WHAT LIES AHEAD? ISSUES FACING THE ISP INDUSTRY Gavin Young Chief Architect, C&W Access DATE 24th October 2007

3 KEY ISSUES FOR ISPs TO THINK ABOUT 1. Next Generation Access 2. European Union Code of Conduct on broadband power consumption 3. Ability of your network to support IPTV

BROADBAND ACCESS TODAY MAINLY DSL, FIBRE JUST TO BUSINESS SITES User Curb Cabinet/Node Exchange. Metro Core MSAN &/or Business Mux ADSL2plus EFM/SHDSLbis Ethernet/ IP/MPLS ????? FE/GE

NEXT GENERATION ACCESS : GPON & VDSL2 FIBRE DEEPER INTO THE NETWORK FOR CONSUMERS User Curb Cabinet/Node Exchange. Metro Core MSAN &/or Business Mux FTTB VDSL2 Ethernet/ IP/MPLS ????? GPON FTTN VDSL2

IMPLICATIONS OF GPON FOR ISPs Deployment starts in 2008 There will be NO copper to these homes (so no DSL) Could be ~ 2M GPON homes over the next 10 years Your service ‘availability checker’ will be full of black holes unless you can master delivering service over GPON! A whole range of new logistics and technical challenges for ISPs : Different CPE Analogue Terminal Adapter for Voice, new router Different Voice Delivery No existing voice to the home as per DSL Need a softswitch (or partner who has one) No line powering, needs battery back-up Different Processes & Systems For provisioning, fault resolution etc.

THE ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF MULTICAST Source : The IP Development Network WWW.IP-Dev.net White Paper “HD-TV over IP, who pays the bill?”

OFCOM CONSULTATION ON NEXT GENERATION ACCESS Consultation published : 26th September 2007 Responses Due : 5th December 2007 MAKE YOUR VIEWS KNOWN Influence the products, functionality and regulation for Next Generation Access

3 KEY ISSUES FOR ISPs TO THINK ABOUT 1. Next Generation Access 2. European Union Code of Conduct on broadband power consumption 3. Ability of your network to support IPTV

“Code of Conduct on Energy Consumption of Broadband Equipment” EU CODE OF CONDUCT ON POWER USAGE IN ACCESS NETWORKS SETS TARGETS FOR FUTURE POWER CONSUMPTION “Code of Conduct on Energy Consumption of Broadband Equipment” Version 2, 17th July 2007 ADSL2plus can reduce transmit power when traffic is light Uses L2 & L3 power modes, these may be needed to meet the EU CoC targets BUT, can reduce the stability of all DSL systems : More errors More loss of synch & retrains -> Lousy for video & Dynamic Line Management at risk NICC DSL Task Group is looking at how ADSL2plus low power modes could be used safely

3 KEY ISSUES FOR ISPs TO THINK ABOUT 1. Next Generation Access 2. European Union Code of Conduct on broadband power consumption 3. Ability of your network to support IPTV

Best effort networks will work Voice Really needs QoS IPTV OVER BROADBAND WILL SHOW UP ANY ACCESS & HOME NETWORK QoS INADEQUACIES Internet Access Best effort networks will work Voice Really needs QoS but can “get away with” throwing capacity at it Video QoS is essential for responsive streaming video

HDTV IS EVEN MORE DEMANDING TYPICAL IPTV BIT-ERROR RATE (BER) REQUIREMENTS 10-9 to 10-8 for SDTV 10-10 to 10-9 for HDTV (i.e. needs to be as good as fibre transmission systems!) Standard DSL performance target is BER = 10-7 (at 0dB noise margin) DSL BER of 10-8 can be achieved with reasonable noise margin BER lower than 10-8 is very hard to achieve Many DSL routers have an intrinsic noise floor between 10-8 and 10-9 CONCLUSION Video Application Layer Forward Error Correction (AL-FEC) may be needed See DSL Forum TR-126 and DVB work in this area Technically feasible using new Raptor Codes (e.g. from Digital Fountain)

1. Next Generation Access SUMMARY AS AN ISP, MAKE SURE THAT YOU (OR YOUR BROADBAND NETWORK SUPPLIER) UNDERSTAND & ARE INVOLVED IN THESE ISSUES : 1. Next Generation Access Specification & use of GPON products within the UK Respond to Ofcom NGA consultation 2. European Union Code of Conduct on broadband power consumption NICC discussions on use of ADSL2plus low-power modes 3. Ability of your network to support IPTV What it takes to deliver IPTV, especially HDTV