rolls for upgrades and maintenance, and ideally they’d like to deploy access products and customer premises equipment (CPE) that’s self-configuring. There are many other issues, but let’s stick with this one.
According to Einar Aaland there are intrinsic problems associated with TCP/ IP and the proposed standards for DSL and cable modems (TR-069 and DOCSIS respectively). These standards do not transform well into the LAN environment; e.g. one-by-one communication, keeping opens connections to servers, large files and heavy-duty clients.
This Norwegian company uses UDP instead of TCP as the transport protocol
Figure 2. The service model for consumers is predicated on the ability to offer the requisite with proprietary software to implement QoS to a wide range of client devices having very different requirements and resources. security, authentication and transport reliability. Access devices like modems,
to ADSL2+ in order to get the 20 Mbps In order to achieve low-cost, high- IADs and IP service devices such as ATAs downstream rate that is being mooted quality services, the upstream devices and RGWs can then add management for triple play? No. It would have to be must be able to handle the traffic in the functionality using thin-client software subsidized by the telco–part of the ser- best possible way and the service provid- that is less than 20 KB, is supplied on an vice bundle. Is it necessary? No it’s not, er must be able to maintain and monitor OEM basis and gets integrated into regu-according to Owera’s CTO, Einar Aaland: the QoS being delivered to these devices. lar products. A server that is hosted in the “I would say you need 3 to 5 Mbps to get The tricky part is to perform both tasks network does the heavy-duty work and triple play going for the downstream. A the combination produces a true plug & compressed video stream with MPEG4 Partnership Deal with D-Link play solution; i.e. no truck rolls are need-would be acceptable at 1. 5 to 2 Mbps.” On November 18th Owera announced a ed and support costs are reduced.
Every vendor has an agenda: Owera’s software licensing agreement with D- With TR-069 for example, the com-
is based on a client-server solution that Link. The initial development focus, bination of TCP, HTTP, SSL, XML and
focuses on the upstream QoS. This is which is underway, includes integrat- SOAP eats client memory, 1 MB or more.
the part that’s difficult for service provid- ing the Norwegian company’s technol- Typically, today’s new and legacy products
ers (SPs) to control for the obvious rea- ogy into D-Link broadband home routers will use that memory for features and
son that in most cases the access devices and integrated access devices. Service functionality, so there is no room to add
come from third parties. providers employ these products as part fat-client management software. And this
As shown in figure 2, the upstream traf- of managed home solutions that deliver combination of protocols also represents
fic will come from a wide range of client voice, video and data services to con- a very heavy communication overhead
devices handling different services: VoIP, sumers. that eventually will affect scalability.
video conferencing/telephony (because The spin is the ability of ISPs to expand The provisioning server interfaces to
of video telephony on 3G phones), online their service offering without compro- TR-069 as well as the Owera’s thin-client
gaming, P2P traffic, VPN tunnels, email, mising the quality or manageability of IP interface. The server has been designed
etc. The quick fix, if affordable, is to add telephony and hosted voice services. It to handle one million service requests
bandwidth but this does not address the also removes concerns about future TR- per second, which sounds like a well-en-
intrinsic QoS issue. And over time the 069 decisions driven by the larger incum- gineered overkill, but problems are likely
bandwidth will be eaten up as consumers bent network operators. Client software to arise when these services take off and
add more P2P clients and more large files updates are transparent to end-users and subscribers are counted in millions. If ac-
get download and exchanged. services are not interrupted. cess to the network is lost (and this has
The intrinsic issue, according to Ow- been known to happen), then millions of
era, is to have good QoS CPE devices in at the same time, which is another rea- re-configuration requests and logins will
the home and a good provisioning and son why Owera went for a client-server hit the server simultaneously. V
monitoring system. Okay. That’s a rath- solution.
er obvious statement, the kind analysts Bob Emmerson, our European Editor, co-
make, but this Norwegian outfit backs it No Truck Rolls authored with Jeff Pulver the book, Run
up with solutions that are gaining trac- Given the price consumers are prepared Your Organization in Real Time. He can
tion on both sides of the Atlantic. to pay, service providers can’t afford truck be reached at bemmerson@vonmag.com.
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