Network Description

Cedarcom deployed a new generation wireless broadband access network, offering different data networking services, covering all of the Lebanese Republic.

The network is divided into 3 main parts:

a	.	Transmission part represented by a point-to-point system
b	.	Distribution part represented by a point-to-multipoint system
c	.	Cisco based MPLS network architecture and other proprietarily quality of service controls.

Several coverage studies were performed by Cedarcom and our consultants to optimize the service coverage and service offering. The conclusion was building state of the art backbone, with high speed capacity throughout covering the Lebanese Republic, taking into consideration our expansion needs for the coming 5 years.

The distribution part of the network utilizes point-to-multipoint system built on top of the latest wireless broadband technology using sophisticated signal processing. The Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) used by Cedarcom is scalable and based on WIMAX technology.

Planned into consideration is the deregulation of the telecommunication market, installation of the internet node, and changing market demands, within Lebanon. The bandwidth capacity revolution that took place in Jordan, UAE, and Egypt will surely be minor to what Lebanon might experience in the near future.

Network Topology

Cedarcom utilizes P2MP technology interconnected by high capacity P2P links.

To secure interbranch communications, Cedarcom uses MPLS IP VPNs.
That, with advanced backbone architecture, offers a variety of 16 different service flows, 5 Classes of Service and 3 different data pattern rates.

Network Operation Center - 24 h over 7 days

Cedarcom network is managed from a central Network Operation Center (NOC), by trained experts in all the required fields as to allow instantaneous interventions to keep the network grade of service at constantly high levels.

Differentiated Network in a nutshell

	Cedarcom	Others
Technology	Wireless Broadband with capacity up to 80 Mbps per node and 8 Mbps per client.	Limited to 64 or 128 kbps excluding Beirut.
Services	Several product lines targeted to vertical market segments - Banks, ISPs, ASPs, MBO's, etc.	Mostly one or two product lines.
Coverage	All main cities within Lebanese Republic.	P2MP in only few metro areas excluding Beirut.
Security	MPLS VPN's providing security and transparency to clients using latest Cisco MPLS technology.	Built on old non-scalable technology.
Quality of Service	Network supports various classes of services, based on smart adaptive technologies.	Just simple radio access. No value added services.
Availability	Network optimally designed to deliver 99.99% availability, with inner redundancy circle within Greater Beirut.	Regular availability. No commitment.
24 x 7 x 365 Support	Call center w/ 24 x 7 x 365 online engineers to service high need availability clients.	Working hour support only 8 am to 6 pm.
NLOS	Easy and Quick installation thanks to the Non-Line of Site (NLOS) and Obstructed Line of Sight (OLS) capabilities & "plug and play" features.	Partially available in selected areas.
Client Intranet Zone	Secure online client zone for installation requests, trouble ticketing, network and service monitoring and financial statements.	Not available.

Our diversified infrastructure and knowledge allow us to face the challenges of the most demanding and complex projects. Cedarcom provides the customer with superior assistance and a broad range of services.

Cedarcom has built specific competitive product lines targeted to all market segments such as MPLS-VPN Secure Banking Plus for Banks (WAN, E-banking clients, ATM), i-Broadband for ISPs and ASPs (Email/Browsing corporate accounts, Real-time application and Internet-Cafes) and MPLS-VPN MBO for Multi-branch offices.

Cedarcom's supreme goal is to help our customers succeed. We look at this concept as the key of our own success.

Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS)

Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) has become the trend technology for providing virtual private network (VPN) services worldwide. MPLS is being used to engineer the core network more easily and efficiently (traditional MPLS and MPLS traffic engineering), to provide VPN services (MPLS-VPN), and to facilitate quality of service (QoS) across a network core (MPLS-DBP). All major carriers offer MPLS based services like Equant, Infonet, Cable & Wireless, AT&T, BT Ignite, Telia, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, WorldCom, MCI, NTT, Versatel, Teleglobe, etc. For more information, please visit our MPLS site at: www.cedarcom.net/mpls.asp


MPLS Benefits

Cedarcom MPLS network combines the benefits of both layer 2 switched networks and IP layer 3 networks.

