SCTE Tampa Chapter VoIP Overview 11 November 2004 Kevin OBrien Business Director, VoIP CPE

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SCTE Tampa ChapterVoIP Overview11 November
2004Kevin OBrienBusiness Director, VoIP CPE
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Agenda

• Cable VoIP Market Comments
• Cable VoIP System Components and Architecture
• PacketCable Technology Overview

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Some Comments on VoIP

• VoIP is expected to serve 15 million North
  American Cable Subscribers by 2009
• Kinetic Strategies Sept 2004
• Cable Provided Internet-phone calling (VoIP)
  could be as big a hit as high-speed Internet
  Access.
• Steve Burke, President Comcast Cable
• Competition in all sectors is heating up and we
  need all three services (video, data, voice) up
  an running. Thats what Wall Street is looking
  for. Its a window of opportunity, and the
  longer you delay, the less of a claim you get on
  the market. Were in a period of deliberate
  haste.
• Mark Barber, VP Telephony Charter Comm.

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CATV and Telco operators continue to fight over
the HSD business
CATV Operators
!
?
Broadcast/Pay TV
Data
Telephony
Future Battles!
Current Battle!
Future Battles!
?
Telco Operators
Telephony
Data
S/VOD DVR
Broadcast/Pay TV
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Why When MSOs will Deploy VoIP

• Why
• Competitive pressure from Satellite Telcos
• Bundle deals to subscribers
• Churn reduction
• 3rd leg of top line revenue growth EBITDA
• Favorable cost structure (FCF 2-3 years)
• Service their debt
• Take up for slack as HSD and video penetration
  rates decline
• When
• Now Many cable operators have full scale
  deployments underway or plan with by the end of
  the year.
• Soon Most all cable operators are expected to
  have voice deployments by the end of 2005

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Cable VoIP Market
Cable VoIP market really takes off in 2005
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Cable VoIP Market
Source Kinetics Strategies Sept 04
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Cable VoIP Market
Source Kinetics Strategies Sept 04
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Cable VoIP Market
Source Kinetics Strategies Sept 04
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Voice System Components and Architecture
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VoIP Network Types- VoIP using a traditional
Class 5 Switch
VoIPNetwork
Traditional PSTN Network
SS7 Network
STP
EMTA
DOCSIS 2.0 or 1.1
V5.2 or GR303Gateway
HFC Plant
Class 5 Switch
EMTA
DNS
DHCP
TFTP
TOD
KDC
Media Servers
Provisioning Servers
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VoIP Network Types- VoIP using a Softswitch
Traditional PSTN Network
VoIPNetwork
Signaling Gateway
CMS/ SoftSwitch
SS7 Network
STP
EMTA
DOCSIS 2.0 or 1.1
Media Gateway
HFC Plant
EMTA
MSO Managed IP Backbone
DNS
DHCP
TFTP
TOD
KDC
Provisioning and Billing Servers
Media Servers
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VoIP System Components- CMS
CMS Call Management Server (a.k.a. Softswitch)
A PacketCable qualified device that provides call
control signaling to route calls, provide
advanced call features and control telephony
conditional access functions. Currently Cisco,
Syndeo, Nortel, Cedarpoint, Telcordia, Siemens
provide PacketCable qualified devices.
(Typical Sun Hardware Platform)
