Proposal to build national Internet network challenges “big iron” telecom networks

Preliminary discussions with the federal government and industry stakeholders have begun to create a $50-$150 million optical network linking Canada with Europe and Asia to create a global Internet hub in this country. The idea has already received the support of the board of directors of CANARIE Inc, which is now looking to Industry Canada to endorse the concept, and ultimately provide public funding to finance the project. Details of the proposed new network – dubbed CA*net 4 – were revealed at CANARIE’s Net 2000 conference in Ottawa, June 27-29. Under the plan, CANARIE would likely decommission its existing CA*net 3 optical backbone network once its current contract with Bell Nexxia expires on July 21, 2002. CA*net 3 is only now being completed, and is expected to be operating at full capacity by June 2001. CANARIE executives have described CA*net 4 as more of a program than a network, one that includes a physical network, the grid and the municipal fibre. And unlike CA*net 3, the next generation network would like serve a dual purpose for both research and commercial Internet applications. Its lifespan would also be longer, up to 20 years. "Let me put CA*net4 into a slightly broader perspective," explains CANARIE president/CEO Andrew Bjerring. "It could be looked upon as the label for either a very specific network initiative, or a generic label for our next generation network activity. In other words, a broader range of activities including further project initiatives in areas that have to do with schools and caching, and our support for municipal area networks." "The critical issue," he adds, "is going to be what the architecture is, with the very high demand for Internet services anticipated. If the kind of network services we are experiencing now becomes commercial mainstream within the next five years then the core of the (telecom) network has to scale dramatically. And we’re not talking a factor of two or three or four, but a dramatic change of scale." Canada appears to be the undisputed global leader when it comes to optical research networks. Even the United States, with its Internet 2 network, wishes it had modeled its network on CA*net 3. "We are recognized by many other countries as having established a high water mark for research networks and we’re the ones to beat," Bjerring told Network Letter. "They don’t want to emulate CA*net 3, they want to do better… So now they’re looking at what can they do in order to leapfrog. We have to recognize that we should at least be developing a model for what would constitute that next step, if in fact there’s consensus that we should take that next step." Bjerring says that considering the provincial and municipal dark fibre builds are only now coming on stream, decisions need to be made within the next year as to what these networks will be connecting to when CA*net 3’s contract with Bell runs out in two years. "We’ve been talking with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and if they identify a role they would like us to undertake in cooperation with the federal government then we’ll negotiate that over time. It’s a matter of continuing the dialogue and working with the other stakeholders at the federal, provincial and municipal levels and to a certain extent with the school boards through Industry Canada." Weighing the options While CA*net 4 is CANARIE’s preferred option, it isn’t the only option available. At a minimum, the organization suggests it could operate a scaled down network for between $5-$10 million, connecting existing dark fibre projects in each province. However, it likely wouldn’t be extensive enough to include regional fibre networks, such as the one now underway in Ottawa (NL, June 5/00). Or, it could extend its existing CA*net 3 agreement with Bell Nexxia, a $5-$6 million initiative that would lock CANARIE and its members into what is already being described as an old technology and architecture. Other options include the construction of a national-only optical network for between $20-$50 million, or leasing capacity from an American carrier. The disadvantage to the latter option, says CANARIE officials, is it would have to connect through the U.S., bypassing some smaller provinces. Another option is to join Internet 2 in the U.S. While considered more affordable and easier to implement than CA*net 4, the network would only be able to connect to large Giga-POPs and universities, and not to small Canadian companies. There’s also the issue of losing Canadian sovereignty over a network that the government would consider fundamental to its ‘Connecting Canadians’ strategy. The proposal topping CANARIE’s wish list – and the one being pitched informally to senior officials at Industry Canada – is a $50-$150 million national optical network that would include wavelength services to Europe and Asia, making Canada a global hub for Internet traffic. Rather than laying optical cable along the ocean floor, CANARIE would purchase wavelengths which would become part of an international transit network. CA*net 4 would be a radical departure from existing carrier-centric legacy telecom networks. By employing a new optical architecture, CA*net 4 would move control of the network from the carriers themselves, like Bell Canada, to Internet service providers and other end users who would control the switching and routing in the network. In a presentation to Net 2000 delegates, CANARIE’s senior director of advanced networks, Bill St. Arnaud, described the future telecommunication’s world as one dominated by thousands of customer-owned networks. In this ‘brave new world’, carriers would be relegated to providing dark fibre, dumb switches, dark spaces and dim wavelengths. As Bjerring notes, "We have to come up with an architecture that is quite significantly different from the traditional big iron network and one which takes advantage of the Internet trend which pushes more and more intelligence to the edge. If the intelligence goes to the edge, we’re looking at a network core with a very radically different architecture." Arnaud told delegates the new architecture would also significantly reduce the cost for basic Internet service for schools and other public institutions, and enable other carriers to be partners. Initial discussions have already taken place between CANARIE and 360networks Inc, among other carriers. Whether or not the technology actually works is still up for debate. CA*net 4 is just now moving to the prototype stage to test a routing software. The prototype will be deployed in labs between CANARIE and the Communications Research Centre, both in Ottawa. CANARIE will work with Carleton University over the summer on simulation testing. Once a proof of concept has been developed, work can begin on a commercial product.

Proposal to build national Internet network challenges “big iron” telecom networks

News | 07/16/2000 4:00 am EDT

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