Lighting The Fiber The Road to an Operational RON

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Lighting The FiberThe Road to an Operational
RON

• j.p.streck (NC State/NCNI/NCLR)
• m.johnson (MCNC/NCNI/NCLR)

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What I learned this summer

• It will be necessary to rely on your vendor more
  than netheads are used to doing
• Flexibility is good. Build this in from the
  start.
• SONET is good. You will figure that out
  eventually (why the telcos loved it).
• Your optical network will require a different
  approach to maintenance and spares - unless you
  have way more money than we do.
• Everything you touch will require you to touch
  everything else.
• My provider didnt tell me THAT

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My provider didnt tell me THAT

• Mfgr specs
• Find out from provider(s) exact type(s) of ALL
  fiber
• What are the real numbers
• (do the engineering due diligence)
• Loss (always important)
• Measure it yourself. Dont rely on providers
  numbers. They may be calculated (as opposed to
  measured) or old.
• Dispersion (increasingly important as
  distance/bw/waves increase)
• Topology, in particular Route Diversity
• Understand the hand hold, hut and PoPs
• Understand power capabilities

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RFI RFP process

• Read the vendor spec
• Consult a photonics engineer
• Consult RONs that have done current installs
• Develop your optimum specs list with parameter
  priorities for the RFI process
• Initiate the RFI cycle (all or subset of vendors)
• Distill RFI results
• Convert RFI spec into an RFP spec
• Initiate the RFP cycle
• Pick a vendor / integrator

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Refine the BOM prior to cutting the Purchase Order

• Confirmation of fiber plant optical
  characteristics
• Vendor engineering
• Hired fiber engineering co.
• Run vendor planning tool with confirmed
• optical measurements
• Pick terminal, OADM Regeneration sites
• Ring layouts
• Linear layouts
• After sticker shock, readjust Bill of Materials
  (BOM)

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Experiences NCNI/NCLR

• Past history of fiber equipment
• Three plus fiber providers
• Two different regional rings (110 miles)
• One SONET BLSR ring
• Three generations of DWDM networks
• Lucent 40G
• Nortel Optera (first generation)
• Cisco ONS-15454

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Experiences (cont.)

• Installation process
• SONET most difficult and time consuming
• New Photonics and Mgmt tools greatly simplifying
  the install-turn up-data passing cycle
• OAMP
• Must have a robust but easy to use NMS
• A small list of unique parts list is a MUST!
• (keep inventory to a minimum)
• Amps
• Transponders (unique lamba cards)
• Filters (mux-demux)
• Client side
• Always easier to cool down a interface than to
  boost
• the signal

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Current Activities
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Fiber!
Washington
Used FiberCo to purchase fiber from Level(3) -
option to extend to Atlanta and/or Washington
Raleigh
Existing fiber for Internet Connection
Metro fiber
MCNC
Charlotte
Atlanta
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Cisco-MCNC-level(3) - NCNI Contribution
Level(3) Raleigh PoP
Fiber between MCNC and Level(3) purchased by NCNI
MCNC Facility
Cisco RTP Facility
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NCREN3 GigE Configuration
Level(3)
Campus Demark (Cisco 7606)
Duke
UNC
NCREN/NCNI backbone (Cisco 12410)
MCNC
Cisco 15454
Raleigh
OC48 DPT Ring
NCREN/NCNI Backbone (Cisco 12410)
NCSU
Campus Demark (Cisco 7606)
Cisco
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NCREN3 (sort of)