Critical applications demand a solution designed for the challenge
Recently, I was interviewed as part of an ongoing series, hosted by TelecomTV, on how the communications industry has coped over the past year or so during the COVID-19 pandemic. This panel interview, where I was alongside Kurt De Lange, the Director Infrastructure Deployment & Field Operations at Proximus and Basel Elabed, DU’s Director of Transport Network Planning and IP Core, was centred on the impact the global pandemic was having on Communications Service Provider (CSP) networks. The premise was that when the pandemic initially hit, there were three main impacts. Literally overnight, the pattern of data changed as people started working and studying from home; the volume of data within the new traffic patterns increased exponentially and moved into a much more synchronous shape; and finally, the types of usage changed towards interactive video and more virtual applications.
The BNG is a consumer’s on-ramp to the Internet
Consumer needs today are increasingly complex and sophisticated, and their broadband access services need a network system that can support their demands. As the gateway between residential fixed access connections and the IP backbone connecting consumers to the Internet, CDNs and other services, the Broadband Network Gateway (BNG) needs to be robust and reliable, supporting service availability at all times. When a consumer's residential gateway powers up, the BNG detects and processes the upstream messages it receives. It checks with the CSP’s back office systems to authenticate the customer and applies whatever service parameters the customer is expecting. These parameters might include upstream and downstream speeds or classes of service for applications such as video, as well as providing Internet access.
Simply put, the BNG is the gatekeeper for consumer services. Without a top-class BNG, services that rely on Internet connectivity will fail – and this is less acceptable during a pandemic than ever before.
What makes a top-class BNG?
The BNG is probably the most demanding IP edge routing application as it is vital for the delivery of broadband services. As a world leader in IP routing technology, Nokia realized many years ago how critical the BNG was going to be, so we invested heavily in its design. When a company’s ambition is to be the most trusted system partner for building and operating critical public and private networks, it goes without saying that engineering teams must excel at delivering high-quality, best-of-breed products, and that is what Nokia has done.
Nokia offers the 7750 Service Router for the highest levels of BNG performance. Built upon our 4th generation Network Processor (FP4) and running robust, full-featured SR OS software, it is access agnostic (IPoE, PPPoE, but also GTP, WiFi) and has full stateful redundancy mechanisms to ensure high availability against all potential faults and in all network architectures. No competitor comes close, which is why the Nokia's BNG is the #1 choice for CSPs.
The right partner for today’s connectivity services
Now, in addition to having the best products, we must be masters of systems integration and help customers ‘stand up our products’ as well as those of the broader ecosystem (3rd party products). This is what being a trusted partner now entails, and it takes perseverance and committed teamwork to be successful. That is exactly what we are doing with CSPs throughout the world.
