Many organizations in both the public and private sectors have dedicated networks that badly need upgrading to provide the extra capacity demanded by new broadband applications. Fiber is usually only viable for the backbone of such networks, with low speed legacy circuits such as E1/T1 typically deployed to reach smaller offices and more remote locations. The result is that many offices are prevented from accessing emerging next generation applications effectively, with serious implications for cost effectiveness and competitiveness. But, fortunately, these access bottlenecks can be relieved quickly and easily by deploying the Actelis ML Ethernet Access Device (EAD) to implement carrier Ethernet at full broadband speeds over the existing copper infrastructure.
For many dedicated networks, the existing infrastructure comprises private copper pairs owned by the organization. In other cases the wires are “dry pairs” supplied by the local telephone company, or the network may comprise a combination of both. Such wires, when combined with Actelis ML systems, constitute the ideal access platform for carrier Ethernet—perhaps integrated with a fiber-based core network.
A dedicated network offers several potential advantages over a public one, notably security of data, resilience, and quality of service. These qualities are particularly important for many organizations using dedicated networks. For example, in military and government, where confidentiality, data integrity and high availability are crucial.
However, dedicated networks can only achieve their potential on these counts by delivering consistent fiber-like performance everywhere. In the past this has been difficult or nearly impossible to achieve in practice because of the variable quality of the copper infrastructure, whose constituent pairs may have been installed at different times and specifications. Given that the whole point of using existing copper is to avoid the cost of trenching for fiber, clearly upgrading the physical infrastructure is ruled out. Therefore, Actelis, in designing its ML series of EADs, had to overcome the variations in copper quality, and has successfully done so with a solution that delivers high bit rate and quality of service. This has been achieved through patented algorithms that cope with the cross talk interference between copper wires along with other sources of electromagnetic disturbance.
The result is that owners of dedicated networks can continue to deploy and scale up next generation broadband applications, safe in the knowledge that this will not cause problems with contention or interference within the copper infrastructure. Furthermore, with the Actelis ML platform there is no need for dedicated expertise in maintaining or configuring the equipment—the platform can largely be left to look after itself. Ease of installation, configuration, and management, are particularly crucial for dedicated networks to avoid the cost of having the in-house engineering skills of a service provider.
The potential role of the copper infrastructure within a dedicated network is not confined just to the final loops serving small sites. It can also be used for backhauling and, for larger pipes, interconnecting bigger offices within a campus. In this case multiple copper pairs, up to 16 in some cases, can be bundled together to create single circuits with bit rates up to 100 Mbps. Many organizations already have sufficient numbers of copper wires within their infrastructure for such circuits to be configured, and this can easily be done with appropriate Actelis ML systems.