white paper: lowering cost per bit with 40g...

White Paper Lowering Cost per Bit With 40G ATCA

Prepared by Simon Stanley Analyst at Large, Heavy Reading www.heavyreading.com sponsored by

www.radisys.com June 2012

http://www.heavyreading.com/

http://www.radisys.com/

HEAVY READING | JUNE 2012 | WHITE PAPER | LOWERING COST PER BIT WITH 40G ATCA 2

Executive Summary Expanding network capacity and reducing cost per bit are key challenges facing mobile network operators. To meet customer expectations, operators need to invest in new network infrastructure and develop business models that deliver attractive services to subscribers while maintaining adequate returns to share-holders. Network equipment providers need to meet these requirements with flexible systems that grow with operator requirements and reduce operating cost relative to network capacity. The rapid increase in the use of smartphones and the growing importance of mobile video is causing significant strain on mobile network infrastructure. Video traffic is forecast to reach 70 percent of mobile data traffic by 2016. By implement-ing Long Term Evolution (LTE) in parallel with existing 2G/3G networks, operators can expand capacity and reduce cost per bit in the radio access network (RAN). To achieve adequate return on investment, mobile network operators also need to implement similar increases in capacity and reductions in cost per bit through the mobile packet core and the rest of their network. The Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture (ATCA) is a scalable platform that is already being used for 3G and LTE packet core systems. The latest ATCA platforms support 40Gbit/s (40G) switching, offering significant increases in performance and system capacity together with dramatic reductions in cost per bit. Companies already using ATCA can quickly take advantage of this increased performance by upgrading components as required to handle 40G interfaces and connectivity. The ATCA ecosystem is now relatively mature. There are more than 100 companies providing components and support, from ATCA blades to middleware and complete application-ready platforms. Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) ATCA blades include 40G switch blades, CPU/server blades, packet processing blades and digital signal processing (DSP) blades. Several vendors, including Radisys, will also provide complete software solutions for common functions such as load balancing, switch redundancy and platform management. Companies developing systems using ATCA can choose a mix of COTS and in-house components, or work with system integrators to develop a pre-integrated platform. By choosing the right solution, companies can minimize development costs and time to market, while also developing a market-leading solution. The purpose of this white paper is to examine the challenges presented by the rapid increase in the use of mobile video, together with the reductions in cost per bit and increases in network bandwidth that can be achieved by moving to 40G ATCA. The paper reviews the value of 40G ATCA, the availability of 40G compo-nents, and the potential savings in time to market. The paper concludes with a comparison between a 10G platform and 40G platform, demonstrating that a 57 percent reduction in cost per bit, and tripling in system capacity, can be achieved using off-the-shelf 40G ATCA components.


Market Overview Mobile video is accelerating the already rapid growth in mobile data. Smartphones and tablets are increasingly being used to watch video content on the move. This rapid growth in mobile data requires higher-performance handsets, 4G networks and a mobile infrastructure that can be easily scaled.

Figure 1 shows the latest forecast from Cisco's Visual Networking Index (VNI). Mobile data shows strong growth, with a CAGR of 65 percent from 2011-2016. This is eclipsed by the very strong growth rate for mobile video, at a CAGR of 90 percent. The share of mobile data required for video is expected to grow from 52 percent in 2011 to more than 70 percent in 2016. The total mobile data bandwidth is expected to almost double every year, at a CAGR of 78 percent. According to the Cisco VNI, average smartphone usage nearly tripled, from 55 MB per month in 2010 to 150 MB per month in 2011. The bandwidth consumed per user is forecast to grow rapidly to reach 2.6 GB in 2016. In 2016, 4G is expected to be 6 percent of connections, but constitute 36 percent of total traffic. Smartphones and tablets with larger screens, dual- and quad-core processors and broadband connectivity are becoming more widely available. These devices – combined with new services, particularly video services such as Netflix – are driving the bandwidth demand from subscribers. To meet these demands, mobile operators must invest in new capacity and manage costs to deliver attractive services to subscribers. LTE allows mobile operators to support up to 100Mbit/s bandwidth to users and reduce the cost per

Figure 1: Mobile Video Will Generate Over 70 Percent of Mobile Data Traffic by 2016

Source: Cisco VNI Mobile, 2012. Figures in legend refer to traffic share in 2016.


bit for data traffic. Mobile operators are therefore rolling out LTE in parallel with existing 3G networks. Mobile infrastructure is at the core of a mobile operator's service offering. Figure 2 shows the 3G/LTE network architecture. The LTE network using eNodeB base stations will support significantly higher bandwidth than the 3G network with NodeB base stations and radio network controllers (RNCs).

