Tellabs Inspire Magazine: Deltacom Embraces Network Growth

article reprint — TELLABS INSPIRE q3 2008

Deltacom Embraces Network Growth A CLEC optimizes infrastructure to efficiently deploy future services. By Raymond Conway

and IP services while continuing to support existing TDM and Frame Relay-based customer solutions in an efficient manner. Deltacom needed a way to optimize their current infrastructure while at the same time growing the newer service platforms. Adding to the complexity was the wide range of customer segments and market sizes served.

Mapping the Future The need to support Ethernet services spurred Deltacom’s survey of a number of new technology options. “One option was to build a parallel network to offer new Ethernet and IP services, another was to rip everything out and build a greenfield network,” said Eric Douglas, vice president of engineering for Deltacom. “Neither of those options made practical or operational sense for us, so we began working with Tellabs to plan a migration path that could both protect our existing investment and customer solutions while enabling us to offer new services, all over a consolidated set of optimized network elements.” Originally an IETF standard, MLPPP allows circuits such as T1s to be bonded into a virtual path, thus providing more bandwidth. It enables a service provider to leverage its existing T1 infrastructure by essentially mapping a traditional TDM architecture, supporting for example Frame Relay and ATM services, to an IP Ethernet transport architecture.

Deploying the latest and greatest often involves respect for the past — or at least it should. For every investment a company makes to support new services, there are existing services that still have value for its customers. For every hour of training required to teach technicians a new system, there are years of valuable experience operating existing infrastructures. Those were a couple of the challenges facing Deltacom, a CLEC serving customers in the Southeastern United States. The company has built a successful business supporting a wide range of SMB, enterprise and carrier customers. One of its advantages is the depth of its network footprint, spanning not only very large tier-1 markets but also many smaller tier-2, -3 and -4 markets across its fiberbased network. Deltacom’s service portfolio spans TDM, MPLS data and softswitch VoIP platforms. Services include low-bandwidth traditional voice services, integrated voice and data services, Frame Relay, private line, wavelength, IP and Ethernet services. The question facing Deltacom was how to ensure the scalability of emerging Ethernet

“Deltacom started looking at MLPPP as a vehicle for terminating bonded T1s and delivering Ethernet, but also realized a need for a more holistic network transformation,” said Tim Doiron, director of broadband product marketing for Tellabs. “With MLPPP capabilities, Deltacom can now invest in Ethernet services and cap existing Frame Relay infrastructure investment by utilizing the Tellabs® 8800 Multiservice Router (MSR) Series to interface directly to existing optical gear.” “The Tellabs® 8800 MSR series is a good option to carry our IP and Ethernet services into the future,” Douglas said. “It’s an efficient service aggregator that enables Deltacom to continue supporting our existing customers while growing the network to support newer service offerings.” ATM can be an effective transport technology, but it does not have the growth potential and flexibility of Ethernet. The Tellabs 8800 MSR series enables Deltacom to limit or cap future investment in ATM DSLAMs and ATM switches, as well as consolidate call-path functions through one new piece of equipment. As a result, Deltacom can dictate the pace of its network transformation in order to maximize the functionality of its legacy network infrastructure. Douglas noted that Deltacom’s history and the depth of its network are important factors in its pacing. “The Tellabs 8800 MSR series gives Deltacom the flexibility we need,” Douglas said. “We’re plan-

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article reprint — deltacom embraces network growth

ning to leverage the high degree of functionality offered in the platform. It allows us to grow our network responsibly, giving us new service growth options across our very largest to our smallest markets.”

Three for One The Tellabs 8800 MSR series helps Deltacom take steps toward network element consolidation, when and where it is ready to do so. It also enables the service provider to adopt a single platform that it can leverage across all three of its customer segments. “Before, we had three network elements in our central office doing the work that we now can do with a single Tellabs 8800 MSR series element,” Douglas said. “We’ve got carrier customers that we can support with point-to-point Gigabit Ethernet. In addition, our enterprise customers have some of the most stringent service requirements that can be addressed with our E-Line service. With the flexibility to use different interface types within the PLMs, we are not pigeonholed into using equipment that only supports GigE interfaces to serve smaller customers who don’t need that much capacity.” The service provider took advantage of the variety of equipment form factors available in the Tellabs 8800 MSR series. In the largest cities it serves, such as Atlanta, Deltacom is deploying the Tellabs® 8860 Multiservice Router (MSR). In smaller markets, the company is installing the Tellabs® 8830 Multiservice Router (MSR), which is a more cost-effective option for smaller footprints, but still comes equipped with full MLPPP functionality and other capabilities of the Tellabs 8860 MSR.

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During the installation phase, Deltacom engaged Tellabs® Global Services, requesting that a Tellabs engineer be on-site during deployment. Douglas said this made a key difference in his staff’s ability to cover all necessary bases. “Having an on-site engineer for three months really helped our engineering staff efficiently navigate through the installation, testing and maintenance plans,” he said. Chris Crawford, executive account manager at Tellabs, said Deltacom’s use of Tellabs’ Global Services team showed foresight that some carriers lack. “I’ve seen service providers hand a new system to their staff without the support and training necessary to ensure success. Deltacom didn’t do that,” Crawford said. Further enhancing its management functions, Deltacom also purchased the Tellabs® 8890 Management System to go with the MSRs. That product will help the service provider streamline management and maintenance of its new MSR architecture. “It will help us more efficiently manage our resources when installing the equipment and connecting the individual PLMs,” Douglas said. “We should recognize efficiencies across the board: our provisioning team will be faster, service turn-up will be faster and our customers will be thrilled. That’s the name of the game right there.”

MLPPP Multi-Link Point-to-Point Protocol MPLS Multiprotocol Label Switching PLM Physical Line Module SMB Small and Medium Business TDM Time Division Multiplexing

Acronym ATM Asynchronous Transfer Mode CLEC Competitive Local Exchange Carrier DSLAM Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer IETF Internet Engineering Task Force

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