Accedian Networks has announces that its MetroNID and MetroNODE 10GE service assurance network interface devices (NIDs) are now installed in over 40,000 cell site locations, at multiple tier one operators and Alternative Access Vendors (AAVs) across North America. These devices are enabling the use of Carrier Ethernet backhaul technology for 3G+/4G/LTE mobile backhaul applications.

Accedian’s largest single project—more than 25,000 cell sites for a tier one mobile operator in the U.S.—was reported in 2009 by Heavy Reading’s Patrick Donegan. The project which was originally scheduled for completion in two to three years, not only swelled to over 30,000 sites, but the schedule was also accelerated to support the operator’s aggressive deployment time-line, and will be nearly complete by the end of 2010. Accedian helped meet this compressed schedule with its Plug and Go automated turn-up and provisioning system, which enabled the operator to turn-up as many as 100 NIDs per day.

The mobile operator’s strategy to leverage Ethernet backhaul for its tower locations throughout North America relied heavily on being able to buy Ethernet backhaul access to the individual cell sites from a number of AAVs with network presence at or near its network cell sites. Accedian’s technology was selected based on its ability to support the operator’s strategy with a high performance service assurance system capable of measuring the AAVs’ network performance, and conformance to Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that had been agreed to. “Accurately monitoring the key performance indicators (KPIs) of the SLA, including one-way frame delay, frame delay variation and loss is the only way that a wireless operator can effectively manage a backhaul network provided via 3rd party AAVs,” said Patrick Ostiguy, President and CEO of Accedian Networks. “This was a critical component in the successful execution of the operator’s strategy and what we believe sets Accedian apart from other NID vendors and solution providers.”

Carrier Ethernet for mobile backhaul has exploded in North America over the past two years and Accedian Networks’ solution is particularly well-designed for this application. It is the only comprehensive, high performance service assurance platform that bundles: a suite of wire-speed, high-performance, ultra-low delay Network Interface Devices (NIDs); a Network Management Software (NMS) platform that collects performance data and provides analytical reports of network performance against the SLAs in place; and a Plug and Go automated turn-up and provisioning tool that is designed to simplify the deployment of the NIDs in large projects. At the heart of the solution is the instrumentation required to measure and report backhaul network performance metrics. Accedian’s NIDs are based on the Company’s Fast-PAAs engine that measures one-way circuit performance with micro-second resolution. With SLAs requiring millisecond delay performance from the AAV backhaul provider, the precise NID to NID synchronization and hardware time stamping capability of Accedian’s NIDs are fundamental for a mobile backhaul performance assurance system capable of this granularity of measurement.

Plug and Go truly provides zero-touch remote configuration and provisioning of the MetroNIDs and eliminates the truck-roll that is typically required to provision the NID once it has been installed at the cell site. Remote turn-up was key to the successful deployment of the thousands of NIDs required throughout the operator’s network to enable reliable interconnection with the AAV’s Ethernet backhaul services. Initially, due to the size of the project, the operator had anticipated a two-year schedule to implement the network. As the operator executed on its strategy of using readily available Ethernet services provided by local AAVs, it became apparent that the roll-out schedule could be significantly shortened. Working together with Accedian, the operator and integrator leveraged the Plug and Go system to turn-up the NIDs and provide the service assurance necessary to ensure consistent and reliable service delivery from the AAV’s Carrier Ethernet backhaul network to the operator.