Much of the discussion about network bandwidth and reducing cost per bit to date has focused on the RAN. The next focus for increasing bandwidth and reducing cost per bit must be on the packet core and IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). IMS is important for video and other multimedia services and is a key element for providing voice over LTE (VoLTE). For telecom equipment providers to deliver the best value for their money to mobile network operators, all the ele-ments of the 3G/LTE packet core and IMS solution must be scalable and provide the lowest cost per bit.

Figure 2: 3G/LTE Network Architecture

Source: Earlswood Marketing


Why 40G ATCA? ATCA provides a compelling platform for many telecom applications, allowing telecom equipment providers to quickly develop carrier-grade solutions. By using ATCA, equipment providers can significantly lower development costs and dramatically reduce time to market for new systems. This can also reduce the cost of ownership for network operators. ATCA is already widely used for 3G wireless infrastructure and IMS. Several key telecom equipment providers are also using ATCA for the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) required for LTE networks. Existing systems have Gigabit Ethernet (GE) or 10GE fabric interfaces providing 10G data bandwidth per blade to the back-plane. All ATCA blades also provide a separate GE base interface that is typically used for control plane connectivity between blades. 40G ATCA systems are now becoming available. These systems support 40G full-duplex switching to each blade in the system. Companies already using ATCA-based platforms can easily upgrade to 40G by replacing the chassis and back-plane where needed and fitting 40G switch blades. New CPU/server and packet processing blades with 40G fabric interfaces are also available, dramatically increasing system performance. The 40G switch blades will support 10GE and GE, so only those blades requiring the extra bandwidth need to be updated. Figure 3 shows a typical 40G ATCA system.

By shifting to 40G ATCA, telecom equipment providers can quadruple the data bandwidth per blade to the backplane and take advantage of the latest multi-core processor technology. As we will show in this white paper, this new 40G platform can be used to dramatically reduce the number of slots required for an existing application, or to increase the capacity of the system. In both cases, there is a significant reduction in the cost per bit.

Figure 3: Typical 40G ATCA System

Source: Radisys


Building Block Developments ATCA platforms use standard building blocks that are available from a mature ecosystem of more than 100 companies. During the past five years, there have been significant developments in the capabilities of these building blocks. System developers can use a mix of COTS building blocks or develop these in-house.

Chassis & Backplanes Chassis design is a key part of ATCA platform development, and most chassis are supplied together with backplane, cooling trays and shelf-management modules. Backplanes are configured to support either mesh architecture or star architecture with switch blades. Chassis are available with 2, 5, 6, 14 or 16 slots and a range of heights from 2U to 14U. ATCA chassis support redundant power modules and cooling trays to achieve carrier-grade availability. Many platforms are also available with AC power supplies instead of the traditional central office -48V DC power supplies, making them suitable for data centers and other environments. ATCA suppliers have upgraded the platform components to meet the require-ment of 40G systems. Backplanes must support 4x10G serial links and power modules, and cooling trays must support higher power per slot. Most companies will supply ATCA chassis that will support 300-350W per slot instead of the 200W included in the original ATCA specification. By supporting higher power per slot, companies can integrate the latest switching and processing devices onto the blades in the system.

40G Switch Blades Switch blades are at the heart of most ATCA systems. A typical ATCA 40G switch blade is shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Typical 40G Switch Blade

Source: Radisys


40G ATCA switch blades integrate two separate switching functions, each with connections to the backplane and front panel. The fabric switch connects 40GE to each node blade and is typically used for high-speed data plane traffic. The base switch connects GE to each blade and is typically used for control plane functions. The cost of ATCA systems can be significantly reduced by using switch blades that have integrated network interfaces on the front panel, or through the rear transition module. Many switch blades also integrate a general-purpose CPU for control plane functions.

