LMS4000 Open Access. White Paper. Introduction

Transcription

1 LMS4000 Open Access White Paper Introduction WaveRider LMS4000 wireless broadband systems now enable Open Access Networking, which allows operators of WaveRider networks to give other service providers access to their networks to re-sell broadband services in their markets. As Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPS) expand in their markets, they are looking for innovative ways to expand their business model and generate revenue. Open Access enables WaveRider customers to leverage the investment in their infrastructure by reselling access to their network to other service providers who have limited broadband options. This new structure, which we refer to as the Retail Internet Service Provider or RISP business model, offers a new revenue stream for the network operator, and provides a costeffective way for local ISPs to deliver wireless broadband services in their markets. In the Open Access scenario the RISP buys network capacity from the operator of an LMS4000 system to offer its own branded wireless broadband services. This is particularly attractive to national or regional ISPs who do not want to own the infrastructure to provide broadband services to their existing dial-up customers. WISPs operating LMS4000 systems can offer these RISPs the opportunity to offer broadband services to their own customers under their own brand. The open access model is also attractive to municipal governments and public utility companies that recognize the need for broadband in their community, and have the resources to deploy a network, but wish to partner with local companies to manage the delivery of services to the subscribers. WaveRider s open access feature was introduced with the company s Version 5.0 software release for its Last Mile Solution non-line-of-sight wireless broadband systems. This product upgrade offers more efficient use of registered IP addresses, supporting up to eight IP address subnets and enhanced remote administration capabilities. The network gives RISPs control over IP address assignment, subscriber management and accounting and billing.

2 LMS4000 Open Access Page 2 Open Access and its Benefits Open Access offers a number of benefits to different types of operators as outlined below: WISPs the challenge that many WISPs face is expanding their customer base to take advantage of the full capacity of their wireless broadband networks. WISPs would frequently like to expand the utilization of their networks in areas currently served, or even expand such service areas to include smaller markets in areas where they do not have a physical presence. Open Access enables WISPs to resell access to other ISPs in their coverage area, including new marketing channel partners in new service areas. It provides a win-win situation for the host WISP and the RISP. The RISP takes on the responsibility and costs for acquiring, supporting and managing new broadband customers. The RISP benefits by being able to offer broadband services to new customers, or existing dial-up customers, under its own brand without investing in any infrastructure. The WISP in turn is able to generate more revenue from its existing system through one or more RISP customers, without the need to support individual users. Municipalities the now famous Digital Divide has resulted in thousands of smaller communities and rural regions not having access to high-speed Internet services. This lack impacts business development, population growth, and educational opportunities for residents. Municipalities are often the only organizations capable of and motivated to invest in the necessary infrastructure to support such services, using their assets of access to capital, ownership of key infrastructure such as buildings, rooftops, water towers, etc., and organizational structures that can plan and implement construction projects. However, there are certain impediments that can impact the ability of Municipalities to carry out such a project, including: Regulatory restrictions imposed at the State level limiting the ability of Municipalities to compete with private interests Potential risks to the municipal ratepayers of capital investments in nontraditional municipal services Lack of willingness or organizational ability of the Municipality to provide all of the actual Internet services required of a modern ISP, including mail servers, data caching, advanced services such as video and VOIP, security, billing and general individual user management and support.

3 LMS4000 Open Access Page 3 These impediments can be readily addressed by an Open Access model of providing high-speed Internet services. In this model, the Municipality can take maximum advantage of its infrastructure strengths, but sell access to the infrastructure on a wholesale basis to RISPs, who can then build their own business and customer base based on competing or complementary service offerings. This Open Access model addresses many of the previously identified benefits and impediments: Municipalities can remove the capital investment barrier to providing highspeed Internet services to their populations. Municipalities can directly benefit from a broad coverage, wireless highspeed Internet access system for internal business communications, such as required by maintenance, planning, or emergency response departments Depending on their regulatory environment, municipalities can choose to o act solely as a wholesale infrastructure owner/management entity. In addition to the public benefits of having broader access to highspeed Internet services, the revenues received from the actual service providers can defray or completely cover the costs of the network. o directly offer ISP services on a competitive basis with RISPs that are provided fair and equal access to the high-speed network. Public Utilities Public Utilities frequently see high-speed Internet as a natural extension of their existing business infrastructure. Utilities typically have extensive data and voice communications networks of their own, operate over extended geographic areas, have access rights, tower facilities, and extensive technical know-how. Their facilities are close to many population centres, both large and small, and they have existing customer billing and technical support capabilities. Depending on the ownership structure of the Utility, the interest in providing high-speed Internet services may be as a means to realize additional revenue from their existing infrastructure, or as a public service offering to further the goals and ambitions of underserved residents. However, regulatory restrictions on the operating mandate of the Public Utility can restrict some aspects of providing such services, including: Regulatory restrictions against a Utility providing non-traditional services to its customer base

