David Stokes: Optimizing Network Performance Through Segment Routing and Traffic Engineering

A fundamental driver of our global economy, communications services facilitate everything from productive collaboration through videoconferencing services, to the enjoyment of leisure activities like gaming and streaming. During the pandemic, our reliance on communications services quickly and dramatically grew, with many professionals shifting to remote work set-ups and nearly all students transitioning to online learning environments.

Over the course of the last year, it has become clear that with sufficient access to communications services, even the most basic activities — such as shopping for groceries, going to movies to catch a new release or having a meal with friends — can be conducted virtually.

However, with this reality comes significant challenges in terms of network capacity and bandwidth flexibility. With the growing number of people working and learning from home, there has been an unprecedented demand for bandwidth. Even after the massive shift to work and learn from home wanes and people return to offices and schools, there will still be an ever-increasing need for bandwidth.

If we simply look to Nielsen’s Law, which has been a trusted guide for the broadband industry in predicting internet bandwidth needs for several decades, we can safely predict that users’ connection speeds will continue to grow by 50% per year.

This increased bandwidth is key for social inclusion. As we continue to connect and engage with each other in new ways, the industry must invest heavily in high-bandwidth networks to enable the experiences society has come to enjoy – such as Skyping loved ones from across the country or streaming the latest online multiplayer game with friends down the road.

Streamlining the use of network resources

To realistically respond to ever-changing consumer demands in 2021 and beyond, communications service providers must incorporate a process called traffic engineering into their networks to guarantee service delivery meets the service level agreements required for each service. Network operators’ main aim is to facilitate efficient and reliable network operations, while also optimizing network resource utilization and traffic performance. In a nutshell, service providers want to run the network to respond to and meet changing bandwidth and performance needs as they arise.

Because each service has different types of requirements, traffic engineering can be used to ensure the traffic is routed across the network in the most appropriate way so that it meets the needs of the service. This is especially true when the network is dynamic: service providers may run the risk of overwhelming their networks with spikes in demand, while at the same time underutilizing network resources in other scenarios. These challenges only intensify with the new services we see now and their requirements for reserved bandwidth, deterministic latency, enhanced isolation, and ultra-reliable, low latency. These include VR/AR gaming, remote education, and telehealth.

To scalably prevent any network interruptions, reduce latency, and improve customer experiences over the long-term, proactively diverting traffic to underutilized network resources during congestion is key. For instance, consider the fact that videoconferencing services are more often than not used most during office hours, while gaming and streaming are typically used more in the evenings. To avoid overwhelming network resources, communications networks need to be able to instantly respond to increased demand for videoconferencing services during the day by tapping into the currently underutilized resources for gaming and streaming (and vice versa).

As the network becomes overloaded, it is able to respond to these congested conditions by dynamically differentiating and diverting traffic to underutilized resources for optimal allocation and performance. This allows customers to avoid experiencing interruptions if and when a sudden event occurs that congests network resources, such as a child beginning to stream a 4K video just as their parent kicks off a 100-person webinar on Zoom. Ultimately, this enables network programmability, making networks more flexible and agile.

The logistical and business benefits of segment routing traffic engineering

Being able to guarantee service performance is key to delivering new services and service types. Traffic engineering that uses segment routing can be leveraged to meet these guarantees. The source routing principle used in segment routing traffic engineering enables steering of the packet by changing the instructions on its header at the headend network device. With no change needed at the transit nodes, modification in the network can be made quickly and easily. Implementing segment routing doesn’t require new hardware, which makes the migration from traditional multiprotocol label switching relatively straightforward.

In addition to its logistical benefits, routing and traffic engineering provides increased mobility, which empowers communications service providers to deliver improved customer experiences and capitalize on potential new revenue streams. Imagine you are a delivery driver. If you’re new to the job, you’ll have no idea where you’re going, nor the most efficient route to take, and could spend ten hours on one route.

More experienced drivers, however, know that they must plan a route and load the packages in a certain way on the truck if they want to ensure that they can deliver packages to clock in at 9:00 am and clock out at 5:00 pm. Moving bandwidth works in a similar way – by planning your network, you can visualize it in full, adapt as needed, and direct traffic in the most efficient route whilst still meeting perform guarantees.

Perhaps multiple mobile customers are in transit while streaming a live basketball game, for example. The mobility benefits of these technologies would allow those customers to enjoy a seamless, uninterrupted experience as they stream the live feed of the game from their devices while walking home, waiting for a bus or riding in an Uber.

Improving customers’ communications experiences requires advanced traffic engineering

Even as a sense of normalcy is restored post-pandemic, our reliance on communications services will remain steadfast. By introducing traffic engineering, communications service providers can gain the ability to implement a transport network that’s scalable, dynamic, flexible, and deterministic – in other words, a network that’s capable of supporting significant, long-term, and ever-changing demand.

Both service providers and consumers stand to benefit from proactively diverting traffic to underutilized network resources during congestion. In doing so, additional services can be delivered, latency can be reduced, and sudden network interruptions can be prevented.

Through the capabilities of advanced traffic engineering, communications service providers have an invaluable opportunity to dramatically improve the communications experiences of their customers, regardless of whether they’re working, learning, or playing.

David Stokes serves as senior manager of portfolio marketing for Ribbon Communications, a mobile network provider supplying communications security and software solutions to consumers. This piece is exclusive to Broadband Breakfast.

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