Your Network Deserves Better than a Regular Router
- January 29, 2015
- backhaul, Layer 2, Layer 3, microwave networking, microwave networks, Microwave Radio, MNOs, mobile network operators, regular routers, routers
Regular routers are bad news for microwave networks. But there is also good news in the form of microwave routers. Photo credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com / Foter / CC BY
Mobile network operators (MNOs) continue to reap the windfall of the widespread adoption of smartphones. Mobile data volumes spiked initially and still rise quarter over quarter. Along with the demand for more data throughput from their subscribers, MNOs have to accommodate the greater need for responsiveness closer to the network edge.
While regular routers are good at serving Layer 3 services to mobile users on fiber-heavy backhaul networks, they do not do a very efficient job of servicing mobile backhaul networks that primarily use microwave radio. As it turns out, the worldwide majority of mobile backhaul networks are still based on microwave technology, as regularly updated industry research shows.
What can an MNO with microwave backhaul do to bring Layer 3 functionality to its customers that will handle bandwidth constraints, unique aspects of translating router protocols across the microwave interface and failure detection and recovery, among others?
Aviat Networks has published an article in Mobile World magazine that looks at these challenges of regular routers when used in a microwave backhaul network and proposes possible solutions.
VPN Services for Mobile Networks and Beyond
- January 10, 2014
- Aviat Networks, Jilani, L2, L3, Layer 2, Layer 3, LTE, mobile, mobile networks, MPLS, Multi Protocol Label Switching, Virtual Private Networks, VPN
VPNs are crucial for next-generation mobile networks as they enable 3G and 4G wireless to share a common IP infrastructure as well as support new services, according to Said Jilani, network solutions architect for Aviat Networks. And because Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) can serve multiple sites, multiple applications and multiple customers simultaneously, Jilani believes that they will form the cornerstone for the great expansion of mobile services we are only now beginning to realize.
Serving as one of Aviat Networks’ resident IP experts, Jilani functions as an internal consultant for wireless network deployment and is able to leverage the experience working with different customers in different telecom verticals. And he has seen the impact that VPNs can have in all these markets—not just among mobile operators.
Multi Protocol Label Switching
The great revolution in VPN services for mobile networks is powered by Multi Protocol Label Switching, commonly referred to as MPLS, which offers mechanisms to provide scalable VPN networks, Jilani says. MPLS VPNs come in two main types: L3 and L2 “flavors,” as Jilani terms it.
L3 or IP VPNs, based on Internet Protocol, support very important functionality such as connecting customer sites by emulating a “backbone.” The service provider VPN connects sites in part by exchanging information with customer routers. Offering a robust solution, L3 VPNs easily handle traffic handoff from site to site such as is involved with LTE (Long Term Evolution).
More on L2 VPNs
In the video below, Jilani goes on to elaborate regarding L2 VPN emulation of edge routers and point-to-point Ethernet connections and how L2 and L3 VPNs can function together. Watch it for all the detailed information.