4 LMS4000 Open Access Page 4 Regulatory restrictions limiting the ability of Utilities supported by public financing to compete with private interests Potential risks associated with entering a new and different service business, that requires extensive investment in ISP back-end capabilities such as servers, security systems, etc. These impediments can be readily addressed by the Open Access model of providing high-speed Internet services. In this model, the Public Utility can take maximum advantage of its infrastructure strengths, but sell access to the infrastructure on a wholesale basis to RISPs, who can then build their own business and customer base based on competing or complementary service offerings. This model addresses many of the previous identified benefits and impediments: Public Utilities can take advantage of their infrastructure and organizational strengths to develop another revenue stream either from selling access to the network, selling high-speed Internet services to individual customers, or a combination of both. Public Utilities will directly benefit from a broad coverage, wireless highspeed Internet access system for internal business communications, such as required by monitoring, maintenance, planning, or emergency response departments Depending on their particular regulatory or internal restrictions, Public Utilities can: o act solely as a wholesale infrastructure owner/management entity. In addition to the public benefits of having broader access to highspeed Internet services, the revenues received from the actual service providers can defray or completely cover the costs of the network. o Directly offer ISP services on a competitive basis with RISPs that are provided fair and equal access to the high-speed network. Especially for Public Utilities that cover broad geographic regions, this model allows local channel partners to build revenues on the network, while supporting local business development.

5 LMS4000 Open Access Page 5 As a result of the large variation in business and regulatory scenarios that can be encountered, the LMS4000 system has been designed to incorporate a wide range of optional operational needs, as described below.

6 LMS4000 Open Access Page 6 LMS4000 Overview Figure 1 The LMS 4000 Network The LMS MHz Radio Network provides wireless high-speed Internet connectivity to business, SOHO (small office, home office) and residential customers. LMS4000 operates in a point-to-multipoint configuration, with one base station efficiently serving many subscriber stations. LMS4000 transmission is based on a high-performance MAC protocol and industry standard IP routing and Ethernet switching technology. No radio license is required, since the LMS4000 operates in the 900 MHz ISM band. The LMS4000 can deliver Internet service over long ranges and often where the radio paths between the base station and subscribers are partially or even total obscured, that is, non-line-ofsight. Connection between the end-user s computer and the subscriber station is through an Ethernet port. Figure 2 shows the architecture of the LMS4000 Network. As shown in figure 2, the network consists of three major network nodes, the Network Access Point

7 LMS4000 Open Access Page 7 (NAP), the Communications Access Point (CAP) and the End User Modem (EUM). The NAP represents the collection of system and customer management systems that are used to administer the network. Key elements of a NAP will include some or all of the following elements: A router that connects the LMS4000 Network to the Internet A Dynamic Host Control Protocol (DHCP) server that assigns IP addresses to user equipment when such equipment appears on the network A Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) manager that allows for automated collection of key system performance information A Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) server that allows for the remote setting of key customer service parameters and collection of accounting information Although the NAP is shown here as a single entity with all elements co-located, this is not necessarily the case, and portions of the NAP can be distributed at different locations interconnected through the Internet. The CAP represents the access point for a wireless coverage region. The CAP radio modem (CCU) provides access to up to 300 EUMs and the coverage for a CCU can be omni-directional or sectored, with up to 4 CCUs per CAP. A typical LMS4000 Network will consist of many CAPs distributed across a broad geographic service area. Each end user site is served by an EUM, which converts the radio signal to an Ethernet interface that can be directly connected to an end user computer, or to a router serving an end user network of computers. EUMs are low cost, easy to install modems that can be end-user or professionally installed in a variety of flexible configurations. This architecture represents the basic configuration that an ISP would use to provide high-speed Internet service to its customers.

8 LMS4000 Open Access Page 8 NMS Station -Subscriber Management -Billing - Authorization - Registration Internet Router Network and Equipment Management NAP Antenna EUM End-user PC To Other CAPs Backhaul (NCL5000, for example) Not part of LMS4000 Antenna Layer 3 - Switching - Routing 10BaseT CCU RFSM CAP Antenna EUM End-user PC 10/100BaseT CCU Antenna Antenna Routing to/from Internet Switch Radio Control - Configuration - Redundancy CCU Back-up CCU Cavity Filters Antenna EUM - Authorization - Registration EUM End-user PC UPS Figure 2 LMS4000 Network Architecture Open Access Requirements Reviewing the broad range of regulatory, legal and practical limitations on such systems, WaveRider has established the Open Access system requirements as follows: 1. The Open Access system must be capable of supporting at least three independent RISP service providers 2. The system must not interfere with the content of any traffic carried over the network by the RISPs 3. Any service differentiation that the system is able to provide must be made available to all RISPs on the same terms

