Mobile Backhaul

The explosive growth of video and data services on mobile devices has created a huge dilemma as mobile operators look to provide them to expanding base of subscribers while simultaneously reducing the cost of transporting this increased traffic load. These new services require substantially more network capacity than the existing network infrastructure can support.

Overture helps service providers and network operators with solutions that deliver Ethernet and DS1/E1 circuits to the mobile base station and aggregates traffic in the central office or mobile switching center using optical Ethernet, the existing copper wiring or the original TDM infrastructure.

Building a better backhaul with universal Ethernet services platform

Overture provides a variety of cost-efficient solutions for the mobile backhaul application, including:

  • Native optical Ethernet edge solutions with wirespeed performance, fine-grain service management and market leading Ethernet OAM
  • Resilient Ethernet rings (G.8032) provides sub-50ms protection and conserves Ethernet switch ports in the MSC or aggregation point
  • Ethernet over bonded copper edge solutions can leverage the huge installed base of copper worldwide to provide the scalability, performance, distance, and multiservice transport efficiency required to meet exacting opera­tor requirements in a number of mobile backhaul sce­narios worldwide.
  • Ethernet over TDM edge solutions can leverage the huge installed base of DS1, E1, DS3, E3 SONET and SDH worldwide to provide the scalability, performance, distance, and multiservice transport efficiency required to meet exacting opera­tor requirements in a number of mobile backhaul sce­narios worldwide.
  • Optional MEF 18 certified pseudo-wire solutions to enable DS1s for 2G services over native Ethernet infrastructure
  • Optional Pseudowire-Plus (PWE-plus) DS1/E1 circuit emulation allows us to send native Ethernet and native TDM across the same bonded copper connection.  The TDM retains all the characteristics of a DS1/E1 (delay, jitter, timing), and is especially critical for Mobile Backhaul requirements.

When do I need 10GigE of capacity?

The requirement for 100’s of Mb per cell tower for 3G and 4G services is good news for backhaul providers who stand to gain new business from delivering that bandwidth.  However, it also presents fundamental business challenges for the mobile backhaul provider.

10GigE solutions offer 10-times the bandwidth for a 2.5x-to-5x increase in cost over 1GigE solutions. This is a pretty broad range of cost difference, as there is a large variation in the capabilities and features of 1GigE and 10GigE devices in the market. Carriers should carefully evaluate the capability of these solutions, as some of the low-end devices do not have the reliability, performance, fl ow-level SLA management or Ethernet OAM which is required in carrier network deployments.

Once the cost delta between 1GigE and 10GigE equipment is known, it is straightforward to determine 10GigE prove-in. A 10GigE solution is justified when the cost of multiple 1GigE solutions is more than a single 10GigE to serve the aggregate tower bandwidth demand.

Carrier-grade Reliability

Consumers and business people have come to rely on their mobile applications for increased productivity and entertainment.  Mobile network outages are the stuff of headline news, and mobile operators are addressing reliability on all fronts. 

Mobile backhaul networks must be architected with Carrier Ethernet solutions to deliver 99.999% availability, 50ms protection switching, flow-level SLA management, end-end OAM, performance and resiliency. These networks must also cost significantly less than SONET/SDH, enable massive Ethernet scaling and continue to support high-performance DS1/E1 for 2G mobile and private line applications. That’s why at Overture, we develop our products with your high-availability services in mind.

All Overture products have a minimum of NEBS Level 3 compliance, and in many cases go well beyond those requirements for more demanding applications and international deployments.

Our mobile backhaul edge (cell site) platforms and most aggregation platforms are field-proven in demanding and harsh outside plant environments.  Among the hundreds features designed to increase reliably in our products are the following:

  • Resilient Ethernet rings (G.8032)
  • Ethernet link aggregation
  • Ethernet SONET/SDH 1+1 APS
  • Hot swappable interface modules
  • Redundant and hot-swappable power supplies
  • Resilient link and circuit bonding protocols (MLPPP, EFM, VCAT)
  • Redundant switch fabrics and management processors