“Ethernet is the Preferred Technology for Network Transformation”

Whether it is the Indian market, the Africa region, Middle East or even the matured markets of Asia Pacific, as more number of operators are engaged in upgrading their networks towards an all IP regime, Ethernet is the preferred technology of choice and global telecom equipment provider Ericsson is positioning its ‘Evolved IP Networks’ solution to enable end to end IP availability for the operator community.

Zia Askari from TelecomDrive.com speaks with Gulshan Khurana (Vice President & Practice Head, Fixed Broadband & Convergence) Ericsson India on Ethernet and its future.

[caption id="attachment_1742" align="alignnone" width="300"] Gulshan Khurana[/caption]

What is the big focus for Ericsson when it comes to encouraging Ethernet adoption in India?

Native Ethernet transport is gaining momentum due to its capabilities to help launch application on a faster time to market and ease of integration. Leveraging this, Ericsson has launched a complete solution built around an end to end IP availability, from Access Nodes (Cell Sites) to the Core of the Network. This solution is termed as “Evolved IP Networks”.

It is an “End-to-end IP infrastructure From any Access, to the Internet, and Everything in between”, fully tested and verified solution, which is Future-proof, supporting traffic growth & new applications.

How big would be the Ethernet market for India and where are the big deployments happening in this space?

The big deployments would happen in the Transport space where new Access Techniques like LTE/WiFi are being launched and a tremendous growth in 3G data consumption is being seen. The Application and video growth together, along with Enterprise and M2M communication will demand a massive growth in the transport segment where Ethernet plays an important role.

What are some of the big advantages that Ethernet brings to the table for IT leaders?

Some key advantages that Ethernet brings to the table for IT leaders include -

• Ubiquitous presence of Ethernet
• It is easy to source due to its economy of scale
• Ethernet interfaces ubiquitous and inexpensive: Ethernet won the battle for LAN dominance, integral part of LAN network
• Five attributes of CEN
• Easy to scale
• Network Transformation through the availability of CES
• Large drop in cost per bit
• Ethernet can be carried over more underlying technologies

Please share some of the unique application trends that are driving Ethernet adoption globally?

Major trends seen driving Ethernet adoption globally include -

- Enterprise and Wireline Broadband Services

- Enterprise Data Application

- VPN Services

- VoIP over corporate WAN

Mobile Broadband Services

- World goes mobile: We have seen that in terms of mobile subscriptions, mobile traffic etc.

- A number of new Over the Top players and new business models will effect traffic in the networks and the money flows.

- Video will drive traffic growth. This was seen earlier in the Smartphone traffic slide where the screen size and traffic is highly correlated.

- We believe that everything that will benefit from a connection will have a connection. Therefore we foresee 50 Billion connected devices in 2020.

What are some of the challenges that are hindering the growth of Ethernet today and how Ericsson is playing a big role here?

One of the challenges is the huge TDM investment in recent years, which makes fresh CAPEX investment in native IP Technologies a bit expensive.

The other challenge is the presence of legacy TDM equipment, which requires some kind of “emulated” interfaces on Ethernet.

What kind of feedback do you receive from operators on Ethernet adoption in India?

Operators have accepted Ethernet as  a preferred Technology of choice for their network augmentation and transformation over next 2 to 3 years. So, all fresh investments happen to be inclined towards Native IP Technologies.

What does the future hold for Ethernet in India?

All IP infrastructure is the main goal for the service providers in India and this is where Ethernet can help.