Implementing IP Services at the Network Edge

A new type of internetworking device is changing the way Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and carriers deploy services. The Internet Protocol Services Switch (IPSS) platform offers improved service over traditional routers, and Implementing IP Services at the Network Edge is the timely, implementation-focused guide to helping ISPs and carriers get to this "edge" of networking capability and up to the forefront of today's competitive market.

The edge is the point where the network joins various access technologies such as DSL, cable, and wireless connections with the high-speed routed and optical core. It is at that strategic network position where a provider has subscriber identity and can apply value-added services before passing off all traffic to the core. The IPSS platform builds on the basic capabilities of the traditional router, but also offers, among many others, the following advantages:

• Residential broadband subscriber aggregation and management
• Adaptation of Frame Relay-based business into an IP backbone
• Sophisticated firewalling
• IPSec-based and MPLS-based VPNs
• Content management

Through implementation examples from actual provider networks, Implementing IP Services at the Network Edge shows readers how this technology can maximize new mass-market broadband deployments. The authors provide insight into provisioning capabilities, types of services, and various access technologies; and they also explain Internet architecture, regulations, types of ISPs and carriers and how they fit into the network, and market projections for subscriber services. Offering expanded services to customers garners increased revenue and lower subscriber turnover, and gives subscribers more affordable and sophisticated services.

Today's ISPs and carriers are faced with an increasingly competitive and commodity-driven market for which they must provide high-value IP services. This book is the practical and definitive tool for maintaining the "edge" in today's demanding internetworking environment.

A new type of internetworking device is changing the way Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and carriers deploy services. The Internet Protocol Services Switch (IPSS) platform offers improved service over traditional routers, and Implementing IP Services at the Network Edge is the timely, implementation-focused guide to helping ISPs and carriers get to this "edge" of networking capability and up to the forefront of today's competitive market.

The edge is the point where the network joins various access technologies such as DSL, cable, and wireless connections with the high-speed routed and optical core. It is at that strategic network position where a provider has subscriber identity and can apply value-added services before passing off all traffic to the core. The IPSS platform builds on the basic capabilities of the traditional router, but also offers, among many others, the following advantages:

• Residential broadband subscriber aggregation and management
• Adaptation of Frame Relay-based business into an IP backbone
• Sophisticated firewalling
• IPSec-based and MPLS-based VPNs
• Content management

Through implementation examples from actual provider networks, Implementing IP Services at the Network Edge shows readers how this technology can maximize new mass-market broadband deployments. The authors provide insight into provisioning capabilities, types of services, and various access technologies; and they also explain Internet architecture, regulations, types of ISPs and carriers and how they fit into the network, and market projections for subscriber services. Offering expanded services to customers garners increased revenue and lower subscriber turnover, and gives subscribers more affordable and sophisticated services.

Today's ISPs and carriers are faced with an increasingly competitive and commodity-driven market for which they must provide high-value IP services. This book is the practical and definitive tool for maintaining the "edge" in today's demanding internetworking environment.

Table of Contents

Foreword.
Preface.
1. The New IP Services Network: The Importance of the Network Edge.
2. Broadband Access Technologies: Physical Connectivity.
3. Security and Tunneling Technologies: The Services Enablers.
4. Higher-Layer Technologies.
5. The IPSS and Its Role in Service Provisioning.
6. Deploying Basic Services.
7. Deploying Higher-Layer Services.
8. Deployment Examples.
Appendix. Resources.
Glossary.
Bibliography.