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VoIP System Components- PacketCable CMTS
CMTS Cable Modem Termination System A
PacketCable qualified device that provides RF
termination, mac layer control, IP routing, and
Gate Control functions for Telephony conditional
access. Note PacketCable requires additional
functionality beyond normal CMTS DOCSIS
functionality. Many DOCSIS CMTS equipment models
are not PacketCable qualified. Currently Cisco,
Terayon, Motorola, Arris and ADC provide
PacketCable qualified CMTS devices.
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VoIP System Components- EMTA (Embedded Media
Terminal Adapter)
EMTA - A DOCSIS CPE device supporting one or more
lines of telephone service and high-speed data,
while complying with the PacketCable
specifications. Battery back-up options are
available to allow for telephony service during
loss of AC power. Scientific-Atlanta, Arris,
Motorola, Ambit, and Cisco-Linksys have products
that have been PacketCable certified with DOCSIS
2.0.
DPX2203
DPX2203B withoptional battery pack
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VoIP System Components- Media Gateway
Media Gateway (MG) - A PacketCable qualified
device that provides an interface between VoIP
technology and traditional PSTN TDM circuits (T1,
T3, STM1). This device converts the contents of
voice packets to/from voice content in TDM
frames. Currently Nuera, Audiocodes, and General
Bandwidth provide PacketCable qualified MG
devices.
(Nuera MG shown)
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VoIP System Components- Signaling Gateway
Signaling Gateway (SG) - A device that provides
an signaling interface between the PacketCable
CMS and the SS7 signaling network used by
traditional telephony networks. This signaling
interface transfers call routing information and
supports database transactions for advanced
features such as Local Number Portability, Caller
ID delivery over long distance networks,
toll-free number lookup and transport of calling
card verification data. Currently Cisco, Intel
and others provide SG devices designed for
PacketCable networks. No SG devices are
currently PacketCable qualified.
(Sun Netra 1405 Hardware Platform used by the
Cisco SG product)
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VoIP System Components- Other Servers
- Provisioning Server
Provisioning Server - A software based server
that provides PacketCable compliant
configuration data for EMTAs. This device
typically also provides other network services
including DNS, DHCP, NTP, and Log Server
functions. Currently Alopa, Sigma, Cisco and
Ceon provide Provisioning Server software.
(Typical Sun Hardware Platform)
- Key Distribution Server
Key Distribution Server (KDC) - A software based
server that provides PacketCable compliant key
management for telephony conditional access.
Currently Alopa and IPfonix provide KDC Server
software.
(Typical Sun Hardware Platform)
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VoIP Network Topology
CMS Site
City A
DNS
Billing System
CUST. DB
DHCP
PSTN
TFTP
TOD
KDC
SS7 Network
CMS/ SoftSwitch
Regional Data Ctr
GW Site
GW Site
Headend B
Headend C
DPX2203 EMTA
Managed IP Backbone
PacketCable CMTS
PacketCable CMTS
HFC Plant
HFC Plant
Media SRV
Media SRV
PSTN
CITY B
CITY C
CITY D
911 CTR
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PacketCable Technology Overview
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PacketCable / EuroPacketCable

