Triple Play and Multiplay Overview

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This document defines triple play and multiplay networks as different entities:

A triple play network dedicates bandwidth to each possible service—data, voice, and video. This method works well when a limited number of services are deployed and sufficient bandwidth is available.
A multiplay network refers to the ability to add new and robust networking services that each subscriber can access. This method requires the integration of dynamic bandwidth management and the ability to manage subscribers dynamically though the use of features such as hierarchical quality of service (QoS) and a AAA service framework that provides authentication, accounting, dynamic change of authorization (CoA), and dynamic address assignment.

Table 7 provides some comparison between a triple play and multiplay network and the level of flexibility associated with certain networking options.

Table 7: Triple Play and Multiplay Comparison

Flexibility	Triple Play	Multiplay
Bandwidth Management	Fixed bandwidth allocation for each service.	One bandwidth pool for each subscriber is shared by all services.
Adding New Services	Requires deallocating bandwidth from one service and allocating that bandwith to the new service.	The existence of one shared bandwidth pool eliminates the need to reallocate bandwidth to new services.
Subscriber Flexibility	Limited subscriber flexibility because a fixed bandwidth is allocated to each service or application.	Subscribers can use their share of bandwidth for whatever applications they want to run.
Client Device Types	Client devices (PCs or set-top boxes) are dedicated to specific services and often assigned to specific ports on customer premise equipment.	Client devices are not assigned to any specific ports. This flexibility enables the ability to use client devices for various services (for example, adding software to a PC to enable television broadcasts) and allows different client devices (PCs, Voice-over-IP phones, and set-top boxes) to reside on a single LAN.

With software and hardware now available to enable client devices to access and use the network in a variety of ways, bandwidth demands increasing, and new networking business models emerging, dynamic support of new applications is required to ensure subscriber satisfaction. A dynamic multiplay network configuration can provide the flexibility to meet these demands.

Triple Play and Multiplay Overview

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