Introduction to Leased Line

Covering a detail study of types of Leased Lines and IPLC

Leased Line
Definition: A leased line connects two locations for private voice and/or data telecommunication service. Not a dedicated cable, a leased line is actually a reserved circuit between two points. Leased lines can span short or long distances. They maintain a single open circuit at all times, as opposed to traditional telephone services that reuse the same lines for many different conversations through a process called "switching."  A leased line is a telecommunication path between two points that is available 24 hours a day for use by a designated user (Individual or Company).  A leased line can be a physical path owned by the user or rented from a telephone company like BSNL/MTNL/VSNL.


Types of Leased Line

Conventional Leased Line involving the use of P-MUX P Managed Leased Line involving the use of V-MUX. (MLLN) V MPLS (Multi Protocol Label Switching)


Conventional Leased Line

 In

case of conventional leased circuit, we use P-MUX, a conventional multiplexer. PThe conventional multiplexer can give us bandwidth in multiple of 64 Kbps. Individually we can get 64Kbps and 2Mbps, In case a client wants to go for 128 Kbps he has to go for two Modems of 64 Kbps each.

Conventional Leased Line

MODEM MDF COXIAL COXIAL MDF MODEM

----------------LOCAL END A---------------------

---------------FAR END B---------------

Conventional Leased Line

 

A leased line structure is always divided into two segments i.e. End A and End B , End A is our Local end an End B is the far end , End B can be in same geographical location or distant . Modems are placed at customer premises end A, and a cable pair is attached to the output of Modems, that cable pair is terminated at nearest DP (Distribution Pole), and from DP it is routed to MDF Pole), (Main Distribution Frame) if the effective distance between end A and end B is less than 4.0 Km i.e. (Effective driving distance of Modems) the circuit is looped from MDF. In case the distance is more than 4.0 Km the circuit is routed to COXIAL, the end A coaxial connects end B coaxial using an OFC (Optical Fiber Cable). Same arrangement of Coaxial and MDF is observed at End B. It can be observed from figure illustrated above.

Conventional Leased Line

Explanation of all terms used


MODEM: It stand for Modulator and Demodulator , the basic concept is to make digital signal from Modem travel onto the cables in Analog format and at far end the analog signal is again converted to digital format. MDF: It stand for Main Distribution Frame, it has a array of many pairs arranged in a pattern of AA-BB-CC , where AA is Row , BB AA-BBis Column and CC is pair identification number, for example 36-4-47 36indicates 36 Row , 4 Column and 47 Pair. Coaxial: It is the next hop to the MDF, a coaxial connects another coaxial (may be at same geographical area or some distant location) through an OFC (Optical Fiber Cable). An OFC insures very low (Optical Cable). signal dissipation during transmission.

Managed Leased Line Network



The MLLN is an integrated, fully managed, multimultiservice digital network platform through which service provider can offer a wide range of services at an optimal cost to Business Subscribers. Backed by a flexible Network Management System with powerful diagnostics and maintenance tools, the MLLN can be used to provide high-speed leased lines with improved highQoS (Quality of Service), high availability and reliability. The Network Management System also supports Service Provisioning, Network Optimization, Planning and Service Monitoring.

Features of MLLN
         

The following are the few features, which are the beneficial for the customers. Customers need not to buy 2 pairs of Modems. Modems will be supplied and maintained by Service Provider. 24 Hours performance monitoring of the circuit. Circuit fault reports generated proactively. On demand the bandwidth can be increased. Low lead-time for new circuit provisioning. leadProtection against the failure of the circuit. Long drive on single pair copper. Centrally managed from Network Management System.

Advantages of MLNN to Subscriber



Lease Line Network is unmanaged. The concept of manageability is currently not a novelty, but rather a need. TRAI had currently advised the mandatory need of Service Level agreements (S LAs) for every service being provided. This SLA today exists only as a matter of dispute between the service provider and the subscriber, which can be ensured only with statistics on an end-to-end status, this is totally end-toachieved with MLLN. Today a degradation / disruption in service is known to the service provider on a subscriber notification. With the competition of service providers, the subscriber would definitely choose a provider who could proactively detect a fault and take corrective measures. This is totally achievable using MLLN. In such an above faulty status, MLLN feature of automatic re-routing of traffic reensures both customer satisfaction and also prevent a likely loss of revenue of BSNL/MTNL. These could be the only measure for ensuring Carrier class operation and the uptimes cited in the S LAs. With the tomorrow s network the Customer would be demanding the service. Flexibility in the SLA i.e. the negotiable bandwidth during the different time of the day would be requirement this can only be provisioned through MLLN. Also today s leased line network being dedicated to fixed speeds has absolutely zero flexibility, which would be unheard of in the future.