• PacketCable and EuroPacketCable define the
  dominant standards Telephony over Cable using
  VoIP.
• Other implementations (SIP, H.323, etc) do not
  provide a complete solution for robust operation
  and guaranteed high quality service.

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PacketCable / EuroPacketCable

• The PacketCable and EuroPacketCable
  specifications define
• Secure Dynamic Quality of Service- Guarantees
  bandwidth for voice calls- Makes sure non paying
  customers dont steal service
• Secure Provisioning- Makes sure that all
  operational devices are authorized.-
  Unauthorized devices cannot get service
• Encryption for Voice Signaling- Ensures privacy
  for dialed and received call information
• Encryption for Voice Content- Ensures privacy
  for conversations
• Specifications for Call Signaling and Call
  Content- Allows multiple vendor products to work
  in the same network
• PacketCable / EuroPacketCable Certification-
  Helps to ensure that certified vendor products
  meet the specs.

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VoIP Critical Technologies- DOCSIS and
PacketCable
The CableLabs/tComLabs specifications for DOCSIS
/ EuroDOCSIS and PacketCable / EuroPacketCable
form the building block specifications for most
VoIP over Cable implementations.
VoIP Signaling and telephony applications,
Secure Dynamic Quality of Service, Device
Authentication, Encryption
PacketCable 1.0
More upstream bandwidth - 38Mbps / 30 Mbps
upstream
DOCSIS 2.0
More upstream bandwidth - 38Mbps / 10 Mbps
upstream,Enhanced Quality of Service, CM
Authentication, Secure software download
DOCSIS 1.1
Basic Transport - 38Mbps downstream / 5 Mbps
upstreamBaseline Privacy
DOCSIS 1.0
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VoIP Critical Technologies- DQOS
Dynamic Quality of Service (DQoS) A method to
provide robust guaranteed transport of Voice
Packets over PacketCable networks. Since Voice
Packets receive guaranteed transport over DOCSIS
networks, VoIP can share bandwidth with best
effort traffic from other applications such as
web, email, etc.
VoIP and Signaling traffic are transported
without any packet loss or increased delay, but
Web and other low priority traffic slow due to
traffic load.
100 Bandwidth Usage 0
Unused
Signaling
WebTraffic
Signaling
VoIP
VoIP
Heavy traffic load
Light traffic load
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VoIP Critical Technologies- Conditional Access
Conditional Access for Telephony A method to
provide service only to paying telephony
customers. Uses public/private key exchange
mechanisms to authenticate network devices and
provide service only to authorized devices.
Policies are enforced at CMTS and CMS
devices. CMS will setup calls only for authorized
devices CMTS will provide Dynamic Quality of
Service guarantees only for authorized devices
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VoIP Critical Technologies- Call Signaling
Call Signaling is used to control call setup and
tear down and transmit events such as off-hook,
DTMF dialing, hang-up. It is also used to
command EMTAs to supply dial tone, ringing and
enable other tones and signals. PacketCable uses
MGCP/NCS protocol for call signaling. This is a
Master/Slave server based protocol with the MSOs
CMS acting as the network master device. SIP
is another competing call signaling protocol used
in enterprise (PBX) based voice networks and also
used by PC users for free internet phone calls.
It is based on a peer to peer service model.
Some operators (Vonage, ATT CallVantage) use SIP
over cable networks but SIP is unable to offer
Dynamic Quality of Service for reliable operation
in heavily loaded conditions.
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VoIP Critical Technologies- Call Content
- Encryption
Encryption is used to provide security for
telephone calls and call signaling information to
ensure that telephone calls and dialed phone
numbers remain private.
- Audio Compression
System operators can select from a variety of
audio Coder / Decoder (CODEC) algorithms used to
digitize the telephone audio. By selecting the
right CODEC, operators can choose their desired
balance between high quality and low bandwidth
voice delivery. The most popular CODEC (G.711)
delivers toll quality voice and has no analog
impairments to add noise, attenuation or
crosstalk. This often results in slightly better
quality audio than available from traditional
telephone systems.
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VoIP Critical Technologies- Emergency calls and
Wire Tapping
- E911 / 112 / 119 / 110
Emergency calls to Ambulance, Fire or Police must
be supported. Enhanced 911 (E911) service can be
used to route 911 emergency calls to local
fire/police/EMT stations in the US while
providing the location of callers to local
authorities. In other counties specific
regulations regarding 112 / 119 / 110 service
must be supported.
- Wire Tapping
The Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement
Act (CALEA) mandates that Telephony Service
Providers in the US deliver real time call detail
records and audio content to authorized law
enforcement agencies upon court order.
Substantial daily fines can be levied against
operators that delay or dont comply. Other
countries have similar regulations.
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VoIP Network Architectures- MSO Challenges

• Testing and product qualification
• MSO testing of VoIP system products in their
  environment to ensure interoperability and robust
  operation.
• Training
• Training for system operators, installers and
  CSRs to offer telephony service. Training on
  product specific EMTA provisioning methods is
  especially important.
• Upstream DOCSIS Bandwidth
• Some sites will need to split upstream nodes
  and/or move to DOCSIS 2.0 to increase available
  DOCSIS upstream bandwidth. DOCSIS 2.0 increases
  the maximum upstream bandwidth, but requires a
  cleaner plant to operate at faster speeds.
• Automated Provisioning and Billing
• Need for a complete flow-through system for CSRs
  to add, change delete subscribers and review
  update subscriber billing information.
  Liberate/Sigma, Alopa Cisco, and Ceon are the
  industry leaders but are still working to
  integrate their software with other devices and
  databases.

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VoIP Network Topology
CMS Site
City A
DNS
Billing System
CUST. DB
DHCP
PSTN
TFTP
TOD
KDC
SS7 Network
CMS/ SoftSwitch
Regional Data Ctr
GW Site
GW Site
Headend B
Headend C
DPX2203 EMTA
Managed IP Backbone
PacketCable CMTS
PacketCable CMTS
HFC Plant
HFC Plant
Media SRV
Media SRV
PSTN
CITY B
CITY C
CITY D
911 CTR
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• Thank you!

