NetWorks NG Transport

The primary goal of the project has been to prepare the network for the migration to latency-based routing by optimizing metric, capacity and topology. This has involved creating a clear roadmap for the adjustments needed in the existing network infrastructure to ensure a stable transformation.

To achieve this, the project has focused on the following key objectives: 

1. Minimizing Risk: Reduce the risk of disruptions during the migration process by identifying and mitigating potential problem areas in the network before the switch to latency-based routing. 

2. Capacity and Topology Adjustments: Determine the necessary capacity upgrades and topology alterations to support latency-based routing, particularly in terms of link utilization, router configurations, and gateway capacities. 

3. Analyzing Failure Impact: Identify worst-case scenarios for link failures, including how these would impact network performance, to mitigate potential risks. 

1. Traffic and Network Topology Import: The first step has been to import data on mobile traffic relations and the existing network topology using the client’s network management data. This has provided a comprehensive view of the current state of the network. 

2. Current Routing Simulation: The team has routed traffic based on the existing Intermediate System to Intermediate System (ISIS) protocol and calculated the resulting link utilizations and latencies. This baseline has helped to establish the current performance metrics and identify bottlenecks or inefficiencies in the current routing methods. 

3. Latency-Based Routing Simulation: Traffic has then been routed using a latency-based algorithm (Flex-Algo), with the objective of identifying links that are overloaded under the new routing paradigm. This has allowed the team to see where the most significant improvements will be necessary. 

4. Failure Analysis: To ensure network resilience, the team has conducted a failure analysis, simulating various failure scenarios, such as single link, router, or security gateway failures. They have calculated the worst-case utilization for each link and predicted the worst-case latency of traffic relations under these conditions. 

5. Adjustments to Metric Capacity and Topology: After identifying potential problem areas through these simulations, the team has made recommendations for metric adjustments, capacity increases, and topology changes that would enable the network to handle the transition to latency-based routing smoothly. 

The result has been a list of adjustments to be implemented before migrating to latency-based routing, including detailed predictions for the post-migration network performance. The following key outcomes have been achieved: 

• Link Utilization Forecasts: The project has delivered a forecast of link utilization under both the current and latency-based routing methods. This has enabled the client to identify overloaded links and take preemptive action to optimize them. 

• Worst-Case Scenarios: By analyzing worst-case link utilizations and failure impacts, the project has ensured the network will be resilient even in case of unexpected disruptions. 

• End-to-End Latency Improvements: The team has optimized end-to-end latency for mobile traffic, ensuring faster and more reliable data transfer across the network. This has been particularly important in eliminating long delays, especially in congested network segments. 

• Optimized Topology: Necessary metric adjustments and topology optimizations have been identified, helping the client create a stable foundation for future network growth. 

• Risk Minimization: By planning and executing all necessary changes before the actual migration, the client has been able to significantly reduce the risk associated with transitioning to latency-based routing.