TYPICAL STRUCTURE OF MLLN SYSTEM.

The MLLN is planned as three-tier structure of consisting of aggregation and connectivity at threetwo different levels: A. Central Node: It will provide following functionality: Node: (i) NMS Center. (ii) Connectivity to second stage nodes. (iii) Leased line aggregation. B. Second stage Node: It will be located at major cities of a Telecom Circle, where Node: demand for leased line is high. (Number of such nodes and their capacity is to be planned by respective circles). It will provide following functionality: (i) Connectivity to third stage nodes. (ii) Leased line aggregation.

Third Stage Node: It will be located at smaller cities / towns of a Telecom Circle, Node: where demand for leased line is lower (near 10). (Number of such nodes and their capacity is to be planned by respective circles). It will provide Leased Line aggregation.

MLNN Requirements
Functional Requirements. Requirements.

The MLLN system is able to provide the following functionality: (i) Speedy end-to-end service provisioning. end-to(ii) Round-theRound-the-clock end-to-end performance monitoring. end-to(iii) Automated alarm / fault management. (iv) Easy re-routing and configuration. re(v) Accounting and Security management. (vi) OnOn-demand bandwidth availability up to 2 Mbps. Technical Requirements. The various components of the MLLN shall be: a) Network Management System (NMS). b) Digital cross Connect (DXC). c) Versatile Multiplexer (VMUX). d) Network Termination Unit (NTU).

Features of MLLN
Network Management System
     

 

 

NMS shall be able to be expanded to manage at least 1000 nodes (VMUX.DXC) and 1,00,000 NTUs. GUI Controlled Console SNMP Support V1 and V2 Configuration and Provision to manage and monitor all aspects and parameters of the remote elements of the MLLN without the need of local intervention. It is possible to manage the entire networks faults from any single location. NMS has the capability to configure the bandwidth on demand of any leased line for specified time of the day. This bandwidth on demand is configurable to all possible programmable bandwidths of NTUs. The NMS is capable of placing the Network elements In or Out of service The fault events are logged in a fault log file and are accessible when required through database style facilities for information retrieval. The fault information provided contains type of network element, the time at which fault occurred, time when it corrected. In addition to the fault information, it provides a brief explanation of the cause of the fault and proposed corrective action to be taken to rectify the fault.

Features of MLLN
Some more feature of MLLN are described in white paper:  Fault Management  Performance Management  Route Management

DIGITAL CROSS CONNECT (DXC or DACC) in MLLN



DACC or DXC is a large capacity cross connect device and is installed at different main sites for providing VMUX connectivity. DACC is made up of Cluster Master control subrack and slave subracks. Single Subrack (RXS-S) is used as slave subrack and its (RXSunits depend on the port capacity ordered. In addition to multiplexing and demultiplexing the signal, the node takes also care of cross-connecting the signal. (The signal is first crossdemultiplexed into a lower level after which it is cross-connected crossand then multiplexed again). A digital cross-connect (DXC) is a crossdevice used in transmission networks. It separates channels coming from other devices and rearranges them into new channels for output. A digital cross-connection means that the connection is set crossup and released by the network operator, but not through subscriber , which is the case in switching.

V-MUX
VERSATILE MULTIPLEXER (VMUX) Versatile Multiplexer (VMUS) is a small capacity cross connect device and is installed at different sites for providing user connectivity. VMUX is made up of Basic Node, which is the building block of the MLLN system. The VMUX is provided with two types of interfaces to connect STU-160 ( SDSL product family used for pointSTUpointto- point connections) and CTU-S ( HDSL product family toCTUmodem , with line connection rate up to 4640 Kbit/s ) modems.  There are Four types of VMUXs supplied Viz. VMUX-Type VMUXI, VMUX-Type-II, VMUX-Type-III/DC operation, VMUXVMUX-Type- VMUX-TypeVMUXTypeType-III AC operation.


