Network Working Group M. Vecchi
Request for Comments: 1686 Time Warner Cable
Category: Informational August 1994
IPng Requirements: A Cable Television Industry Viewpoint
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RFC 1686 A Cable Television Industry Viewpoint on IPng August 1994 1. Executive SummaryThis paper provides comments on topics related to the IPng requirements and selection criteria from a cable television industry viewpoint. The perspective taken is to position IPng as a potential internetworking technology to support the global requirements of the future integrated broadband networks that the cable industry is designing and deploying. The paper includes a section describing the cable television industry and outlining the network architectures to support the delivery of entertainment programming and interactive multimedia digital services, as well as telecommunication and data communication services.
2. Cable Television Industry Overview
Cable television networks and the Internet are discovering each other. It looks like a great match for a number of reasons, the available bandwidth being the primary driver. Nonetheless, it seems that the impact of the cable television industry in the deployment of broadband networks and services is still not fully appreciated. This section will provide a quick (and simplified) overview of cable television networks, and explain the trends that are driving future network architectures and services.
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RFC 1686 A Cable Television Industry Viewpoint on IPng August 1994
The cable industry's broadband integrated services network architecture is based on a hierarchical deployment of network elements interconnected by broadband fiber optics and coaxial cable links. In a very simplified manner, the following is a view of this architecture. Starting at the home, a coaxial cable tree-and-branch plant provides broadband two-way access to the network. The local access coaxial cable plant is aggregated at a fiber node, which marks the point in the network where fiber optics becomes the broadband transmission medium. Current deployment is for approximately 500 homes passed by the coaxial cable plant for every fiber node, with variations (from as low as 100 to as many as 3000) that depend on the density of homes and the degree of penetration of broadband services. The multiple links from the fiber nodes reach the headend, which is where existing cable systems have installed equipment for origination, reception and distribution of television programming. The headends are in buildings that can accommodate weather protection and powering facilities, and hence represent the first natural place into the network where complex switching, routing and processing equipment can be conveniently located. Traffic from multiple headends can be routed over fiber optics to regional hub nodes deeper into the network, where capital-intensive functions can be shared in an efficient way.
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RFC 1686 A Cable Television Industry Viewpoint on IPng August 1994
The cable networks are evolving to provide broadband networking capabilities in support of a complete suite of communication services. The Orlando network being built by Time Warner is an example of a Full Service Network(TM) that provides video, audio and data services to the homes. For the trial, ATM is brought to the homes at DS3 rates, and it is expected to go up to OC-3 rates when switch interfaces will be available. This trial in Orlando represents a peek into the way of future cable networks. The Full Service Network uses a "set-top" box in every home to provide the network interface. This "set-top" box, in addition to some specialized modules for video processing, is really a powerful computer in disguise, with a computational power comparable to high-end desktop workstations. The conventional analog cable video channels will be available, but a significant part of the network's RF bandwidth will be devoted to digital services. There are broadband ATM switches in the network (as well as 5E-type switches for telephony), and video servers that include all kinds of movies and information services. An important point to notice is that the architecture of future cable networks maps directly to the way networked computing has developed. General purpose hosts (i.e., the set-top boxes) are interconnected through a broadband network to other hosts and to servers.
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RFC 1686 A Cable Television Industry Viewpoint on IPng August 1994 3. Engineering ConsiderationsThe following comments represent expected requirements of future cable networks, based on the vision of an integrated broadband network that will support a complete suite of interactive video, voice and data services.
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RFC 1686 A Cable Television Industry Viewpoint on IPng August 1994
These time estimates are tentative, of course, and subject to variations depending on economic, technical and public policy factors. Nonetheless, the definition of the IPng capabilities and the availability of implementations should not be delayed beyond the next year, in order to meet the period during which many of the early technological choices for the future deployment of cable networks and services will be made. The full development and deployment of IPng will be, of course, a long period that will be projected beyond the next year. Availability of early implementations will allow experimentation in trials to validate IPng choices and to provide early buy-in from the developers of networking products that will support the planned roll out.
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RFC 1686 A Cable Television Industry Viewpoint on IPng August 1994
It is very important, however, to maintain backwards compatibility with the current IP. There is the obvious argument that the installed technological base developed around IP cannot be neglected under any reasonable evolution scenario. But in addition, one has to keep in mind that a global Internet will be composed of many interconnected heterogeneous networks, and that not all subnetworks, or user communities, will provide the full suite of interactive multimedia services. Interworking between IPng and IP will have to continue for a very long time in the future.
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RFC 1686 A Cable Television Industry Viewpoint on IPng August 1994
The area where IPng would have most impact would be in the interrelated issues of resource reservation, source routing and quality of service control. There will be tension to maintain high quality of service and low network resource usage simultaneously, especially if the users can specify preferred routes through the network. Useful capabilities at the IPng level would enable the network operator, or the user, to effectively monitor and direct traffic in order to meet quality and cost parameters. Similarly, it will be important to dynamically reconfigure the connectivity among end points or the location of specific processes (e.g., to support mobile computing terminals), and the design of IPng should either support, or at least not get in the way of, this capability. Under normal conditions, one would expect that resources for the new routing will be established before the old route is released in order to minimize service interruption. In cases where reconfiguration is in response to abnormal (i.e., failure) conditions, then one would expect longer interruptions in the service, or even loss of service.
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RFC 1686 A Cable Television Industry Viewpoint on IPng August 1994
Two aspects are worth mentioning. First, the quality of service parameters are not known ahead of time, and hence the network will have to include flexible capabilities for defining these parameters. For instance, MPEG-II packetized video might have to be described differently than G.721 PCM packetized voice, although both data streams represent real-time traffic channels. In some cases, it might be appropriate to provide soft guarantees in the quality parameters, whereas in other cases hard guarantees might be required. The tradeoff between cost and quality could be an important capability of future IPng-based networks, but much work needs to be advanced on this.
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RFC 1686 A Cable Television Industry Viewpoint on IPng August 1994
3.8 Policy based routing
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RFC 1686 A Cable Television Industry Viewpoint on IPng August 1994
It is difficult to predict how pervasive the use of IPng and its related technologies might be in future broadband networks. There will be extensive deployment of distributed computing capabilities, both for the user applications and for the network management and operation support systems that will be required. This is the area where IPng could find a firm stronghold, especially as it can leverage on the extensive IP technology available. The extension of IPng to support video and audio real- time applications, with the required performance, quality and cost to be competitive, remains a question to be answered.
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RFC 1686 A Cable Television Industry Viewpoint on IPng August 1994
3.13 Support of communication media
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RFC 1686 A Cable Television Industry Viewpoint on IPng August 1994
3.16 Action items
4. Security Considerations
No comments on general security issues are provided, beyond the considerations presented in the previous subsection 3.4 on network security.
5. Conclusions
The potential for IPng to provide a universal internetworking solution is a very attractive possibility, but there are many hurdles to be overcome. The general acceptance of IPng to support future broadband services will depend on more than the IPng itself. There is need for IPng to be backed by the whole suite of Internet technology that will support the future networks and applications. These technologies must include the adequate support for commercial operation of a global Internet that will be built, financed and administered by many different private and public organizations.
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RFC 1686 A Cable Television Industry Viewpoint on IPng August 1994 6. Author's AddressMario P. Vecchi Time Warner Cable, 160 Inverness Drive West Englewood, CO 80112