A.	Layer 2 networks advantages: security and fast switching. Fast Switching: MPLS backbone routers switch based on MPLS labels, not on IP addresses. This makes switching faster and more efficient.
	-	Security: MPLS networks offer equivalent security by implementing MPLS VPN. MPLS VPN divides every backbone router into multiple virtual routers. This means that every customer has a separate and independent routing table on the provider backbone.
	-	Fast Switching: MPLS backbone routers switch based on MPLS labels, not on IP addresses. This makes switching faster and more efficient.
	Positioning VPN Services and Technologies
B.	Layer 3 networks advantages: dynamic networks Layer 3 networks offer extra flexibility and permit dynamic routing to be deployed. In case a remote router becomes unreachable due to a link failure, dynamic protocols ensure that traffic uses another route to get to its destination. All this happens seamlessly without human intervention. MPLS does provide this dynamic feature since it uses MPBGP (Multi-protocol BGP) to generate forwarding tables. Such features are not available in FR or ATM based networks, where all routing is statically configured! Difference between MPLS based services and Frame Relay/ATM/Leased Line based services It is widely considered that FR/ATM/LL based services as reliable but not scalable. MPLS has the best of both worlds: Privacy and Quality of Service of ATM and Frame Relay + Flexibility and Scalability of IP. MPLS based IP-VPNs provide EQUIVALENT security to Frame Relay without requiring the use of Encryption. MPLS based networks compared to Frame-Relay and ATM networks MPLS networks rely on MP-BGP (multi protocol BGP) in order to generate forwarding tables. The combination of MPLS and MPBGP gives Cedarcom the ability to dynamically shift traffic from the main route to an alternate one, in case the main route fails. This is a clear advantage over FR and ATM networks that require human intervention on the backbone, in order to change the statically configured routes. MPLS based services deployed around the World Cedarcom is the ONLY data operator providing MPLS based services in Lebanon. It is the ONLY WIRELESS data operator providing those services in the Middle East. Major worldwide carriers offer MPLS based VPNs and services like: Equant, Infonet, Cable & Wireless, AT&T, BT Ignite, Telia, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, WorldCom, MCI, NTT, Versatel, Teleglobe, etc. Trend in Data Communication in the world MPLS is a reality and taking over the data communication markets. This is what global carriers say: Infonet says MPLS VPNs are winning 60% of the RFPs. Cegetel says 80% of the requested quotes are MPLS. 20% are Frame Relay. Ovum market research forecasts that MPLS VPN will outtake IPSec VPN by more than double. Five CoS are offered • Real -time Applications • Real- time Video • Business Interactive High Priority Data Applications (SAP, SNA) • Business LAN to LAN (intranet Web, on-interactive video) • Best Effort Applications (file transfer, email, internet) MPLS VPN Security - Download Miercom paper on Cisco's MPLS-VPNs (254 KB) - Download MPLS vs ATM and FR (76 KB) MPLS Presentations - Download Cedarcom MPLS Features Bundled Power V1 (1.2MB) - Download Cedarcom - REFERENCES Short - MPLS - Cisco Based - V1.ppt (7 MB) MPLS References Equant: http://www.equant.com/content/xml/connectonline_may03_mpls.xml Infonet: http://www.infonet.com/services/intranet/ip_vpn.asp France Telecom: http://www.francetelecom.com/en/solutions/network/nouvelles_frontieres.html AT&T: http://www.att.com/attlabs/development/tomorrow.html Belgacom: http://www.belgacom.de/english/daten_mpls.htm BT Ignite: http://www.btglobalservices.com/en/products/mpls/ MCI: http://global.mci.com/us/enterprise/data/vpn/private/techspecs/ NTT : http://www.nttverio.com/en_US/products/products.cfm?product=ag_agiv

Layer 2 Over MPLS

In Cedarcom’s philosophy and objective in delivering the newest evolution trend in the telecommunication, Cedarcom has recently introduced Any Transport over MPLS (AToM) or MPLS layer 2 Switching. This Layer 2 Switching is added to the earlier line of products and services that were based on Layer 3 currently offered to the Lebanese businesses.