NTU used with MLLN

   

Base band modems (Network Terminating Units = NTUs) are usually customer premises equipment (CPE). They are typical last mile equipment. NTUs can also be used for standalone point-to-point connections without the NMS. point-toNTUs allow use of the existing telecom copper cables (twisted pair) for digital traffic with medium distances (5 km) and high speeds. NTUs must be capable of being managed from the centralized NMS for the following essential parameters: (i) Speed (ii) Line loop testing (iii) Diagnostic NTU on the DTE side must support the V.35/V.24/V.28/V.36/ V.11/G.703 data interfaces. NTU must be functionally compatible for all features with the integrated Line drivers of the VMUX ports. NTU must perform internal self-tests on power-up and provide a visual indication if an internal selfpowerfailure is detected. After power-up, the NTU configurations shall be automatically downloaded from the connected powernode.

   

What is MPLS?
 

Stands for Multi Protocol Label Switching Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a high-performance method highfor forwarding packets (frames) through a network. It enables routers at the edge of a network to apply simple labels to packets (frames). ATM switches or existing routers in the network core can switch packets according to the labels with minimal lookup overhead. MPLS integrates the performance and traffic management capabilities of Data Link Layer 2 with the scalability and flexibility of Network Layer 3 routing. It is applicable to networks using any Layer 2 switching, but has particular advantages when applied to ATM networks. It integrates IP routing with ATM switching to offer scalable IP-over-ATM networks. IP-overThe main concept of MPLS is to include a label on each packet.

Data in MPLS Label

 Destination  Precedence  Virtual

Private Network membership  Quality of Service (QoS) information  The route for the packet, as chosen by traffic engineering (TE)

Process Involved


With Label Switching the complete analysis of the Layer 3 header is performed only once: at the edge label switch router (LSR), which is located at each edge of the network. At this location, the Layer 3 header is mapped into a fixed-length label, called a label. fixedAt each router across the network, only the label need be examined in the incoming cell or packet in order to send the cell or packet on its way across the network. At the other end of the network, an Edge LSR swaps the label out for the appropriate header data linked to that label. A key result of this arrangement is that forwarding decisions based on some or all of these different sources of information can be achieved by means of a single table lookup from a fixed-length label. For this reason, label fixedswitching makes it feasible for routers and switches to make forwarding decisions based upon multiple destination addresses. Label switching integrates switching and routing functions, combining the reachability information provided by the router function, plus the traffic engineering benefits achieved by the optimizing capabilities of switches. These benefits are described in more detail in the next section.

Benefits of MPLS


Reduces Control Load on Network Cores; More Robust With MPLS, transit traffic entering at the edge of the provider's autonomous system can be given labels that are associated with specific exit points. As a result, internal transit routers and switches need only process the connectivity with the provider's edge routers, shielding the core devices from the overwhelming route signaling volume exchanged in the Internet. This separation of interior routes from full Internet routes also provides better fault isolation and improved stability. Traffic Engineering Capabilities Integration Traffic engineering enables us to shift the traffic load from over utilized portions to underutilized portions of the network, according to traffic destination, traffic type, traffic load and time of day.

Higher Reliability Traditional IP over ATM involves setting up a mesh of Permanent Virtual Circuits (PVCs) between routers around an ATM cloud, and the Next Hop Resolution Protocol (NHRP) achieves a similar result with switched virtual circuits (SVCs). But there are a number of problems with this approach, all arising from the method that the PVC links between routers are overlaid on the ATM network. This makes the ATM network structure invisible to the routers. A single ATM link failure could make several router-to-router links router-tofail, creating problems with large amounts of routing update traffic and subsequent processing.

