Background

Utility companies’ deployment of fiber continues to erode market share of traditional telecommunication providers

Utility providers worldwide such as electrical power transmission companies and railway companies have been deploying fiber along their heavily invested infrastructure, eroding the market share of traditional telecommunication providers. This trend has reached significant volumes. For example, U.S. utilities are projected to spend at least $3.2 billion on telecommunication equipment and services in 2011, according to a study released by the “Utilities Telecom Council." Entrance to the telecommunication business is feasible for utility companies, as they have a proven track record in constructing efficient infrastructure, the ability to ensure a high level of reliability to a large number of subscribers, and ability to finance huge projects at low-risk rates.

Utelco customers and services
From basic infrastructure to large customers to a wide range of services

The simplest business model for Utelcos is to lease dark fiber or act as a Carrier-of-Carrier and sell large connectivity services to wireline and wireless service providers as well as to government offices and large datacenters.
However, natural evolution both at the Utelco and the networking vendor has led to a wider spectrum of telecommunication services for enterprises and even households. What started as traditional TDM services such as E1/E3/STM-1, today includes packet services such as Layer2/Layer3VPN, VoIP, video surveillance, video conferencing and high speed internet access.

Utelco network requirements 

A typical Utelco network is based on a relatively small IP/MPLS backbone, Ethernet and E1 as popular user interfaces/services and few centralized network operation centers. The network is expected to provide internal connectivity and meet appropriate monitoring requirements as well as to generate revenues from external customers.

Internal requirements

As a large infrastructure company with comprehensive engineering and operation centers, the internal technical requirements of Utelcos focus on smart metering while business requirements focus on well defined profitability. 
• Smart meters: This typically includes SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) – coordination of real-time processes. The remote management or monitoring function of a SCADA is often referred to as telemetry. Telemetry and very short (10mSec) delay is achievable by complying with IEC 60870-5-104 protocol requirements. Extension for the 101 protocol that is used for power system monitoring, control & associated communications for telecontrol and teleprotection. RFC2544 also enables smart metering for Utelco by measuring and reporting performance parameters such as throughput, back-to-back, frame loss and latency. The test suite supports seven pre-defined frame sizes to simulate various traffic conditions.
• Per customer business calculation: Especially for large opportunities with government and large enterprises, financial cost comparison and short-term profitability are critical requirements to approve new investments.

External requirements

 
As an alternative telecommunication service provider, Utelcos compete with the local Tier-1 incumbent, Tier-2 providers and mobile operators. The competitive landscape involving Utelcos results in the following technical requirements:
• Decreasing TDM services and fast growing packet services: Dedicated point-to-point lines with relatively low bandwidth are being replaced with Ethernet ports that provide significantly greater capacity with well defined quality-of-service, all at much lower cost.
• Security and traffic separation: For both internal and external subscribers, and for telecommunication carrier-of-carriers, the ability to separate traffic and assure different types of private line and private network services is mandatory.
• Reliability and high availability: End-to-end fast protection for multiple fiber cuts and/or equipment failure is needed at “carrier class” standards. The “five-nines (99.999%)” availability is a typical requirement for network up-time.
• End-to-end manageability: Few large and centralized network operation centers fit the regular mode of operation of utility companies. Therefore, quick and easy provisioning, full FCAPS (Fault, Configuration, Accounting, Performance, Security) and graphical interfaces are needed to manage the entire network.
• Scalable and future-proof technologies: Network planning includes readiness for next-generation technologies to assure competitive products and prices. Therefore, migration from legacy SDH networks to packet based MPLS/MPLS-TP technologies, as well as the ability to scale-up the bandwidth capacity and subscriber base is required. 

Orckit-Corrigent PTN solution fit for Utelcos
Field-proven solution is successfully deployed by numerous Utelcos

Orckit-Corrigent CM-4000 products enable all types of telecom services, including enterprise Ethernet VPN, residential triple-play, and mobile backhauling over a unified, scalable and cost optimized networking infrastructure.
The carrier grade switches are based on IP/MPLS and MPLS-TP, circuit emulation and packet synchronization technologies and are highly competitive in their ability to deliver any mixture of PDH E1/E3, SDH STM-1/STM-4/STM-16 and GigE/10GigE on a standard and interoperable packet network.
The transport-class CM-View EMS/NMS is a unified and scalable service oriented management system with graphical point and click provisioning, multilayer OAM functionality, and full FCAPS support, allowing for the quick roll-out of next generation services, simplifying the network operation and reducing operational costs.

Specifically for Utelcos, the entire CM-4000 PTN solution was deployed successfully after passing extensive performance tests to ensure very short delay and high availability. The complete offering provided innovative technologies and complete service delivery at lowest Capex and Opex. 

The following table outlines Orckit-Corrigent's PTN solution fit for Utelcos:

Summary

Utility companies continue to deploy fiber along their infrastructure and strengthen their telecommunication services offerings. What started with basic TDM gear to support mainly internal metering requirements is now being migrated to a competitive packet network that supports both Ethernet and legacy TDM services to large enterprises and even residential households.
Orckit-Corrigent's CM-4000 PTN solution is successfully deployed at Utility providers as well as traditional Tier-1 and Tier-2 wireline and wireless telecommunication providers worldwide. The company’s solution presents an excellent fit for Utelco with the abilities to deliver any mixture of SDH/PDH/Ethernet on a single fiber and unified network, use future-proof MPLS/MPLS-TP pure packet technologies and lower capital and operational expenditures.