Lighting The Fiber ‘The Road to an Operational RON’ j.p.streck (NC State/NCNI/NCLR) m.johnson (MCNC/NCNI/NCLR)

What I learned this summer: It will be necessary to rely on your vendor more than netheads are used to doing Flexibility is good. Build this in from the start. SONET is good. You will figure that out eventually (why the telcos loved it). Your optical network will require a different approach to maintenance and spares - unless you have way more money than we do. Everything you touch will require you to touch everything else. My provider didn’t tell me THAT

Mfgr specs –Find out from provider(s) exact type(s) of ALL fiber What are the real numbers (do the engineering due diligence) –Loss (always important) Measure it yourself. Don’t rely on provider’s numbers. They may be calculated (as opposed to measured) or old. –Dispersion (increasingly important as distance/bw/waves increase) Topology, in particular Route Diversity –Understand the hand hold, hut and PoPs –Understand power capabilities

RFI & RFP process Read the vendor spec Consult a photonics engineer Consult RONs that have done current installs Develop your optimum specs list with parameter priorities for the RFI process Initiate the RFI cycle (all or subset of vendors) Distill RFI results Convert RFI spec into an RFP spec Initiate the RFP cycle Pick a vendor / integrator

Refine the BOM prior to cutting the Purchase Order Confirmation of fiber plant optical characteristics –Vendor engineering –Hired fiber engineering co. Run vendor planning tool with confirmed optical measurements Pick terminal, OADM & Regeneration sites –Ring layouts –Linear layouts After sticker shock, readjust Bill of Materials (BOM)

Experiences NCNI/NCLR Past history of fiber & equipment –Three plus fiber providers –Two different regional rings (110+ miles) –One SONET BLSR ring –Three generations of DWDM networks Lucent 40G Nortel Optera (first generation) Cisco ONS-15454

Experiences (cont.) Installation process –SONET most difficult and time consuming –New Photonics and Mgmt tools greatly simplifying the install-turn up-data passing cycle OAMP –Must have a robust but easy to use NMS –A small list of unique parts list is a MUST! (keep inventory to a minimum) Amps Transponders (unique lamba cards) Filters (mux-demux) Client side –Always easier to cool down a interface than to boost the signal

Current Activities

Fiber! Raleigh Charlotte Atlanta Washington MCN C Metro fiber Used FiberCo to purchase fiber from Level(3) - option to extend to Atlanta and/or Washington Existing fiber for Internet Connection

Cisco-MCNC-level(3) - NCNI Contribution Cisco MSTP To UNC To NCSU / Centaur Lab MCNCFacility Cisco RTP Facility Level(3) Raleigh PoP 2 x 10Gbps Lambdas 2 x 2.5Gbps Lambdas Cisco MSTP Cisco MSTP Cisco MSTP “express” Lambdas from Level(3) to Cisco 1 X 10Gbps, 1 X 2.5Gbps 2 x 10Gbps Lambdas Fiber between Cisco and MCNC purchased by Cisco Fiber between MCNC and Level(3) purchased by NCNI

NCREN3 GigE Configuration DukeUNC NCSU Raleigh MCNC NCREN/NCNI Backbone (Cisco 12410) NCREN/NCNI backbone (Cisco 12410) Campus Demark (Cisco 7606) Campus Demark (Cisco 7606) OC48 DPT Ring Cisco Cisco Level(3)

NCREN3 (sort of)