9 LMS4000 Open Access Page 9 4. Service level monitoring at the customer level that the system is able to provide must be available to all RISPs for their own customers on the same terms 5. The system must not favour any RISP service over another 6. Each RISP must be able to control the content of the first screen the customer sees 7. Customers must not have to go through a different service provider to get to their chosen RISP service provider 8. Each RISP must be able to have a direct billing arrangement with the customer 9. Operational procedures of the RISPs must not impede the independent ability of the owner-manager of the LMS4000 network to efficiently administer, control and troubleshoot any problems in the network. The overriding objective of these requirements is to ensure that all RISPs sharing a single network can operate their individual businesses as if they owned the network, independent of any limitations imposed by other users. To meet the identified requirements, there are several necessary system capabilities that have been identified: IP address management Since different RISPs will have different IP address range allocations, the system must support multiple IP address subnets for each CCU Each RISP must be able to independently assign its own customer IP addresses GOS management Since the LMS4000 allows multiple grades of service to be provisioned, with EUMs selectively assigned one of these grades of service per the operating policies of the system manager, each RISP must be able to independently assign its own customers the appropriate grade of service. This includes the ability to deny service, or change a previously assigned grade of service in a timely manner. Traffic Routing The traffic to and from any end user PC must be able to be directly routed through the appropriate RISP s facilities, with no limitation or modification of content

10 LMS4000 Open Access Page 10 Accounting data Each RISP must have automated access to real time end user usage data, including total packets transacted over regular intervals. System performance monitoring RISPs must have the ability to regularly monitor the quality of the radio links to EUMs serving their customers. A Typical Open Access Configuration Figure 3 shows a typical Open Access Network that meets the above requirements, taking advantage of the flexibility of the LMS4000 system. In this system three RISPs are assumed to be offering competing services over a single LMS4000 network. For maximum flexibility, one RISP is shown as operating physically co-located at a CCU base station, while the other two are shown as being remote.

11 LMS4000 Open Access Page 11 Cust. Mgmt RADIUS DHCP Router Internet Router Cust. Mgmt Mail RADIUS DHCP SNMP Mail SNMP RISP C Network RISP A RISP B Network Logical Connection Physical Connection Router Cust. Mgmt Network RADIUS DHCP Mail SNMP DHCP SNMP RADIUS Policy Based Router NAP Router CCU/CAP EUM A System Manager Network EUM B PC A Figure 3 PC B The owner-manager of the network is identified in Figure 3 as the System Manager. This entity has access to and control of all of the network administration, control and troubleshooting features detailed in the LMS4000 documentation. By contrast, the RISPs have selective access to customerrelated administration, control and maintenance functions, as described below.

12 LMS4000 Open Access Page 12 There are three industry standard protocols that are key to the successful implementation of the network: DHCP RADIUS The key to the management of IP addresses is the advanced use of DHCP. Each end user customer accesses the LMS4000 network through a specific EUM, and the EUMID is known to the appropriate ISP. When an end user PC requests an IP address using the DHCP protocol, the DHCP Relay Agent Information option (RFC option 82) implemented at the CCU adds two key pieces of information to the DHCP request: its own identifier and the EUMID through which the IP address request was received. Since all EUMIDs are unique, an option 82 capable DHCP server can identify whether that EUM belongs to its network, and if so, can select an IP address from the appropriate pool for the identified CCU radio sub-network. Since each CCU radio sub-network can support up to 8 IP sub-networks, several ISPs can independently operate over each CCU using their own DHCP Server and IP address allocations. Note that DHCP requests from a CCU can be limited to be sent only to DHCP servers that support EUMs on that particular CCU. Through the use of the LMS4000 DHCP relay function, all RISPs can independently manage their subscriber IP addresses. RADIUS is a powerful protocol supported by the LMS4000 network. Through this protocol, each RISP can manage several key aspects of their LMS4000 subscriber network: Each EUM can be assigned a Grade of Service via a RADIUS database independently managed by each RISP. This GOS can be changed/updated as required, with the update regularly polled by the CCU. Note that this GOS controls the ability of an end user to access the network and the level of service it will be provided The CCU will regularly report basic accounting information for each EUM using the RADIUS protocol. This information includes traffic levels in both directions during specified intervals. The RISP can use this information for billing purposes.