Benefits of MPLS
y Better Efficiency Without extensive tuning of routing weights, all PVCs are seen by IP routing as single-hop paths with the same cost. This might lead to singleinefficient routing in the ATM network. y VPN Scalability and Manageability MPLS can make IP Virtual Private Network services highly scalable and very easy to manage. Virtual Private Network services are an important service for providing enterprises with private IP networks within their infrastructures. When an ISP offers a VPN service, the carrier supports many individual VPNs on a single infrastructure. With an MPLS backbone, VPN information can be processed only at the ingress and exit points, with MPLS labels carrying packets across a shared backbone to their correct exit point. In addition to MPLS, the Multiprotocol Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is used to deal with information about the VPNs. The combination of MPLS and Multiprotocol BGP makes MPLS-based VPN services easier to MPLSmanage, with straightforward operations to manage VPN sites and VPN membership. It also makes MPLS-based VPN services extremely MPLSscalable, with one network able to support hundreds of thousands of VPNs.

MPLS Network Structure

 

The basic elements in a label switching network are:

Edge Label Switch Routers Edge Label Switch Routers are located at the boundaries of a network, performing value-added network layer services and applying labels to valuepackets. These devices can be either routers, such as the Cisco 7500, or multilayer LAN switches, such as the Cisco Catalyst 5000. ATM Label Switch Routers These devices switch labeled packets or cells based on the labels. ATM Label Switch Routers may also support full Layer 3 routing or Layer 2 switching in addition to label switching. Examples of ATM LSRs include the Cisco 6400, the Cisco 8540 Multiservice Switch Router, Cisco BPX 8650, and Cisco 7500. Label Distribution Protocol The Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) is used in conjunction with standard network layer routing protocols to distribute label information between devices in a label switched network.

MPLS Structure

MPLS VPN Feature

  

Centralized Service Scalability Security MPLS Switching VPNs offer the same level of security as connectionconnection-oriented VPNs. Packets from one VPN will not inadvertently go to another VPN. Security is provided at the edge and core of a provider network: at the edge, security ensures that packets received from a customer are placed on the correct VPN at the backbone, VPN traffic is kept separate Malicious spoofing of a provider edge (PE) router is nearly impossible because the packets received from customers are IP packets. These IP packets must be received on a particular interface or sub interface to be uniquely identified with a VPN label.

Introduction to IPLC
 An

IPLC (international private leased circuit) is a point-to-point private line used point-toby an organization to communicate between offices that are geographically dispersed throughout the world. An IPLC can be used for Internet access, business data exchange, video conferencing, and any other form of telecommunication.

What is OSS in IPLC?



OSS stands for One Stop Shopping, a concept developed to facilitate the provision of IPLCs at the most convenient and efficient way desired by the Industrial, Commercial and Governmental organizations throughout the world. To simplify IPLC ordering and billing, a concept called One Stop Shopping (OSS) was developed. OSS allows an organization to place a single order with a single carrier for two private leased circuits for two offices in two different countries. In the past, an organization had to contact each carrier in each country to order the two circuits, which included two separate invoices. OSS consolidates the billing for both circuits into a single invoice, handles all currency issues, and allows the organization to report all problems from either circuit to one carrier.

Benefits of OSS


 

SingleSingle-End Ordering: allows the customer to Ordering: order both halves of a circuit through a single carrier. SingleSingle-End Billing: consolidates the billing for Billing: both half circuits into a single invoice. SingleSingle-End Fault Reporting: allows the Reporting: customer to report faults resulting from either half circuit to the Co-ordinating Carrier Co-

Benefits of IPLC
 Secure,

Dedicated Network  Widest Range of Applications (Video, Voice, Graphics etc.)  Reliability

Introduction to ISDN
How Plain Old Telephone System Operates Before getting into what ISDN is, let s take a look at how our traditional telephone service, known as Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS), operates. Typically you pick up the telephone receiver, enter the number, and the party answers at the other end. Your voice which is an analog wave is converted into a digital signal through a process called Pulse Code Modulation (PCM). PCM samples your voice 8000 times a second and converts the audio level into an 8-bit value. This 64Kbps channel, or DSO (Data Source Object), 8is multiplexed with 23 other channels to form a T1. If we do the calculations, we ll notice that a T1 is 1.544MB, and 24 * 64KB is only 1.536MB. Where are the other 8KB? They are used by a single framing bit that is added to every 24-channel block. Now we have 1.544MB. However, bit-robbed 24bitsignaling uses the lowest significant bit for signaling, or for indicating that the line is on or off the hook, leaving a practical channel bandwidth of 56Kbps. Bit-robbed signaling is also known as inband signaling. Bit

Introduction to ISDN
 

ISDN Stand for Integrated Services Digital Network. The "Integrated" part of ISDN's name refers to the combining of voice and data services over the same wires (so computers can connect directly to the telephone network without first converting their signals to an analog audio signal, as modems do). This integration brings with it a host of new capabilities combining voice, data, fax, and sophisticated switching .