Any Transport over MPLS (AToM) is the Cisco solution for transporting Layer 2 traffic over an IP or MPLS backbone. AToM extends the usability of the IP/MPLS backbone by enabling it to offer both Layer 2 Switched services. The AToM product set accommodates many types of Layer 2 frames, including Ethernet, Frame Relay, ATM, PPP and HDLC, across an MPLS backbone.

The major benefit of AToM to Build Layer 2 VPNs in MPLS Networks is that customer sites are independent of the service provider backbone. The CE routers connect via Attachment VCs to the PE routers and not via IP addresses. The PE and P routers are not aware of the customers routing topology or network addresses used. This makes the MPLS network even a more secure environment especially targeted towards security-based applications.

How Any Transport over MPLS Works

Figure 1 shows how a packet travels from Site 1 to Site 2 in a VPN, using the IP/MPLS backbone.

The following process shows a packet traveling from a CPE router on the left side of the network (Site 1) across the service provider network, to a CPE router on the right side (Site 2).

1. Packets flow from Site 1 to PE1 on the edge of the service provider network through a traditional Layer 2 virtual circuit, in this case a Frame Relay circuit.
   
2. In the service provider network, an operator configures a label switched path (LSP) from PE1 to PE2.
   
3. For AToM, the operator configures:
   a- At PE1, a cross-connect between Attachment VC 101 and Emulated VC1
        (shown as VC Label 10 above), and the destination PE to be PE2.
   b- At PE2, a cross-connect between Emulated VC1 and Attachment VC 201,
        and the source PE to be PE1.
   
   Note: No AToM configuration is required on the P routers.
   
4. At PE1 the following events then take place:
   a- An incoming packet on the PE router is stripped of the layer 2 header.
   b- A control word and Emulated VC label [10] are pushed onto the packet.
   c- An appropriate network facing interface is selected.
   d- An LSP tunnel label [50] is pushed (for normal MPLS routing through the cloud)
   
   The control word and the emulated virtual circuit label are pertinent only to the PE routers. The routers within the MPLS backbone (the P routers) do not use the control word or the virtual circuit label. Instead, the P routers use the LSP tunnel labels [50 & 90] to move the packet through the MPLS backbone. A P router does not distinguish AToM traffic from other types of traffic. The packet is handled just like other packets in the MPLS backbone.
   
5. The packet is sent through the service provider network to PE2.
6. The following events take place on the egress router PE2.
   a- The Emulated VC label [10] is stripped.
   b- The control word is processed and stripped.
   c- The Layer 2 header is reconstructed for Attachment VC DLCI 201.
   d- The packet is sent out the appropriate customer-facing interface.
   
   Note: No tunnel label is present in the network-facing side of the router because that label was popped by the penultimate P router.
7. PE2 connects to Site 2 through a traditional Layer 2 virtual circuit, in this case an Frame Relay circuit.

Our Coverage

Cedarcom provides global coverage all over the Lebanese Republic offers broader solutions and insures higher bandwidth.

With POPs in Beirut, Beit Merry, Fatka, Maad, Tripoli, Shheem, Jabal Safi, Saida, Tyre, Tarshish and Bekaa; we cover all major Lebanese cities.

Our POPs are connected together at high speed wireless backbone level, and within Greater Beirut in a ring topology, giving link availability of 99.99%.

According to our customers' needs, we are able to interconnect all branches together, backhaul data to specific locations, interconnect networks to the ISP of choice, etc.