Experience Provider Mega Test Meets the Zettabyte Challenge
The Cisco Visual Networking Index details that by 2012, the total annual volume of IP traffic will reach half a zettabyte with video accounting for nearly 90% of this traffic. With all the attention centered on the growth of video, Service Providers have been asking how they can build media-aware networks to handle this explosion of video with reliability, quality, and profitability.
As it turned out, Light Reading was also thinking about the same question. They approached me with a challenge, “Can Cisco demonstrate that their IP Next Generation Network is media-aware and ready to meet these demands?” Was this a dare?
Light Reading then proposed a test, run by an independent party, that would stretch from the data center all the way to the set top box with lots of our routing, switching, and video gear in between. Honestly, for a brief moment, I hesitated like a kid on a playground that had just been “double-dog dared.” I tried to size up what this all meant. This would involve a lot of gear and a lot time from Cisco people who were already really busy. Fortunately, however, folks at Cisco all stepped forward. So, I accepted their challenge and Light Reading could save their “triple-dog dare” for another time.
Light Reading commissioned the European Advanced Networking Test Center AG (EANTC) to investigate all aspects of Cisco’s proposed medianet approach. There were three test areas and this blog covers the first - testing the Cisco IP NGN Architecture enhanced with medianet technologies.
The test covered the following main areas:
- High availability with sub-second failover time for all network services
- In-line video quality monitoring
- Massive scalability of IP video services
In short, the Cisco medianet solution proved that it indeed is ready to meet video needs with excellent results. Some examples:
- Excellent quality of service (QoS) enforcement in the new Cisco ASR 9010 router for both fabric oversubscription and head-of-line blocking along with 160 Gbps per slot I/O.
- Sub-50 millisecond failover and recovery times were shown for video distribution and secondary distribution networks using, for the first time in a public test of Cisco equipment using point-to-multipoint RSVP-TE.
- Accurate in-line video monitoring (integrated into the line cards) was demonstrated, up to 40G linerate per slot, for video distribution and contribution over IP.
- Hitless control plane failover (zero packet loss) for multiple different nodes in the converged network.
- 1.96 million IP video subscribers served in a single metro supported by 8,188 multicast groups replicated across 240 egress ports in a metro point of presence (PoP).
- And much more…
“In the world’s first test of this breadth and width, Light Reading and EANTC have found that IP infrastructure from Cisco really does deliver.”
Carsten Rossenhovel, Managing Director EANTC
Those simple words, brought enormous validation to me for months of hard work by a lot of people. We had accepted a challenge and had proven without doubt Cisco’s readiness for a world of visual networking. Along the way, we executed many tests that were firsts in the industry. It made me feel great to know that Cisco has anticipated many challenges facing service providers now and in the future. I emerge with a firmer sense of confidence that Cisco leads the way as we move further into the Zettabyte era. Thanks for the dare Light Reading.
Follow this link for more information and the full report.
Posted by Mike Capuano at 01:48PM PST
Cisco Around the Web