8

Convergence of
Networking Technologies
Vijay K. Garg 8.1 Convergence ....................................................................................... 1011
Department of Electrical and 8.1.1 Session Initiation Protocol ,, 8.1.2 Softswitch . 8.1.3 All IP Architecture
Computer Engineering, 8.2 Optical Networking .............................................................................. 1014
University of Illinois at Chicago, 8.2.1 Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing
Chicago, Illinois, USA

Yih-Chen Wang
Lucent Technologies,
Naperville, Illinois, USA

8.1 Convergence
The next generation of wireless networks will be flexible, open,
and standards-based. These networks will facilitate the conver-
gence of wireless networks, the PSTN, and the Internet and will
provide voice, data, and video services to platforms such as cell
phones, PDAs, laptops, PCs, digital cameras, and a plethora of
new portable devices.
Advances in optical networking will increase the capacity of
a core network by stuffing vastly more information into each
fiber. Next-generation media interface protocols, such as SIP
and MEGACO, have already proven more effective than SS7
and H.323 in a convergence network of wireless systems, wire-
line systems, and the Internet.
The key to wireless convergence is IP and softswitch. This
software-on-a-switch is the heart of the next-generation wire-
less networks that provides integration of the wireless networks,
the Internet, and the PSTN. This is the elusive Holy Grail of
communications--any-to-any end point interoperability, en-
hanced services, and flexible billing are all on one network.
8.1.1 Session Initiation Protocol
Session initiation protocol (SIP) is an application-layer signal-
ing protocol for creating, modifying, and terminating sessions
with one or more participants. SIP s e s s i o n s include Internet
multimedia conferences, Internet telephone calls, and multi-
media distribution. SIP invitations create sessions carrying ses-
s i o n descriptions, which allow participants to agree on a set of
compatible media types. SIP supports user mobility by proxy-
ing and redirecting requests to the user's current location. Users
can register their current locations. SIP makes minimal as-
sumptions about the underlying transport protocol. It can be
extended easily with additional capabilities and is an enabling
technology for providing innovative new services that integrate
multimedia with Internet services such as the World Wide Web,
e-mail, instant messaging, and presence.
The core SIP protocol, specified in Internet Engineering Task
Force (IETF) Request for Comments (RFC) 2543, is built on
foundation IP protocols, such as HTTP and Simple Mail Trans-
fer Protocol (SMTP). As such, it supports a request/response
transaction model that is text-based, similar to e-mail, and self-
describing; in addition, SIP inherited many of the features from
standard Internet protocols. For example, it uses many of
HTTPvl.1 header fields, supports Uniform Resource Identi-
fier/Universal Resource Locator (URI/URL) for addressing,
and employs the Multimedia Internet Mail Encapsulation
(MIME) protocol for message payload description. It is light-
weight as the baseline SIP consists only of six methods. Exten-
sions are being proposed by adding new methods, new headers,
and new message body types to support additional applications
such as interworking with legacy systems, cable, or wireless
applications. An SIP initiation scenario is shown in Figure 8.1.
The standard SIP architectural components are the
following:
• An SIP client is an end system with the SIP User Agent
(UA) residing in it. The user agent consists of two

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1012 Vijay K. Gargand Yih-Chen Wang
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Response % " : ::"- "' " - ~ server
media ...........................
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SiP client
SIP lient
FIGURE 8.1 Session Initiation in SIP

