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Customer Use Case for Deploying an MX Series Broadband Edge as an IP/MPLS Service Node Within a Seamless MPLS Network Architecture

Seamless MPLS and pseudowire head-end termination provide a simplified network architecture enabling efficient backhaul of broadband residential and business services to an MPLS service node activated for broadband network gateway (BNG) functionality. All forwarding of packets within a seamless MPLS network is based on IP/MPLS; it is MPLS end to end, without boundaries. Because the number of service provisioning points is minimized, the model of service delivery is quite flexible, allowing centralized or distributed delivery, depending on what is most effective for the type of service. The topological placement of service delivery points can be customized. The seamlessness, as well as the decoupling of the network infrastructure and service architectures, allows for the simplified addition of new services.

This approach extends a single IP/MPLS network from core and edge, into aggregation and access, creating a single end-to-end label-switched path (LSP) without VLAN stitching and provisioning. In addition, the subscribers on the pseudowire interfaces can leverage the benefits of MPLS network resiliency for service restoration after node, link, or route failure.

This is a single converged packet network with no service dependencies, supporting residential, wholesale, mobile, and business subscribers.

The benefits can be summarized as follows:

  • A single IP/MPLS network from core and edge can be extended into aggregation and access, resulting in the ability to signal a single end-to-end LSP without stitching.

  • Service delivery and operations are greatly simplified, minimizing the number of service provisioning points, and making the topological placement of service delivery points highly flexible.

  • With the single converged packet network, there are no service dependencies to hamper support of residential, wholesale, mobile, and business customers.

  • “Dumb” access devices can be utilized in the network where devices with low compute power, low cost, and limited IP/MPLS functionality are appropriate, and where dynamic IP routing is not needed.

  • Infrastructure and service architectures are decoupled:

    • Network infrastructure and service architectures can be as independent as feasible.

    • Flexible topological service placement based on end-to-end LSP reachability is enabled.

    • Access pseudowires can be used instead of VLANs or dedicated links for access to Layer 3 (L3) and L4-7 services (MPLS-based transport).

    • Service delivery is simplified by minimizing the number of provisioning points.

  • Fast end-to-end service restoration covers all IP/MPLS infrastructure failures, links, and nodes, and the deterministic service restoration time is independent of network and service scale.