Facoltà di Ingegneria Corso di Studi in Ingegneria Informatica (Laurea Specialistica) Tesina di Computer Networks II Francesco Caio Report on NGA Anno Accademico 2009/2010 Prof. Giorgio Ventre Studenti Marotta Antonio 885/ Sorrentino Maurizio 885/ Traficante Nicola 885/ Sergio Picirillo 885/000537

What’s Next Generation Access What is NGN? NGN, next generation networks, is a term referring to the evolution that is interesting telecommunication networks. A Next Generation Network is a packet- based network able to provide telecommunication services to make use of multiple broadband, QoS-enabled transport technologies and in which service-related functions are independent from underlying transport-related technologies. GOAL: The objective in the next 5-10 years is to converge all the multimedial services in the IP paradigm. REASONS: the bigger concurrency among tlc operators; the increase of digital traffic; the intense use of the Internet; the need for mobility. It’s expected a great growth of the demand for new services with features of: pervasiveness; mobility; personalization. It will be possible to introduce new multimedial services that can be personalized according to customer’s needs.

Who is Francesco Caio? Francesco Caio has a long experience in the telecommunication field: he was one of the managers who created Omnitel and contributed in the so-called “Omnitel” miracle; he worked for Olivetti and then for Merloni; he founded “Netscalibur”; he managed important English telecommunication societies such as Cable and Wireless. Caio has become very famous because of the call he received by English prime minister Gordon Brown, who asked him to elaborate a review about the state of English telecommunication system. GOAL: The objective was to collect ideas and suggestions for the development of next generation access (NGA) network in the UK. REASON: Brown’s call derived from a practical issue: BBC launched a web-service, called “i-Player”, that has had a great success but has also created some problems for the network. The access was not under stress, but the backhaul was: it is the central part of the network and the point where there is less concurrency. There was a big preoccupation about the inadequacy of the network for supporting new services that deal with videos. The big question risen, was if market could support the development of the infrastructure in order to guarantee the born of new services; another issue concerned the government’s intervention in support of the investments in optical fiber. CONCLUSION: The studies and the researches proved so far that the existing infrastructure, based mainly on ADSL, is very appropriate for the application based on the web. So there is no worry about the presence, because the network is sufficient today, but you cannot say so in the future.

Introduction to NGA The Caio Report is to be intended as a review of how to use NGA to invest in its development. Using NGA, the advantages that can be exploited are faster and more reliable downloads speed, a lower latency and a greater degree of symmetry between the down- and up-links for the end user. Fiber access networks are often described according to the nature of three variables:  Nature of components: they can be active or passive. An active component of a broadband network is usually a piece of electrically-powered switching equipment which manages signal distribution and directs signals to specific customers. Passive component of the network refers to physical infrastructure needed to carry the signal to different points of the network.  Extent of fibre reach: FTTH, “fibre to the home”, that extends from the core network to the premises (speed of 100 Mb/s); FTTC, “fibre to the cabinet”, in which fibre connections only reach street cabinets and copper provides the connection from the street cabinet to the home (speed of Mb/s).  Network configuration and design: FTTH networks have two main types of configuration: point-to-point (P2P), in which a single dedicated fibre runs from each home; Passive Optical Network (PON, the most common variant of which is GPON) in which bandwidth is shared between users in a series of thinning pipes, and directed via optical splitters.

NGA network can be thought of as three layers: -Services e.g. voice, broadband, TV -Active transport and switching of traffic. -Passive dark fibre, ducts, etc. The development of NGA and, in particular, of fibre-based access networks, poses a series of challenges in term of large investment: the cost of deploying fibre access using FTTH/P2P (i.e. a single fibre to each home) on a national basis is almost £29 billion; a GPON configuration (in which a fibre connection is shared between several homes) would cost around £24.5 billion; if fibre was deployed only to street cabinets (FTTC), the cost would be around £5 billion. FTTC would though deliver a lower level of performance.

UK’s role in developing NGA UK has a leading role in the development of NGA: the UK enjoyed a rapid growth in broadband penetration between 2003 and There are now over 16 million broadband lines in the UK; the UK is now among the world leaders in broadband coverage, with 99.6% of homes connected to an ADSL-enabled exchange; the UK has high levels of digital TV take-up through satellite, cable, and digital terrestrial television; consumers of broadband are the most active users of the internet in Europe, and are among the biggest contributors to the online economy. The principle actors in this development are:  Virgin Media  BT In July 2008, BT announced plans to invest £1.5 billion over five years on an NGA network that will deliver download speeds up to 40 Mb/s to 10 million homes by The deployment will involve a mix of fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) and fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC).

The Government’s role in the longer term The Government should seek to remove obstacles that could compromise the development of new network. A competitive NGA is essential for the UK to retain its leadership in the online economy. Because the broadband is increasingly central to society and business. The government can create an environment that supports private investment. The quality of networks and services attract investment. The rapid adoption of internet technology as the new standard for communication has driven a profound transformation in many industries. The growth in household broadband penetration has rapidly extended this transformation to consumers who have come to use the telecom network as a permanent source of news, entertainment and services.

There are differents initiatives that government should put in place now for support roll-out of NGA. The initiatives can be clustered in three groups. The Government should:  Create stimulus to invest Work with Ofcom to accelerate the release of radio spectrum for mobile broadband. Mandate trasparency on network capacity management policies. The objective of this would be twofold, first, it would create some pressure on ISPs to upgrade their existing capacity, second, it might help providers and consumers to value differences in quality of service. Support an agreed minimum specification for new build NGA.  Facilitate the implementation of NGA by removing uncertainties and lowering the cost of build-out Identify a specific implementation path. Lower cost of civil works through a better coordination of streetworks. Relax constraint on overhead deployment of telecoms lines. Address barriers to alternative ducting methods. Provide clarity over application of business rates to fibre.  Create the conditions to favour development of new investment models Establish a network of support for local NGA developments Focus resources on open-access networks The Government should monitor progress of NGA in her country and in other country. The good practice is to institute an annual event to discuss progress with full range of stakeholders and update priorities.

Is there a real need for NGA? Most of internet-based video streaming have needs in terms of bandwidth that can be accomplished by normal DSL connections ( Kb/s). The core and backhaul networks of ISPs around the world were designed to support the pattern of use typical of web browsing (short burst of data flowing primarily in one direction) or continued streaming of relatively narrow band applications. There is evidence of consumer demand for applications which require greater bandwidth, and of this placing a strain on the network. There are though ways in which that demand can be met without NGA, in particular by addressing the bottleneck in backhaul, which is where the constraints generally lie, but also by further innovation in the copper network.

...and in Italy? Italy is one of the few countries that are characterized by a big delay in the deployment of NGN. Actually, at the moment there is no broadband offer beyond the 20Mb/s for residential customer. There is only one consumer of NGN in Italy, that is Fastweb. There is no cuncurrency for increasing speeds. Anyway the first steps have been made: There was the first operational meeting in Rome of Italy NGN Committee, which approved the plan of activities and launched the idea of a multi-operator trial program to promote the rapid development and sharing of NGN (Next Generation Networks) in Italy. The plan, as agreed, will be continued through five thematic groups: evolution of NGN and its regulation; network architecture of next-generation access and transport; evaluation of cost-benefit and funding models of access networks; models of interconnection and access to next generation networks; evolution of services and new business models.