Welcome to the Human Network - Light Reading

Mobile wireless networks are poised to become a primary vehicle for a wide
variety of communications applications. Data is becoming a major force
behind the mobile operators’ efforts to significantly increase ARPU. Service
providers are focusing on building a network that is capable of delivering
a host of real-time multimedia applications in addition to supporting
business-class data application and services.
Extending the capabilities of the Cisco Service Exchange Framework, the Cisco IP NGN
Carrier Ethernet design supports service access control, deep packet inspection, Mobile
IP, security, and packet gateways for each of the major radio technologies. Packet gateway
options include the Cisco Packet Data Serving Node (PDSN) for Code Division Multiple
Access (CDMA), Cisco Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN) for Global System for Mobile
Communications/Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service (GSM/UMTS), and IP
Transfer Point (ITP) for offloading SS7 signaling onto IP networks. Cisco is also a leader in
the development of IEEE 802.x technology to support public wireless LAN installations and
Wi-Fi municipal mesh deployments in the unlicensed bands. The latter is an exciting new
area that promises very high data rates in metropolitan areas using unlicensed spectrum.
The next-generation mobile networks will make extensive use of both licensed and
unlicensed wireless technologies. Unlicensed radio technologies provide very high
performance over a limited area, whereas licensed radio technologies provide ubiquitous
connectivity across the wide area but offer less performance than is generally available from
an unlicensed service. Mobile IP is the glue that can bind them together into a transparent
service offering.
Metropolitan Wi-Fi Mesh Networking
The Cisco IP NGN Carrier Ethernet design is unique in its industry-leading ability to
converge services over Ethernet, including metropolitan Wi-Fi mesh networking. The
Wireless Services Module (WiSM), which is integrated into the Cisco 7600 Series, offers
integrated Wi-Fi access-point aggregation, enabling providers to scale and manage
metropolitan Wi-Fi mesh networks. The WiSM supports Lightweight Access Point
Protocol (LWAPP) while providing extensive integrated security capabilities such as Wi-Fi
Protected Access (WPA2) and various types of the Extensible Authentication Protocol
(EAP), including Protected EAP (PEAP).
The module also improves wireless security through rogue access-point detection and
containment and by supporting a wireless intrusion prevention system (IPS) to provide
consistent security-policy enforcement across the entire fixed and wireless network.
Providers can use the WiSM to enable convergence of Wi-Fi, mobile (IP Radio Access
Network, PDSN, and GGSN), and fixed (Layer 2 and 3) networks for flexible advanced
service aggregation.
PDSN and GGSN Integration
The PDSN and GGSN packet gateway options allow service providers to reduce the costs
associated with deploying and operating mobile wireless networks by consolidating
the switched systems required to converge applications across multiple transport
technologies (SONET, time-division multiplexing [TDM], ATM, etc.) to a single Ethernet and
IP/MPLS network This integration allows providers to use lower-cost alternative access
technologies such as broadband Ethernet, DSL, and IP wireless radio based on the best
available cost on a market-by-market basis.
Cisco IP NGN Carrier Ethernet design supports integration with PDSN and GGSN
networks, enabling providers to further reduce costs by using IP networks to backhaul
wireline and mobile traffic, avoiding the need to build out additional capacity of costly
TDM networks.