The Acreo National Broadband Test bed - joint initiative
loa.andersson@acreo.se
evgeny.vanin@acreo.se
A high technology meeting place
The Acreo National Broadband Test bed was initiated as a joint initiative of Swedish public authorities, industry and research institutions. It is built to assist Swedish industry in a broad sense, i.e. vendors, operators, service providers and research, in the area of next generation broadband technologies and services. The idea is to create an environment where the test bed partners can perform various types of test and experiments. The means to do this is to build a true broadband multi-vendor and multi provider network with nodes in Stockholm and Hudiksvall.
The test bed and the discussions and activities around it serve as a meeting place for experts in the area in general and the test bed partners in particular. One aspect of this is a series of networking technology seminars that are organized by Acreo and held 8-10 times a year. We have had a very good turn out of world leading experts presenting the area of their expertise.
Among the result from the test bed there are feedback and test reports to vendors, contributions to standards organizations and initiative for research projects at Swedish universities.
Test activities
The activities in the test bed today range from advanced high-speed transmission experiments to long term use of e.g. triple-play services in home environment and to controlled interoperations tests in lab environment. The test bed is built to quickly accommodate new equipment, software and services, and we can perform a long series of different test, anything from test of networking equipment, protocol tests and evaluation of advanced end-user and network services. Activities that relate to tests of access networks technologies are performed in Hudiksvall in cooperation with the metro network (Hudiksvalls Stadsnät) and in Stockholm in cooperation with e.g. the network owned by Svenska Bostäder. Tests on high-speed transmission technologies take place on dedicated fibers between Hudiksvall and Stockholm. A test bed for GMPLS is built with several nodes in the Stockholm area. The test bed also provides possibilities to test new and advanced end-user services, such tests are performed both in Stockholm and Hudiksvall. These aspects of the test bed are discussed in four separate sections found in this issue of Aperturen.
The test bed is not limited to strict technical or technology test; the results will also be used to measure end-user experiences of services and to develop new business models.
Open Networks
One aspect that has had huge impact on how, where and why we build the test bed is the concept of open networks. In future broadband communication networks, users shall have the possibility to choose freely among available services and service providers. An open network is defined as a network where an end-user could get access to services offered by any service provider, and where the service providers have equal possibilities to deliver services to all end-users. The open network concept brings new requirements on network management and operations structure, and drives the development of new business models for the broadband communication industry. Acreo works with technology, business models, services and standards to make open networks become a reality.
Services we can offer
Acreo can take vendor equipment into the lab and perform lab-tests. The services we can offer our test bed partners are far more than standard laboratory and interoperability tests. We are able to test equipment over time in an environment that is often even more stressful than the operational environment in existing networks. We can do this either as a project involving two parties, Acreo and the customer, or we can involve several parties that share the results.
EU-projects
Acreo’s competence in the photonics area, the results and experiences gained from the test bed have made Acreo an attractive partner in research projects initiated as part of the technical program in the European Union. Acreo is currently active in three main EU-projects addressing different aspects of the technology and the architecture we are using in the test bed:
MUPBED - Multi-Partner European Test Beds for Research Networking, a project that focuses on interconnecting five European test beds performing GMPLS related tests.
NOBEL - Next generation Optical networks for Broadband European Leadership, a project that focuses on analysis, feasibility studies and experimental activities on innovative architectures, technologies solutions and for core and metro networks supporting broadband services.
MUSE - Multi Service Access Everywhere, a project focusing on future multi-service access technologies.
Standardization and Conferences
Acreo is currently active in the IETF, the organization that specifies the GMPLS technology. Acreo employees have contributed to several RFCs and Internet-Drafts in the area and also hold positions in the key working groups. As it is likely that distribution of both TV and HDTV will be one of the major services in the type of network Acreo test bed represents we are active in VQEG, an independent expert group that assists ITU.
The Acreo test bed has been presented at several industrial conferences both in Europe and the US. One example of an international cooperation is between Acreo and Isocore. Isocore is a research institute that performs leading code tests; i.e. takes the comparatively untested code from vendors and does interoperability tests. Isocore also organizes one of the most advanced annual MPLS conferences, where the Acreo test bed has been presented.
Results
The results from our tests so far are very promising. We have been able to show triple play services delivered over IP and Ethernet, and over different physical media with equal quality of service and end-user acceptance. We have shown interoperability between high end routers and GMPLS enabled optical cross connects, and we have demonstrated operability of a 40 Gbit/s WDM system on standard fiber over 800 km.