CPU/Server Blades CPU/server blades have one or two general-purpose multicore processors. These processors have up to eight cores each and are mainly used for control plane, server, deep packet inspection (DPI) and similar applications. General-purpose multicore processors are closely linked to desktop and server processors, and new processor families are regularly introduced. For example, Intel has a "tick-tock" model: a two-year cycle with a new manufacturing technology one year and a new micro-architecture the next year. By using COTS CPU blades, companies can shift to the latest processors with minimal design and integration work. The latest processors, such as the Intel Xeon E5-2400 family, have virtualization capabilities, very advanced power management, and are delivering significant performance increases. These general-purpose multicore processors offer the most flexible solution for networking applications but have historically had no hardware dedicated to data plane functions. The recently announced Intel communica-tions platform, codenamed "Crystal Forest," and the Intel Data Plane Development Kit extend support to data plane applications. These solutions will allow developers to use a single platform for a wide range of networking applications.

Packet Processing Blades Integrated multicore processors have up to 48 MIPS or Power Architecture cores with up to 200 hardware acceleration engines for networking and related func-tions. These multicore processor devices have integrated switches that move data between processor cores or groups, hardware acceleration engines, memory and high-speed networking I/O. Integrated multicore processors provide a very efficient solution for mixed control and data path applications. Integrated multicore processors are used for security and packet processing, load balancing and some DPI applications. The leading vendors, such as Cavium and Broadcom, are currently developing third-generation devices with improved 64-bit processor cores, higher frequencies, 40G network interfaces and new hardware acceleration engines. These third-generation devices will provide at least double the performance of previous generations. Network processors support high-touch packet processing at rates between 10G and 100G. These devices have a large number of processor cores optimized for packet processing and 10G, 40G and 100G network interfaces. Most network processors also integrate traffic management functions. Network processors are often used in systems together with either general-purpose or integrated multicore processors to provide front-end processing and load balancing between proces-sors. At least one packet processing blade supports integrated multicore proces-sors and a network processor.


Packet processing blades have one or two integrated multicore processors or network processors. A typical ATCA 40G packet processing blade is shown in Figure 5.

Digital Signal Processors DSPs are widely used in the media servers and wireless RANs. These multicore processors with very-long-instruction-word (VLIW) architecture are optimized for DSP, with support for fixed and floating-point operations. The latest devices have high-bandwidth PCI Express and RapidIO interfaces. Multiple DSPs are usually controlled by a single general-purpose processor. A single ATCA blade may have 20 or more DSP devices.

Figure 5: Typical 40G Packet Processing Blade

Source: Radisys


System Integration Hardware Integration Basic hardware integration is relatively straightforward for ATCA, compared to a proprietary platform development. Most system designers can easily build a simple ATCA-based system using off-the-shelf components. High-performance 40G ATCA systems require more advanced hardware integration to qualify the platform at performance and temperature extremes. To get the best value from 40G ATCA, platform designers should consider working with system integrators. System integrators already have significant data on ATCA platform design and can help increase the performance of the hardware plat-form. Key issues in hardware integration for 40G ATCA are often cooling and airflow. These are less of an issue for lower-performance systems.

Application-Ready Platforms As shown in Figure 6, companies can significantly reduce time to market by using ATCA, and reduce it further by using an application-ready platform.

Figure 6: Reducing Time to Market With Application-Ready ATCA Platforms

Source: Earlswood Marketing


Several system integrators will supply an application-ready platform. The basic platform would include chassis, switch and CPU blades and can be extended to include packet processing and DSP blades as required. These application-ready platforms include full hardware and middleware integration, as well as develop-ment support from the system integrator.

System Software Integration High-availability middleware and platform management software are key ele-ments in an ATCA system. Together they ensure a redundant platform that is easily managed and upgraded, with a standardized software interface for applications. High-availability middleware for ATCA platforms is available from several suppliers with support for Service Availability Forum (SA Forum) interfaces. The Application Interface Specification (AIS) defines the interface between applications and the middleware. The Hardware Platform Interface (HPI) defines the interface between the middleware and hardware platform. Almost half of respondents to a recent Heavy Reading Components Insider survey reported that their company was using middleware from either a system integrator or a third-party supplier. The rest said their company was developing the middle-ware in-house. This result showed a significant increase over previous surveys in the number of companies using middleware from third-party suppliers. Platform management solutions simplify software integration and upgrades. System developers can significantly reduce time to market by using pre-integrated platform management solutions, such as the Radisys ATCA 4.0 Platform Manage-ment, that work with the SA Forum interfaces.

Accelerating Application Development Application-ready 40G ATCA platforms with pre-integrated middleware provide system developers with a stable platform for applications. System integrators further accelerate application development by providing common application functions. Load balancing, for example, can be implemented on a switch blade or a dedicated packet processing blade. By using solutions that have been developed by system integrators, such as Radisys, system developers can reduce time to market and take advantage of software solutions developed specifically for the ATCA blades they are using.


