Impact of network reliability on network costs in next generation access networks

Today's access networks are still mainly based on copper cable infrastructure in the first mile. The geographic extension of conventional access service areas and with this also the structure of the access/aggregation network is mainly defined by the resistance of the copper lines - and thus the copper loop length - as well as by the switching capacity of the electro-mechanic telephone exchanges in the past. The evolution towards next generation optical access networks will provide a new degree of freedom in network design due to the higher reach of optical transmission. This will potentially lead to much larger service areas serving several thousands of customers from a single location. This increased concentration of customers will have a significant impact on network reliability and service availability in next generation access networks. In this paper we will review the impact of network reliability and availability on network costs in next generation optical access networks. The results show that show that there is a significant cost impact in all consolidation scenarios depending on the aspired failure penetration.