components: the User A g e n t Client (UAC) is responsible there, however, it returns the address(es) o f the next-
for sending SIP requests, and the User Agent Server hop server(s) to the sender.
(UAS) listens for incoming requests, and p r o m p t s a user • A locator service is used by an SIP server to obtain
or executes a p r o g r a m to determine responses. information about a callee's possible locations. It is out-
• A p r o x y server is responsible for routing and delivering side the scope o f SIP. It can be anything, such as LDAP,
messages to the called party. It receives requests and for- whois, whois-t-+, POST corporate database, local file, or
wards them to another server (called a n e x t - h o p server), result o f program execution (IN).
which m a y be another proxy server, a UAS, or a redirect • A r e g i s t r a t i o n server receives updates on the current
server. It can fork a request, sending copies to multiple locations of users. It is typically colocated with a proxy
next-hop servers at once. This allows a call setup request to redirect server. The server m a y make its information
try m a n y different locations at once. It can also forward the available through the location server.
invitation to a multicast group. A proxy server can be call-
Often hailed as more flexible than H.323, SIP is an
stateful, stateful (transaction-stateful), or stateless.
application-layer control protocol that can establish, modify,
• A redirect server also receives requests and determines
and terminate sessions or calls. SIP is text-based and light-
net-hop server(s). Instead of forwarding the request

FIGURE 8.2 The Softswitch Architecture

8 Convergenceof Networking Technologies
weight, and it uses a simple invitation-acceptance message
structure. Other benefits of SIP over H.323 include scalability,
service richness, lower latency, faster speed, and ability to
distribute for carrier-grade reliability.
SIP is a new protocol currently under development. The
core SIP application specified in IETF RFC 2543 is being
implemented and tested in SIP bake-offs. Many extensions of
SIP are being proposed and are under discussion. Holes and
gaps exist for system-level deployment. For example, QoS,
security, services, and operations issues are still being debated.
Interworking mappings of SIP with H.323 and ISUP/BICC are
not yet finalized (Internet draft status).
8.1.2 Sofiswitch
Softswitch is an all-encompassing term for the next-gener-
ation communications systems that employ open standards
to create integrated networks with a decoupled service intelli-
gence capable of carrying voice, video, and data traffic more
efficiently and with far greater value-added service potential
than is possible with existing circuit-switched networks. Soft-
switch-based networks will enable service providers to support
new, enhanced voice service features as well as offer new types
of multimedia applications in addition to integrating existing
wireline and wireless voice services with advanced data and
video services.
The separation of call control and services (Figure 8.2) from
the underlying transport network is a key enabling feature of
softswitch-based networks. Indeed, the very approach of build-
ing switched networks with extracted service intelligence rep-
resents a major break-through when compared to the circuit-
switched approach of combining the transport hardware, call
control, and service logic together into a single, proprietary
piece of equipment.
0
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Secures NSS marketing
FIGURE 8.3 Projected Wireless Internet Convergence
1013
Softswitches can be used in 3G and 4G core networks to
provide call control, mobility management, and an open ser-
vice creation environment for carriers. A softswitch can deliver
foundation mobility functions of roaming, location updates,
subscriber profile management, intersystem handover, and
RAN interworking to wireless service providers.
8.1.3 All IP Architecture
The Internet is unprecedented in its impact on the world
community of industries, institutions, and individuals. In
some way, the Internet has touched most of our lives in
terms of how we communicate, how we promote our products,
how we teach our children, and how we invest our time. No
media adoption curve has been faster than the Internet's. In
the United States alone, it took almost 40 years for 50 million
people to use radio and 15 years for 50 million people to use
Television and cellular communications. Internet users reached
the 50-million mark in just 5 years.
During that time, the world became increasingly mobile,
defined by the "take-it-with-you philosophy" we have devel-
oped regarding information and our access to it. For the wire-
less cellular industry, that shift in attitude has created the
opportunity to add mobility to Internet accessibility--effec-
tively allowing subscribers to carry the power of the Internet
with them anywhere at any time.
The convergence of wireless and Internet usage is already
underway. Globally, Internet users as a whole are projected to
increase from about 200 million at present to almost 1 billion
by the year 2005. During the same period of time, global
wireless subscribers are expected to increase from 300 million
to over a billion.
With these market dynamics in mind, several industry-
leading businesses have agreed that next-generation wireless
~ubs
1014 Vijay K. Garg and Yih-Chen Wang

networks will leverage the packet-based technology of IE This
strategy provides operators with the unique opportunity to
deliver a multitude of new services to mobile cellular sub-
scribers in a manner more customizable than previously pos-
sible (see Figure 8.3).
As the industry continues to invest heavily in advancing IP
technology for supporting real-time applications such as voice
with reliable service and toll quality, it is expected to further
accelerate the introduction of new network capabilities that are
defined within IP standards for network implementations.