40G Performance Gains Greater Capacity 40G platforms provide significant performance gains. As shown in Figure 7, the total capacity of a 16-slot chassis increases from 154 Gbit/s for a 10G platform to 574 Gbit/s for a 40G platform. This capacity will increase still further when 100G platforms become available.

10G/40G Interfaces 40G systems will support both 10G and 40G network interfaces. This is a key requirement for many new systems.

Increased System Density By using 40G ATCA platforms with the latest processing blades, system designers can pack more applications into a single ATCA shelf, dramatically increasing system density. As shown in the following section, this has a significant impact on cost per bit.

Figure 7: ATCA Platform Bandwidths

Source: Heavy Reading


Reducing Cost per Bit Reducing cost per bit is a key requirement for mobile network operators. By comparing the performance and cost of two ATCA platforms from Radisys, we can show that 40G ATCA platforms can more than halve cost per bit and triple system capacity.

Reduction in Cost Per Bit for Video Processing For this comparison, we are using standard ATCA platforms from Radisys and off-the-shelf switch and network processor blades, also from Radisys. The first example system is based on a 10G ATCA platform with Dual Cavium Octeon Plus CN58xx networking blades. Each blade can handle 5 Gbit/s through-put, 9,000 video sessions and up to 40,000 voice sessions. The 16-slot ATCA platform will accommodate 14 networking blades and two 10G switch blades. The com-plete platform, costing roughly $100,000, will handle 60 Gbit/s throughput and 108,000 video sessions. As shown in Figure 8, these numbers yield a cost of $1.67 per Mbit/s and $0.93 per video session.

A 16-slot 40G ATCA platform will support two 40G switch blades and 14 Dual Cavium Octeon II CN68xx networking blades with 40G interfaces. Each networking blade can handle 15 Gbit/s throughput, 27,000 video sessions and up to 120,000 voice sessions. A 60G system with four Octeon II CN68xx networking blades that will handle 108,000 video sessions will cost roughly $56,000. This is slightly more than half the cost per bit of the 10G platform for the same performance. This is 40G System A.

Figure 8: Reducing Cost per Bit

Source: Radisys and Heavy Reading


A fully configured 40G ATCA platform with 14 Octeon II CN68xx networking blades will handle 180 Gbit/s throughput and 324,000 video sessions. At $130,000, the fully configured 40G ATCA platform will cost just $0.72 per Mbit/s and $0.40 per video session – less than half the cost per bit of the 10G platform. This is 40G System B. All three systems are summarized in Figure 9.

40G system B supports three times the capacity of the 10G system but is only 1.3 times the cost. The saving in cost per bit using this 40G system in place of a 10G system is 57 percent.

Figure 9: Video Processing Systems

PROCESSING THROUGHPUT

VIDEO SESSIONS

PACKET PROCESSOR

ATCA BLADES

PLATFORM COST

10G System 60 Gbit/s 108,000 Octeon Plus CN58xx 12x A7220 $100,000

40G System A 60 Gbit/s 108,000 Octeon II CN68xx 4x A7240 $56,000

40G System B 180 Gbit/s 324,000 Octeon II CN68xx 12x A7240 $130,000 Source: Radisys


Conclusions Carriers need to reduce cost per bit across the network, from the RAN through the packet core to IMS and application servers. The migration to LTE will address cost per bit in the RAN; the parallel challenge is reducing cost per bit through the rest of the network. ATCA is already used by many companies for systems in mobile operator networks. By migrating to 40G ATCA platforms, network equipment providers can triple system capacity and reduce the cost per bit by more than half. The example in this white paper demonstrates that a 57 percent reduction in cost per bit can be achieved using off-the-shelf components. The migration to 40G is relatively straightforward for developers, especially when working with a system integrator. The open specification and modular approach to ATCA platforms, using standard building blocks, allows developers to choose to upgrade only those components that will impact the performance of their particular system. Application-ready 40G ATCA platforms enable telecom equip-ment providers to dramatically reduce the time to market for new systems and deliver significantly higher returns on investment. By using 40G ATCA platforms, network equipment providers can build scalable systems that deliver lower cost per bit today and allow mobile network operators to invest in a mobile infrastructure that is ready for the dramatic increase in mobile video that will be driven by subscribers over the next three to four years.

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