Now and in the Future

Dec 2008 , Sponsored by Alcatel-Lucent

For some years now, Tacoma, Wash., has been running just to keep in place. Even with ongoing improvements to its IT backbone, demand has steadily exceeded network capacity. To solve the problem, the city deployed a new Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) network. The network provides ample communications capacity for city agencies, ensures quality of service and - perhaps most importantly - serves as a solid foundation for innovative new services.

A significant number of city offices and agencies in Tacoma depend on CityNet, the metro network, from bridge engineering to schools, metropolitan parks to county government. But capacity limits of the old network restricted the ability of these agencies to serve the public.

Until recently, for example, the Pierce County television station broadcast video over telephone wires with unacceptable quality. "It was like a dial-up modem versus a broadband connection. It just took so long to do anything," said Donnie Claunch, Tacoma's telecommunications technical administrator.

Agencies also needed the many new and improved services - such as VoIP, video surveillance and video conferencing - an enhanced network would provide. For Tacoma network managers, MPLS provided much-needed network redundancy, backup controls, and the ability to direct network traffic and monitor the system for potential problems.

Tacoma found a solution in an MPLSbased network delivered by Alcatel-Lucent. Besides speeding the flow of network traffic considerably with its 10-gigabit backbone, MPLS gives Tacoma substantially greater capacity, allowing city agencies to manage the growing communications requirements for voice, video and data applications.

The new network technology enables services that previously were unavailable and improves those that were insufficient. Citizens can now watch broadcast-quality government- and educational-access television. Better video performance across the network also increased Tacoma's use of time-saving video conferencing to support interagency communications. And finally, users throughout the city government can access critical data faster than ever before.

Out With the Old
Tacoma ran into capacity challenges despite its best intentions. The city had deployed two network infrastructures in recent years, yet requirements for capacity, speed and management tools continued to challenge the network managers.

In 2001 and 2002, the city implemented a synchronous optical network (SONET) architecture - a robust platform - yet as fast as planners could build the technology, network demands were surpassed. The city's technology staff then developed an Ethernet ring structure, expanding the structure steadily until it too was overtaxed by growing bandwidth demands.

Both networks were unable to meet Tacoma's long-term growth requirements. It was time to issue an RFP for a more scalable solution. The city needed a network that could meet its current demands for speed, capacity and ease of management - and scale to accommodate future connectivity requirements.

The Road to MPLS
Network managers found numerous reasons to support MPLS, especially its ability to deliver a broader range of service possibilities. Planners also liked the technology's performance and ease of implementation and integration. They were equally taken by MPLS's ability to bring together existing services and new MPLS-based functionality as elements within a common network-migration strategy. The ability to migrate seamlessly was a significant issue for network planners, according to Claunch, who was a key figure in the rollout of the new network.

It took them about half a year to gradually phase in MPLS. Their strategy was to break down the existing network ring in segments, layering in MPLS one segment at a time. The conversion took place with minimal disruption; it was virtually invisible to users. "We didn't have to forklift out our existing network and bring in a new one, which meant we had very minimal downtime during the migration, nothing more than a couple of minutes for a site," Claunch said.