Partner with China Unicom to create the outstanding 3G bearer network

Customer Requirement

The end of restructuring of China’s telecom industry marks the start of a new era of all-service operation; meanwhile, 3G network builds on a large scale are taking place. Operators have tailored their strategies for network transformation to create the network architecture adaptable to all-service operation, especially the rollouts of 3G services, making it first and foremost for bearer network construction.

IP-based bearer network is an inevitable trend. IP provides a series of compelling benefits, including its strong ability to carry new services, its agility, flexibility, sustainability and cost effectiveness, and takes a more front and center role in 3G bearer network deployments. In the pursuit of addressing 3G service requirements, protecting operators’ existing network investment and ensuring economic and effective network evolution, the bearer network deployments should be carried out rationally.

ZTE’s WCDMA E-MSTP solution is the ideal selection to build 3G WCDMA bearer network. On basis of traditional MSTP platform, E-MSTP offers greatly enhanced ability for packet service processing, and enables converged evolution to PTN. It retains MSTP’s low cost in TDM processing, introduces PTN’s efficient processing for IP services, boosts flexibility in network extension and reduces complexity in network management. It facilitates rollout of varieties of new services with combined IP features and mobility, helps network in sustained development, and drives down operators’ TCO to achieve profit.

Under the IP trend of 3G networks, operators give strong emphasis on such problems as efficient carriage of diversified services during bearer network construction, greater profit space, lower cost in network construction and maintenance. To tackle the situation, ZTE is trialing the WCDMA E-MSTP solution in Quanzhou Unicom, and verifies the viability of E-MSTP solution to metro transport network in the IP trend of WCDMA from a pragmatic networking perspective.

ZTE Solution

The commercial trial network conducts test from three aspects, focusing on verifying the problems heavily concerned by operators, including stringent test on viability and effectiveness of E-MSTP solution to carry WCDMA services. Test network topology is shown below:

The network test contains three major test items and several small test items:

1. Verification of flexibility in network deployment

• Verifying E-MSTP’s ability for service provisioning
  E-MSTP provides automatic ring selection, enabling services to automatically select the short route for end-to-end transmission and avoiding node-by-node configuration; verify the ability for manual ring selection.
• Verifying E-MSTP networking capability
  E-MSTP allows rational planning based on base station deployments, and use of VC timeslot connection to set up logic E-MSTP ring. With E-MSTP’ s “trans-ring service transition” technology, typical topologies, such as tangent ring, intersection ring and ring with chain, used at mobile access aggregation layer can be realized,  thus eliminating the needs to drop the trans-ring services. In this way, the trans-ring services can be directly transited to other rings via RPR board, implementing flexible networking of tangent ring and ring with chain and breaking the single-ring limitation.
• Verifying E-MSTP’s ability for service scheduling
  E-MSTP employs fairness algorithm, enables fair scheduling of non-guaranteed services (such as network download service) in case of occurrence of network congestion, and distributes bandwidth to non-guaranteed services according to site weights.

2. Verification of support for service upswing

• Verifying E-MSTP’s ability to offer high convergence ratio
  Test the convergence ratio (it is infinite theoretically), for example, then network status under the convergence ratio of 256:1.
• Verifying E-MSTP’s bandwidth statistic multiplexing capability
  Test the packet loss rates of E-MSTP and traditional MSTP (EOS) under the same service model and bandwidth condition. Demonstrate E-MSTP’s advantage over traditional MSTP in terms of bandwidth statistic multiplexing.
• Verifying E-MSTP’s ability to carry varieties of WCDMA services
  Test E-MSTP’s ability to carry diversified WCDMA services like 12.2K voice, 64K video phone, 128K streaming media, 384K file download, etc.

3. Verification of providing reliable operation & maintenance management

• Verifying E-MSTP’s OAM capability
  Test E-MSTP’s maintenance and management functions including auto-discovery of topology, discovery of fiber misconnection and protection inconsistency alarm.
• Verifying E-MSTP’s protection capability
  Test E-MSTP’s SDH physical layer protection, MAC layer Steering protection or Wrapping protection. Test E-MSTP’s ability to realize trans-ring RPR by means of dropping GE services for transition, as well as provide trans-ring dual-node protection.

Benefits for Customers

Driven by Development of science & technology and society’s fervent hopes for informationization, 3G service networks and their bearer network builds are on an upswing. RPR-embedded E-MSTP solution and technology play an important role in the smooth evolution.

• Compatible with legacy MSTP transmission technology, ZTE’s RPR-embedded E-MSTP solution can accelerate deployment of WCDMA network, paving the way for operators to carry out 3G operations more effectively and quickly.
• E-MSTP solution ensures transmission of bulk of TDM services, and integrates the data service processing function of RPR technology, mitigating cost and operation & maintenance pressure, and making it possible for operators to achieve operational profit.
• Use of perfect reliability policy and service awareness differentiated service technology fully guarantees the 3G experience for end users and improves operators’ customer satisfaction.