1
INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW

Mehmet Toy

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Cable companies (multiple system operators or MSOs) have been offering phone and TV services over copper medium as the basic residential services for a long time. With the proliferation of broadband, fiber, and wireless technologies, fiber is deployed to provide TV, voice, and Internet services (i.e., triple play) while serving rates over cable are increased with new techniques in supporting triple-play services.

MSOs have been providing residential services over coaxial cable using the Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) protocol that permits the addition of high-speed data transfer to an existing cable TV (CATV) system in Mbps currently and aims at supporting capacities of at least 10 Gbps downstream and 1 Gbit/s upstream.

Toward the end of 1990s, MSOs initiated PacketCable project to deliver real-time communication services, namely Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). Later, content distribution network (CDN) is created to deliver content to deliver video distribution over IP. IP television (IPTV) system delivered television using IP over a packet-switched network such as a LAN or the Internet. For delivering IP multimedia services, IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) architectural framework was introduced by 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). MSOs provide both residential and commercial services over IMS platform today.

In recent years, in order to centralize data and video applications on a single platform to reduce overall system cost, MSOs introduced Converged Cable Access Platform (CCAP).

In addition to residential services, MSOs have been offering services to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and large businesses. Metro Ethernet services in the form of private line, virtual private line, and multipoint-to-multipoint services are among them. In order to optimize MSO networks and improve quality and rates of service offerings, DOCSIS 3.1, DOCSIS provisioning of EPON (DPoE), EPON protocol over coax (EPoC), and Wi-Fi systems have been introduced. CCAP will support business services as well.

Chapter 2 describes architecture and services for DOCSIS 3.0/3.1, CCAP, CDN, IP TV, and PacketCable and Wi-Fi for residential services.

Chapter 3 describes operational systems and management architectures, service orders, provisioning, fault management, performance management, billing systems and formats, and security for residential services.

Chapter 4 describes architecture and services for Carrier Ethernet, DPoE, EPoC, CCAP, IMS for business services.

Chapter 5 describes operational systems and management architectures, service orders, provisioning, fault management, performance management, billing systems and formats, and security for business services.

Finally, Chapter 6 explains the future directions for cable networks by describing cloud services, virtualization, SDN, and the author's proposed self-managed network concepts with their applications.

1.2 RESIDENTIAL NETWORK ARCHITECTURES AND SERVICES

MSOs provide residential services over coaxial cable using the Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) protocol. PacketCable project was initiated to deliver real-time communications services, namely VoIP. Later, Content Distribution Networks (CDN) is created to deliver content to deliver video distribution over IP. The goal is to serve content to end-users with high availability and high performance. In order to deliver television using IP over a packet-switched network such as a LAN or the Internet, Internet Protocol television (IPTV) system was introduced. Many advanced communications services to users are delivered by IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS).

In order to reduce cost by centralizing data and video applications on a single platform, MSOs introduced Converged Cable Access Platform (CCAP). CCAP is expected to dramatically increase system capacity and density to enable the MSOs the ability to protect and maximize existing infrastructure investment, and provide orderly migration of existing video services to IP video.

The DOCSIS system allows transparent bi-directional transfer of Internet Protocol (IP) traffic, which is called High Speed Data (HSD) Internet or Broadband service, between the cable system head-end and customer location, over an all-coaxial or hybrid-fiber/coax (HFC) cable network. The service is supported by a Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS) or a CCAP at the head-end, and a Cable Modem (CM) at customer location. It is also possible to support this service with a PON system at head-end and Optical Networking Unit (ONU) at customer location.

The CMTS and CCAP head-end devices reside within the MSO's core network and are generally considered secure. The CM provides the demarcation point between the subscriber and the MSO's network. It is considered unsecure and untrusted. Due to the different nature of each of these devices as well as differing business and technical requirements, they are managed differently from the MSO's back office.

DOCSIS 3.0 protocol is the currently deployed within MSO networks today. DOCSIS 3.0 and DOCSIS 3.1 systems were designed to support high capacities with predictable Quality of Service (QoS). The DOCSIS 3.0 protocol supports 240 Mbps in the upstream and 1.3 Gbps in the downstream, while the DOCSIS 3.1 protocol increases the upstream and downstream capacities significantly promising 2 Gbps and 10 Gbps on the upstream and downstream respectively.

In 1990s, MSOs began looking for value-added services such as VoIP that could ride on top of their newly deployed DOCSIS technology. The PacketCable project was initiated for the delivery of real-time communications services over the two-way cable plant. PacketCable 1.5 was designed to provide traditional voice telephone service, and subsequently PacketCable 2.0 was designed to provide advanced multi-media services beyond basic voice.

In order to reach a large population of leased or consumer-owned devices, enable linear and on-demand video to non-technical subscribers, and provide a viewing experience similar to traditional TV, MSOs developed IPTV service delivery architecture. The video services comprise local linear video, national linear video, video-on-demand (VOD), and pay-per-view (PPV).

National VOD programming is typically delivered to MSOs over satellite as well, where the video asset and its associated metadata are placed on a satellite by the content programmers, beamed by the satellite to all of the MSOs who are authorized to distribute that content, received by the MSOs, and placed onto the appropriate VOD distribution servers and represented in a navigational client so that customers can find the video content.

Content Distribution Networks (CDN) are created to deliver content, whether video or web pages as quickly as possible, with the least latency, at the lowest cost, to the widest quantity of consumers who are spread over a disparate geographic area. A CDN is an interconnected network of servers used to deliver web assets to consuming devices in an efficient manner, taking advantage of caching of content to reduce or eliminate the retransmission of a single asset to multiple consumers. This chapter describes deploying a CDN for video distribution over IP, the architecture of a CDN, services supplied by a CDN and areas for future CDN research.

CCAP will dramatically increase system capacity and density to enable MSOs the ability to protect and maximize existing critical infrastructure investment, by delivering various access technologies from the same chassis. It will play a vital role in completing a smooth transition to IP video transport and an "all IP" service offering more generally, in lock-step with the ongoing evolution of the HFC plant and every increasing capacity needs per user.

Wi-Fi is becoming a network of choice for both service providers (SPs) and consumers alike. This chapter reviews some of the recent technological advances in the Wi-Fi domain and describes residential network architecture and services over DOCSIS, CDN, Packet Cable, IMS and CCAP.

1.3 OAMPT (OPERATIONS, ADMINISTRATION, MAINTENANCE, PROVISIONING, TROUBLESHOOTING) FOR RESIDENTIAL SERVICES

OAMPT capabilities are necessary to order and maintain the residential services described in Chapter II. In addition to OAMPT, services need to be billed to subscribers.

Service order process begins with sales. Once the service order is in, the provisioning process installs equipment at customer premises, sets-up equipment at customer premises and central offices, sets-up user accounts, and creates new circuits. The provisioning processes will also include checklists that need to be strictly adhered to and signed off, and integration and commissioning processes which will involve sign-off to other parts of the business life cycle.

Operations encompass automatic monitoring of the environment, detecting and determining faults and alerting network administration. Network administration collects performance statistics, accounts data for the purpose of billing, plans capacity based on usage data, maintains system reliability, administers network security, and maintains the service database for periodic billing.

Maintenance involves routine equipment checks, upgrading software and hardware,...