13 LMS4000 Open Access Page 13 SNMP For ease of implementation, it is not required that each RISP administer a full RADIUS application. Rather a single RADIUS server administered by the System Network Manager can automatically link to simpler databases managed by each RISP that provide the required attributes for each RISP s own customer data base. Through the use of the LMS 4000 RADIUS support function, all RISPs can manage the level of access of their subscribers to the network, and collect basic usage (and billing) information. The LMS4000 network supports an extensive set of management tools that can be used to monitor and troubleshoot the network. From the perspective of the service providers, their prime interest is in being able to confirm that the radio link to their subscribers meets minimum performance requirements to assure adequate service. At the same time, the system manager will want to restrict multiple ISP accesses to the radio link, accesses that could impact the capacity or integrity of the system and/or other providers customers. A read-only MIB is provided at the CCU that permits any RISP to obtain key link quality information for each EUM that serves his customers. Specifically this MIB provides the Receive Signal Strength (RSSI), Signal Quality (SQ), and the ratio of RSSI to the Noise Floor (RNA) for the EUM. Comparing these values to accepted norms for the system, or tracking changes in these values can indicate a possible degradation in the radio network for the impacted EUM. Through the use of SNMP and this special enterprise MIB, each RISP can proactively capture radio network problems that may impact his customers, or respond in a timely manner while troubleshooting a customer complaint. Network Routing While the actual backhaul topology selected to access all RISP networks can be based on standard practices for such interconnections, the use of a Policy Based Router (PBR) as the Gateway Router at the POP access point is important to maintaining the integrity of all RISP s service offerings to their respective customers. Using such a PBR allows all traffic, or requests for service, originating from PCs associated with a specific RISP

14 LMS4000 Open Access Page 14 to be routed to the respective RISP s network for further processing. For example, if PC B wanted to access the routing for this traffic could be forced through the RISP B network. Thus, logically, it would be as if the traffic was routed per the dotted line in Figure 1, and provides RISP B the same control over its own traffic as if it owned the LMS4000 network. RISP-unique features such as custom access screens, parental control offerings, etc are all fully compatible with the Open Access configuration. Through the use of Policy Based Routing, the system is transparent to any individual RISP s traffic, and that RISP has full control over the services received by its own customers. Conclusion The LMS4000 Wireless Internet access system includes a variety of advanced capabilities to support Open Access applications. These capabilities address legal, regulatory and financial restraints that can often be associated with attempts to bring high-speed Internet access to underserved populations. Specifically, the WaveRider Open Access capability provides the following Open Access functions: Open Access Function The Open Access system must be capable of supporting at least three independent RISP service providers The system must not interfere with the content of any traffic carried over the network by the RISPs Any service differentiation that the system is able to provide must be made available to all RISPs on the same terms Service level monitoring at the customer level that the system is able to provide must be available to all RISPs for their own customers on the same terms The system must not favour any RISP service over another Each RISP must be able to control the content of the first screen the customer sees Customers must not have to go through a different service provider to get to their chosen RISP service provider Each RISP must be able to have a direct billing arrangement with the customer Operational procedures of the RISPs must not impede the independent ability of the owner-manager of the LMS4000 network to efficiently administer, control and troubleshoot any problems in the network LMS4000

15 LMS4000 Open Access Page 15 Using such an Open Access system, WISPs, Municipalities, Public Utilities, or other groups can work collaboratively to enhance wider access to high-speed Internet access, through a competitive service environment. This white paper has outlined one particular network topology and management system that addresses the requirements of a true Open Access system, but many variations of this implementation are possible. For assistance in implementing such a network, and to discuss other alternatives, please contact your Vecima Networks Representative or Vecima Networks Channel Partner. About is a world-leading designer and manufacturer of over Cable, Digital Video, and Broadband Wireless telecom products. With facilities in Saskatoon and Victoria, Canada, Vecima Networks has achieved remarkable growth in sales, profit, and manpower since its inception in Its strength in engineering and manufacturing is reflected in a large family of high quality, high performance, and very competitive products that are sold worldwide. As a leader in design and manufacture of communications products, the management system of 's Saskatoon facility has been registered to ISO 9001:2004. Vecima Networks is a highly dynamic company that takes pride in innovative solutions which have resulted in an established library of designs. The research and development division of Vecima Networks is dedicated to staying on the cutting edge of emerging technologies. Our product catalogue is continually upgraded and enhanced to serve the dynamic CATV and wireless markets. Vecima Networks takes every measure to provide its customers with the highest level of quality in its products. The latest microwave, RF and digital test equipment is extensively used at every stage of Vecima Networks' manufacturing process to ensure product quality. Vecima Networks' OEM solutions are now integrated into so many leading-edge solutions from the world's technology giants that Vecima Networks is one of the communication industry's best kept secrets Version 3.3, December 28, 2006