ISDN provides a raw data rate of 144 Kbps on a single telephone company twisted pair. To better suit voice applications, this 144 Kbps channel is partitioned into sub channels: two 64 Kbps B (for bearer) bearer) channels and one 16 Kbps D (for data) channel. Each B data) channel can carry a separate telephone call and usually has its own telephone number, called a Directory Number (DN). You can combine the two B channels together to form a single 128 Kbps data channel through a process called bonding. The incoming bonding. twisted pair enters a Telco-provided box called the network Telcoterminator (NT1), which breaks the 144 Kbps channel into the two B and single D sub channels. ISDN Bandwidth = 2 B +1 D = 144 Kbps Where B is Bearer Channel i.e. 64 Kbps and D is Data Channel i.e. 16 Kbps

Typical Setup of ISDN

ISDN Reference Points

ISDN Terminology
 

  

Network Termination Type 1 (NT1) is used to convert a four-wire ISDN connection to fourthe two-wire ISDN used by the local loop facility. twoTerminal Adapter (TA) allows a TE2 (Specialized ISDN terminals are referred to as terminal equipment type 1 (TE1). Non-ISDN terminals, such as DTE, that predate the NonISDN standards are referred to as terminal equipment type 2 (TE2). device to communicate with the Telco's network by providing any necessary protocol and interface conversion. In essence, a TA adapts the unipolar signal coming from nonnonISDN device into a bipolar signal to be used by the ISDN network. R Defines the reference point between non-ISDN equipment and a TA .The R nonreference point allows a non-ISDN device to appear on the network as an ISDN nondevice. S The point between the user terminals and NT2, or in other words, between a TE1 or a TA and the Network Termination (which is either an NT1 or an NT2). T Defines the reference point between NT1 and NT2 devices. S/T interface as the name implies, this combines both the S and the T interfaces. This interface is governed by the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) I.430 standard, which defines the connection as a four-wire connection. The S/T interface fouris typically an RJ 45, 8-pin cable using pins 3 and 6 to receive data, and pins 4 and 5 8to transmit data. U This reference point is also known as a U interface. This is a two-wire connection twobetween the NT1 and the telephone company (LE).

Understanding the working



The B channels carry customer voice or data signals. The D channel carries signals between your ISDN equipment and the phone company's central office. The two bearer plus one data channel is called the Basic Rate Interface (BRI) in Telco lingo, or sometimes just 2B+D for short. We can buy ISDN in bulk: 23 B channels with a single 64 Kbps D channel. This service, called the Primary Rate Interface (PRI), inherits most of the capabilities and limitations of BRI, so what you learn about 2B+D applies to PRI's 23B+D service, as well. A Single four-wire cable carries the 2B+D channels to another box called the fourTerminal Adapter (TA). Unlike the NT1, which provides only a single function (creating the 2B+D channels), the TA can do many things. Its job is to connect any and all of your Terminal Equipment (TE) -- computers, fax machines, LANs, or telephone sets -- to one or both of the B channels. In this example, the TA is shown as a separate unit, but it could easily be contained within the computer (as an add-in card or integrated feature) or addintegrated with the NT1 into a single box as a modem replacement or standstandalone TCP/IP router. The external ISDN reference points, labeled R, S/T, and U. (Don't strain yourself trying to deduce what R, S, T, and U stand for -- they are simply consecutive letters of the alphabet, chosen by the ITU -- The International Telegraphic Union, a standards-setting body -- as the next available standardsdesignations from the entire set of ITU standards.) Each interface point requires an electrically different device connection and cabling. The U reference point is the incoming unshielded twisted pair (UTP); the S/T reference point is a four-wire UTP cable. four-