughout 2013 to form the Roanoke downtown Roanoke left very little room The RVBA currently offers three con-
utility across the region. While communi- lem and connected to resolve it, to the The study revealed that while the world Valley Broadband Authority under the for machinery and large incisions in the nection types to businesses across the
ties across the country have had to find many economic development research is increasingly relying on online com- provisions of the Virginia Wireless Service ground, so innovative solutions like four Roanoke Valley: Dark Fiber, Transport
their own way to cross the digital divide, teams and vendor partners who rallied munications, services and retail, demand Authorities Act, Chapter 54.1 of Title 15.2 channel vertical micro-duct conduit and Service and Internet Service scalable up
smaller cities like Roanoke often have along the way to making this vision a is only expected to increase… exponen- of the code of Virginia. micro-trenching were deployed to pro- to 200 Gb/s speeds. The RVBA offers
the hardest time. In the Roanoke Valley, reality, it has been quite the collabora- tially. Further, many other regions, some vide less invasive and disruptive methods open access to the fiber network for all
local business owners were asking for tion.” very close by, were well ahead of the The organization, officially established in of laying fiber-optic cable. businesses, and looks forward to serving
faster, more affordable Internet access Roanoke Valley in their plans to acquire December 2013, was chartered to move last mile providers that may choose to
but found that without the population In retrospect, the project began when 21st century broadband infrastructure. the project from vision to production The four path micro-duct was used for leverage the network.
density of a larger city nor the federal local business leaders and local govern- Specifically, the study found that the under the leadership of 5 board mem- small slot cuts and the standard four
subsidies available to more rural areas ment officials with a hunch decided to region: bers representing the four municipalities path conduit was used elsewhere.. Each “The RVBA Fiber network has created an
they had to do something unprecedent- investigate the issue of high-speed, enter- and one citizen at large. path holds 144 strands of fiber optic open and competitive market of Internet
ed to ensure continued economic health prise quality Internet transport options in Lacked Distribution - competitive provid- cable and has the ability to carry 88 service in the Roanoke Valley. Citizens
and stability in Southwest Virginia. the region. They jointly funded indepen- ers could only afford to build distribution The RVBA was charged with a number of channels of data traffic on each fiber. can now reap the benefits of increased
dent research to better understand how and provide fiber access to the larger specific initiatives, including: Initially, RVBA is using just one of the four competition with trust that pour region
On April 26th, more than 150 area busi- affordable, secure, high speed and high customers in the area, leaving wide por- available conduits and plans to leverage has the capacity to serve them as their
ness owners, government officials and capacity Internet affects economic pros- tions of the Valley limited options for • Developing a master plan for the additional paths to expand capacity needs evolve,” Roanoke City Manager
community leaders gathered around a pects, and how the region compared to broadband services and virtually no com- construction and operation of a as the network grows. Each channel is Chris Morrill said.
podium to see Kevin Boggess, Chairman similar communities across the nation. petition high-speed, redundant regional designed to transfer up to 400 gigabits
of the Roanoke Valley Broadband network "ring" to reach schools, per second (terabit-level) speeds. and
Authority, announce the official launch Design Nine, a broadband and telecom Lacked redundancy - The competitive industrial parks, large employers each channel on a fiber can carry up to
of the new Roanoke Valley Broadband planning, design, and project manage- fiber that existed did not provide a coher- and other economic centers, 200 Gbps.
Authority, a multi-community collabo- ment firm out of nearby Blacksburg, ent, fully redundant core fiber ring, which • Developing cooperative agreements
ration designed to increase enterprise Virginia was selected to review the is essential for many businesses that for localities with technical After just nine months of construc-
access to fiber optic Internet transport region’s current telecommunications sys- might want to relocate to the region. specifications and commercial terms tion, the system went live and the RVBA
service, and help the region attract and tems. They were asked to survey the Lacked diversity – Existing providers were for operating the network and turned up their first customer, the local
retain 21st century businesses. degree of interest residents and busi- relying too heavily on fiber cable exiting exchanging data across municipal Blue Ridge Public Broadcasting Station.
nesses have in broadband services, the region along Interstate 81. boundaries "Roanoke Valley Broadband has given
“A lot of hard work from people through- and to identify what investments will • Developing dig once requirements us access to 21st Century fiber infra-
out our community and the surrounding be needed if a decision was made to Did not take advantage of regional effi- for construction projects, including structure at a reasonable cost which is
16 17
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