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Appendix

• VoIP Glossary of Terms

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VoIP Terminology

• BE - Border Element, Used to translate
  protocols between various architectures
• CALEA Communications Assistance for Law
  Enforcement Act. This is a federal law that
  requires telephone operators to support wire
  tapping if a court order is issued. Wire tapping
  must be supported for both call content (audio)
  and call detail (dialed number, call duration,
  etc)
• Class 4 Switch - Telephone switch used only for
  long distance call switching. Does not have
  calling features to support connections to
  subscribers (Must use a class 5 switch to connect
  to subscribers). Also known as a 4e switch.
• Class 5 Switch - Large telephone switch that has
  full calling features to support user
  connections. Also known as a 5e switch.
• Class Features - Used as a generic term to
  describe advanced call features like caller ID,
  call waiting, 3 way calling and call forwarding.
• CBR - Constant Bit Rate. Used by older voice
  over cable networks to transport voice traffic.
• CCE ATT acronym for Call Control Element (Also
  known as CMS or Softswitch).
• CM - DOCSIS Cable Modem.
• CMS - Call Management Server. Often called a
  softswitch. Controls the audio/video call
  connections. Also called a Call Agent.
• CMTS - Cable Modem Termination System. The device
  at a cable head-end which implements the DOCSIS
  RFI MAC protocol and connects to CMs over an HFC
  network.
• CODEC - COder-DECoder Defines the algorithm used
  to code/decode analog voice signals to digital
  bit streams.

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VoIP Terminology

• DQOS - Dynamic Quality of Service. DQoS is used
  to create quality of service transport guarantees
  dynamically on a per call basis. DQoS is used
  in PacketCable networks to ensure low latency and
  guaranteed bandwidth for each phone call on a
  DOCSIS network. If the DOCSIS network becomes
  congested, DQoS is used to make sure that VoIP
  call flows are not impacted. Bandwidth that is
  not needed by high priority DQoS packet flows can
  be used for lower priority packets flows such web
  surfing and email.
• DHCP Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol.
  DHCP servers are used to assign IP addresses and
  other configuration parameters to network
  devices.
• DNS - Domain Name Server. Used to translate
  internet names (www.sciatl.com) to IP addresses.
• EMTA - Embedded MTA, A hardware device that
  includes both an MTA and a Cable Modem in the
  same unit. Example is the SA model DPX2203.
• H.323 - An older ISO standard for transmitting
  and controlling audio and video information.
  Also used as a call signaling method that
  competes with MGCP, SIP, etc. Cisco sells this
  aggressively into the enterprise VoIP market.
• IVR - Interactive Voice Response System used
  for voice mail etc.
• ILEC Incumbant Local Exchange Carrier (Bell
  South, Verizon, etc)
• LATA Local Access and Transport Area Geographic
  divisions in the PSTN. Georgia has several
  LATAs.
• LNP - Local Number Portability. Used to transfer
  a subscribers phone number to another telephone
  operator when the subscriber switches to another
  telephone provider and wants to keep the original
  phone number. (Available today for traditional
  telephone service. Should be available for cell
  phone subscribers by late 2003)

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VoIP Terminology

• MEGACO - Media Gateway Control IETF working
  group. Newer version of MGCP. Not widely used.
• Media Gateway (MG) - provides the bearer circuit
  interfaces from a VoIP network to the PSTN and
  transcodes the media stream.. Also known as a
  Trunking Gateway.
• Media Server Provides applications such as
  System Announcements (The number you have dialed
  has been disconnected or is not in service.
  Please check the number and dial again.), voice
  mail, multi-party conferencing, etc.
• MGCP - Media Gateway Control Protocol. A call
  signaling protocol used to setup, modify and
  terminate telephone calls. PacketCable uses a
  form of MGCP known as NCS (See NCS).
• MIB - Management Information Base (SNMP data
  structure)
• MPLS Multi Protocol Label Switching Used on
  the ATT backbone network to make routers in the
  network more efficient and also provide QOS.
• MTA - Media Terminal Adapter, A hardware device
  that contains the interface to the physical
  telephony or video equipment, a network
  interface, CODECs, and all signaling and
  encapsulation functions required for VOIP
  transport, class features signaling, and QoS
  signaling. Also sometimes called a TA. In the
  cable industry a device is called either an EMTA
  or SMTA (see EMTA and SMTA)
• NCS - Network Call Signaling used in PacketCable
  , Roughly a subset of the MGCP protocol. Also
  known as MGCP/NCS. Also known as the NCS Profile
  of MGCP.
• Off-Net Call - Call connecting a VoIP telephony
  subscriber to a telephony subscriber on the PSTN
• On-Net Call - Call placed by one subscriber to
  another subscriber entirely on a VoIP Network

