Flexibility And Functionality
In order to address the telecom needs of multiple groups at a single site, Houston-based Caprock Services Corp. has implemented its IP Xpress Network, and selected MPLS over satellite as the core for its virtual private network (VPN) offering.
"Today, Caprock operates a hybrid SCPC network in both symmetrical and asymmetrical configurations," says Steve Wheelis, director of product engineering at Caprock Services. "Currently in the final stages of review are the dynamic bandwidth managed networks, which will be the underlying transport backbone allowing for much more flexibility and functionality of the service offerings."
Caprock Services begins the new year with its first fully operational MPLS over satellite customer and tests are underway with another customer at press time.
"MPLS and IP have made life easier for us. There is no need to set up an exponential number of virtual tunnels," says Wheelis. "Our primary goal is network flexibility. Caprock has accomplished this by offering two mechanisms to provide dynamic network configuration and provisioning, MPLS and traditional VPN tunnels."
A second goal was to centralize the network control and administration. Another objective was to create a network where all services converged at layer 3 or IP. By running all services at IP, a ubiquitous network is created in which telephony, video and data become appliances plugged into the same infrastructure.
"The customer can directly access their private network at any of Caprock's sites on demand," he adds. "The network assignments are done dynamically and appear to be plug and play. The network knows to assign this particular device to the customer's network via the MAC address that is associated with the customer's phone, PC or any other IP network appliance."
Traditional VPN tunnels are available for customers that either have their own VPN infrastructure or wish to use the Internet for their VPN mechanism.
HDTV Challenges Network Managers
Readers have probably heard talk before about the low bandwidth alternative to MPEG-2, known as MPEG-4, which first started to roll-out in the late 1990s.
"The advanced simple profile which is part of MPEG-4 did not provide enough improvement in efficiency to induce broadcasters to adopt an alternative compression scheme. This all changes with H.264," says Robinett.
Increasing demand is being placed on a finite amount of satellite capacity, and this affects DBS and FSS operators alike. However, the timetable may not be driven by technology alone. Market variables and regulatory decisions on significant pending matters like dual carriage may set the wheel in motion for an industry-wide adoption of H.264 sooner than we think.
"A lot of uncertainty surrounds the issue of dual must carry. Will the DBS service providers be forced by the FCC to comply with the 'must carry' provisions that the DBS industry has battled against for the past two years or so?" asks Robinett.
In a nutshell, the DBS service providers are holding their breath. If they are required to carry the growing list of local HDTV stations as full HDTV offerings, all bets are off.
Robinett describes a potential migration to H.264 as a much easier transition and a much less dramatic leap than the one the satellite and broadcast TV industries experienced when they jumped from analog to digital MPEG-2 transmissions.
"Because of the problem of what to do about the millions and millions of MPEG-2 equipped set-top boxes already in place, among other things, H.264 has to be backwards compatible," says Robinett. "You can mix H.264 with an existing MPEG-2 stream, so that for example, you might wind up with a cluster of SDTV MPEG-2 channels with one or more H.264 HDTV channels. The MPEG-2 legacy decoders will simply ignore the H.264 stream."
It's Not Getting Any Easier
With industry-wide consolidation a fact of life, NMS has to scale accordingly. Injecting a possible breakthrough in digital video compression along with a possible growing role for MPLS over satellite into the mix does not simplify the process either.
What is happening is that relatively finite pools of bandwidth are being pulled in different directions. Regardless of what is doing the pulling or where it is going, the industry has to anticipate the forces at work in order to keep one step ahead. NMS has to be the embodiment of that anticipation, in terms of user-friendliness, scale and capabilities.
The good news is that the tools are out on the bench, ready to go. NMS vendors have worked hard to put a lot of power and precision at their customers' fingertips. The network in question can be managed in a number of different ways, and whether done on a fingertip basis or in an automated mode, there appears to be no excuse today for lost bandwidth and the resulting diminishing revenues.
For a more in-depth discussion of NMS, including a look at commercial and military networking issues, see the unabridged version of this article at http://www.viasatellite.com.
Peter J. Brown is Via Satellite's Senior Multimedia & Homeland Security Editor. He lives on Mount Desert Island, ME.
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