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Table Of Contents
Elimination of Overlay Networks
Key Features of Unified Networks
Introduction
Any Service, Any Port
Service providers must meet the demands of users who want access to Internet applications and services at any time, any place—on any device. To meet this need, Cisco introduces its ASAP architecture: Any Service, Any Port. The Cisco ASAP Solution is a unified architecture that allows service providers to deliver integrated data, voice, fax, and mobile wireless services at a profit. At the heart of the solution is the universal gateway, or UG—Cisco AS5350, Cisco AS5400, and Cisco AS5850 gateways that use a new universal port DSP (digital signal processor) that is capable of supporting voice and asynchronous data on the same DSP. These platforms also support SS7 signaling. (For more information, see Universal Port DSPs and Universal Gateways.)
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The Cisco AS5300 and Cisco AS5800 do not currently use the new universal port DSP.
Reaching users through existing narrowband technologies is critical to earning revenue today, to sustain service providers through the long transition to broadband (both wireline and 3G wireless). Users want Internet services and applications wherever they go. The only solution to this problem is to deploy a single network that can handle different devices, meeting the needs of both end users and application developers alike. The Cisco ASAP Solution delivers an infrastructure that is both flexible and future-proof, preserving and maximizing capital investment.
The Cisco ASAP Solution benefits the following constituencies:
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This chapter presents the following major topics:
The Cisco ASAP Solution
The Cisco ASAP Solution will not provide all possible features at its inception, but its layered architecture is designed to support their development.
Layered Architecture
Figure 1-1 illustrates the three basic components, or layers, that the Cisco ASAP Solution will provide as it evolves.
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This programmability is essential to service providers, who must rapidly adapt their infrastucture to new opportunities.
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Again, the programmability of the UGs is essential to application developers, as it is the UG features that make services carrier class.
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Figure 1-1 Cisco ASAP Solution Architecture
Elimination of Overlay Networks
Consider the traveler who needs to do the following:
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In the not too distant past, our traveler would have needed three different networks:
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However, using the above three networks entails considerable costs for the circuits, and circuit costs can be between 60 and 80 percent of revenue for the access service provider. When voice and data networks are overlaid, the circuit costs can be up to 100 percent higher than would be the cost for a single network. One reason multiple networks are inefficient is that voice and data networks achieve their maximum use at different times of day. A typical dialup network is busiest during the evening, whereas a voice network is busiest during the day.
To provide a cost-effective remedy to the above, the principle objective of the Cisco ASAP Solution is to unify the networks. Details of the architecture are presented in "Solution Architecture and Services"
Key Features of Unified Networks
To unify networks, the Cisco ASAP Solution provides the following key features:
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Cisco IOS Features Enabled
Beginning with Cisco IOS Release 12.2(2)XA, numerous features are made available for enhanced voice services, prepaid calling, wireless data, unified communications, wholesale dial, and wholesale VoIP. Table 1-1 lists the services enabled by the Cisco ASAP Solution.
Table 1-1 Features and Services Enabled by the Cisco ASAP Solution
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(per-call modem preconfiguration)•
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1 SIP and MGCP are not supported in initial releases of the Cisco ASAP Solution.
2 VXML is not supported in initial releases of the Cisco ASAP Solution.
Management
There are two aspects to managing the Cisco ASAP Solution: managing resources, and managing network elements. These are discussed briefly in the following sections.
Resource Management
When you are running multiple applications in the same network, rather than one application per network, it is important to manage network resources. The Cisco ASAP Solution provides the ability to enforce both network-wide SLAs and per-gateway application-overload protection. A universal GW will never accept a call that violates a network-wide SLA, nor would it consume CPU resources that are in short supply at a given time. This resource management, coupled with hardware and software features, ensures that the availability of applications matches that of the network: "five nines." In addition to providing any service on any port at any time, the Cisco ASAP Solution meets the following key objectives:
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For details, see Resource Management.
Caution
Element Management
To manage a Cisco ASAP network of any significant size, Cisco offers a variety of element management systems. Features include configuration, provisioning (including dial plans), fault management, network maps, performance monitoring, and acccounting, among others. For details, see Element Management Systems.
Application Development
To meet the needs of application developers who are creating innovative services, the Cisco ASAP Solution (following its initial releases) will use commonly available software development tools. Cisco ASAP will be able to map inbound calls to different applications, providing both Tcl (Tool Command Language, in particular Cisco TCL IVR) and VXML (Voice eXtensible Markup Language) scripting capabilities to enable the rapid development of distributed applications.
Posted: Wed Oct 6 12:38:58 PDT 2004
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