Converged Access – One IETF Slice at a Time

by Chris Busch Principal Architect, Office of the CTO

With great speed comes great opportunity, or at least that should be the case with our latest generations of access networks from DOCSIS® 4.0 to XGS-PON. Delivering the fastest last mile also means aggregating for it. How do we do more with the infrastructure investment in an end-to-end manner?

One approach to effective infrastructure utilization and reuse is slicing. More specifically, the IETF-based (Internet Engineering Task Force) network slice. Analogous to a mobile network resource slice, an IETF-based slice maps the path between defined endpoints with visibility and control for bandwidth, availability, and latency

Cable Distributed Access Architecture (DAA) systems have a nice glide path to this next level of efficiency and service velocity. The DAA’s service edge is a high-capacity Ethernet switch. DAA Leaf Switching – what mobile would call a Distributed Cell Site Gateway – is a timed, authenticated, encrypted edge of the DAA that accepts Remote PHY, Remote MACPHY, and Remote OLT, as well as PON shelf and virtualized functions.

Each of these access networks has subscriber networks for residential and business customers, in addition to several service networks. The application of IETF-based slicing to service and subscriber networks is an exciting moment for cable. Imagine defining the required bandwidth for a Remote PHY service group and having that setup as an end-to-end network slice, secured and automated across the topology.

Imagine further, DOCSIS® L2VPN or SD-WAN services being easily initialized across the topology simply by declaring the endpoints while a slice controller and path computation service establish the bandwidth- and latency-governed path through the network. IETF TEAS. (Traffic Engineering Architecture and Signaling) Network Slice standards, Segment Routing and SDN Control are combining to create this reality for DAA networks.

At Vecima, we’re imagining these next steps for converged network access in which composing new products and services is simplified while underlying network infrastructure is used efficiently.

If you’re attending ANGA COM 2023, please stop by Stand D40 and consider attending our session, “Fiber Access and Measuring QoE – IETF Slicing the Access Network.”

See you in Köln!

“Fiber Access and Measuring QoE – IETF Slicing the Access Network”
Wed., May 24, 16:45 – 18:00 (4:45 – 6:00 p.m. CEST)
Room 2 – Koelnmesse, Congress Center North

Visit Vecima Networks at ANGA COM 2023
May 23-25 in Cologne, Germany
Koelnmesse Hall 8, Stand D40