Riverstone Networks 9500 - Manual (Page 4)

Alcatel-Lucent 9500 Microwave Packet Radio North American Markets 4
The growing demand for new
broadband services requires more
connectivity and additional ports
at cell sites. Packet traffic growth
drives bandwidth requirements
higher (20 Mb/s to 30 Mb/s per cell
site); it also has different capacity and
quality constraints than voice traffic
As mobile network infrastructure
evolves, IP-native base stations will
have Ethernet interfaces rather than
T1. This change in physical interface
brings new challenges to backhaul
networks. Because the transition
will not happen overnight, backhaul
networks must migrate gracefully while
supporting a mixed payload of legacy
TDM and growing packet traffic.
The need for IP transformation
Figure 2. Traffic and revenue evolution with a massive introduction
of broadband services
Traffic and
Revenue
Divergence
Time
Revenues
Voice Era Data Era
Packet
Traffic
IP TransForMaTIon DrIvers
• The need for additional
connectivity to introduce
new broadband technologies
and services, such as HSDPA,
EVDO, Wireless Fidelity (WiFi)
hotspots, and Worldwide
Interoperability for Microwave
Access (WiMAX)
• Increased bandwidth
requirements for new packet-
based services (20 Mb/s
to 30 Mb/s per cell site)
• Ethernet interfaces to eliminate
the need for separate overlay
networks to support Ethernet
connectivity and backhaul
The evolution of microwave radio from TDM to packet
technologies enables data-aware transport, which can
support new high-bandwidth services while leveraging
existing technologies. IP transformation typically seeks
to achieve four major goals:
• Gradual transformation of the network, focusing on areas
where compelling events force investment in a solution
• Return on investment in less than two years (as a result
of OPEX savings)
• Minimized OPEX despite capacity increases; requires
optimizing the use of scarce resources and aggregating
all services over a single pipe, with no overlays
• Use of a multi-vendor model with standard protocols
and no proprietary equipment
Data traffic is growing fast, but revenues are not increas-
ing at the same pace; this creates a need to find more
efficient ways to transport the additional packet traffic
Figure 2 shows the evolution of traffic and revenue.