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VoIP Terminology

• OSS - Operations Systems Support. The back office
  software used for configuration, performance,
  fault, accounting and security management of a
  network.
• PacketCable - An initiative from CableLabs to
  develop VoIP specifications for cable operators
  and to test products for certification. (Recent
  PacketCable projects are focusing on applications
  other than voice include Multimedia, Real Time
  Gaming and may include Video Conferencing in a
  future spec.
• PacketCable 1.0 A set of specifications
  focused on VoIP telephone calls within one
  PacketCable Domain. Calls that need to connect
  beyond one PacketCable Domain are converted to
  travel on the PSTN long distance network.
• PacketCable 1.2 A future set of specifications
  focused on VoIP call connections between
  PacketCable domains. This technology would save
  money for operators by eliminating the need to
  put some calls on the PSTN long distance network.
  SIP is used in PacketCable 1.2 as the call
  control protocol between PacketCable domains.
  MGCP/NCS is used for call control within a
  PacketCable domain.
• PacketCable Domain The part of a PacketCable
  network that is controlled by a single CMS or
  Softswitch.
• PacketCable Multimedia A spec issued in June of
  2003 focused on applications other than voice
  that need DQoS such as real time gaming and
  video conferencing
• PBX Private Branch Exchange, A business
  telephone switch
• PRI Primary Rate Interface A 4 wire PSTN trunk
  supporting 23 voice channels or up to 1.5Mbps
  data transport. A PRI connection is similar to a
  T1 connection but uses 1 voice channel for out of
  band signaling for more advanced services and
  better audio quality. (Also see T1) (Also see
  Trunk)
• PSTN - Public Switched Telephone Network. The
  legacy telephone network.

37
VoIP Terminology

• QoS - Quality of Service. QoS is a generic term
  for one of several methods to guarantee network
  bandwidth for applications. QoS is typically
  used to make sure voice call traffic is
  transported through a network with minimal delay
  and packet loss while limiting traffic from other
  applications to provide bandwidth for voice.
  (Also see DQOS).
• RTP - Real Time Protocol, a protocol for
  encapsulating encoded voice and video streams
  into IP packets.
• SIP - Session Initiation Protocol - A call
  signaling protocol used to setup, modify and
  terminate phone calls. This protocol competes
  with other call signaling protocols like MGCP/NCS
  and H.323.
• SMTA - Standalone MTA a hardware device that
  contains an MTA but does NOT include a DOCSIS
  modem or other transport. Typically connected to
  a Cable Modem via Ethernet. There is not a
  standard way to ensure QOS for SMTAs on a DOCSIS
  network today. A new specification is being
  written to address QOS for SMTAs and should be
  issued by end of year 2003. (See QOS)
• SNMP - Simple Network Management Protocol. Used
  to manage network elements.
• SS7 - Signaling System number 7 A network used
  in traditional telephone networks to transport
  out of band call switching information (to route
  calls on the long distance network) and request
  information (for example caller ID information or
  calling card verification information) Also used
  to describe the architecture and set of protocols
  for performing out-of-band call signaling within
  a telephone network.
• T1 Trunk - A particular type of trunk used to
  transport up to 24 voice calls or up to 1.544
  Mbps of data over a 4 wire interface. The T1
  interface is also known as a DS1 interface.
  (also see PRI) (also see Trunk)
• TDM Time Domain Multiplexing. TDM is often
  used as a generic term to denote a type of PSTN
  trunks using TDM technology. The term TDM
  literally describes a method to time domain
  multiplex data over a single transport. Examples
  of TDM trunks include T1, DS1, DS3.
• Trunk - An analog or digital connection from a
  circuit switch which carries telephone calls.
  Older trunks may also carry telephony signaling.
  Used to connect a Class 5 switch or Class 4
  switch to another switch. Also used though a
  Media Gateway to transport voice calls to/from a
  VoIP network. Also used to connect PBX equipment
  to a Class 5 switch.
• UM Unified Messaging. UM is a generic term for
  a set of applications that can integrate various
  types of messaging applications. Examples
  include Caller ID display on TV and Voice mail
  delivery by Email.