8.2 Optical Networking

FIGURE 8.4 DWDM Systemsand Optical Amplifiers
As networks face increasing bandwidth demand and diminish-
ing fiber availability, network providers are moving toward a
crucial milestone in network evolution: the optical network.
Optical networks, based on the emergence of the optical layer
in transport networks, provide higher capacity and reduced
costs for new applications such as the Internet, video and
multimedia interaction, and advanced digital services.
Optical networks began with wavelength division multiplex-
ing (WDM), which arose to provide additional capacity on
existing fibers. The components of the optical network are
defined according to how the wavelengths are transmitted,
groomed, or implemented in the network. Viewing the network
from a layered approach, the optical network requires the ad-
dition of an optical layer. To help define network functionality,
networks are divided into several different physical or virtual
layers. The first layer, the services layer, is where the services--
such as data traffic--enter the telecommunications network. The
next layer, SONET, provides restoration, performance monitor-
ing, and provisioning that is transparent to the first layer.

From port A to port D From port A to port C

I t-, I 0

-4
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L
t-
O

~ -20
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c

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-16

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1545 1546 1547 1548 1545 1546 1547 1548
Wavelength[nm] Wavelength[nm]

FIGURE 8.5 In Fiber Bragg Grating Technology:Optical A/D Multiplexer

8 Convergenceof Networking Technologies
8.2.1 Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing
As optical filters and laser technology improved, the ability to
combine more than two signal wavelengths on a fiber became a
reality. Dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM)
combines multiple signals on the same fiber, ranging up to
40 or 80 channels. By implementing DWDM systems and
optical amplifiers, networks can provide a variety of bit rates
(i.e., OC-48 or OC-192) and a multitude of channels over a
single fiber (see Figure 8.4). The wavelengths used are all in the
range in which optical amplifiers perform optimally, typically
from about 1530 nm to 1565 nm.
Optical Amplifiers
The performance of optical amplifiers has improved signifi-
cantly-with current amplifiers providing significantly lower
noise and flatter gain which is essential to DWDM systems.
The total power of amplifiers also has steadily increased, with
amplifiers approaching ÷20-dBm outputs, which is many
orders of magnitude more powerful than the first amplifiers.
Narrow Band Lasers
Without a narrow, stable, and coherent light source, none of
the optical components would be of any value in the optical
network. Advanced lasers with narrow bandwidths provide
the narrow wavelength source that is the individual channel in
1015
optical networks. Typically, long-haul applications use exter-
nally modulated lasers, while shorter applications can use
integrated laser technologies.
Fiber Bragg Gratings
Commercially available fiber Bragg gratings have been im-
portant components for enabling WDM and optical networks.
A fiber Bragg grating is a small section of fiber that has been
modified to create periodic changes in the index of refraction.
Depending on the space between the changes, a certain fre-
quency of light--the Bragg resonance wavelength--is reflected
back, while all other wavelengths pass through (see Figure 8.5).
The wavelength-specific properties of the grating make fiber
Bragg gratings useful in implementing optical add/drop multi-
plexers. Bragg gratings also are being developed to aid in
dispersion compensation and signal filtering as well.
Thin-Film Substrates
Another essential technology for optical networks is the thin-
film substrate. By coating a thin glass or polymer substrate
with a thin interference film of dielectric material, the substrate
can be made to pass through only a specific wavelength and
reflect all others. By integrating several of these components,
many optical network devices are created, including multiplex-
ers, demultiplexers, and add/drop devices.