One of the key challenges in implementing Long-Term Evolution (LTE) in the forthcoming infrastructure change is scalability. With Continuous Computing’s Trillium FastPath system, carriers can build their systems to serve small cellular needs but then easily expand to handle the mass deployments that are sure to come. It promises to ease the performance problem experienced by all carriers as they deal with the huge increase in video and other traffic.

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Continuous Computing has incorporated its Trillium FastPath protocol software into its pre-integrated, application-ready system solutions for LTE Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network elements. Based on the 6WINDGate software suite from 6WIND and designed to meet the unique needs of the next-generation mobile core, Trillium Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) and GPRS Tunneling Protocol (GTP) FastPath software is highly scalable and performance-optimized for the company’s FlexPacket ATCA-PP50 packet processing blade, yielding performance gains of up to three times over generic implementations.

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project’s (3GPP) choice of SCTP as the IP-transport (Internet Protocol) layer for all signaling in the LTE EPC has created a significant strain on SCTP processing that was not anticipated when the protocol was first defined. In addition, the focus on small-cell wireless deployments has also increased the sheer number of SCTP connections that the EPC needs to manage. While the built-in reliability mechanisms of SCTP are attractive for providing carrier-grade networks, they create substantial overhead. As a result, generic SCTP implementations can’t scale sufficiently to meet the EPC’s massive core networking requirements.

Similarly, 3GPP has identified GTP as the primary bearer plane protocol in the EPC. Since each LTE eNodeB could provide more than seven times the current throughput of today’s 3G basestations, the EPC will be expected to handle a much larger amount of data traffic than legacy mobile networks. Coupled with the fact that both voice and data are expected to traverse the core and that consumer appetite for data remains insatiable, the EPC must be built to support massive data plane scalability. Trillium FastPath SCTP and GTP are designed to meet these demands, whereas standard implementations fall short.

Leveraging the 6WINDGate software suite, Trillium FastPath enables key protocols such as SCTP and GTP to move into the native execution environment on Continuous Computing’s PP50 packet processing blade, yielding unparalleled scalability and performance gains. Trillium FastPath also complements the company’s extensive selection of Trillium LTE protocols, including S1AP, X2AP, and Diameter. All Trillium LTE protocol stacks are optimized for multicore/multi-threaded processing architectures, and each stack includes a reference application for the relevant LTE network interfaces including LTE-Uu, S1, S6, S7, S10, and X2.

Trillium FastPath enables network equipment providers to allocate a higher percentage of system processing capacity to customer traffic rather than signaling overhead, freeing up valuable payload slots for customer-bearing traffic. The complete suite of Trillium LTE protocols and professional services is available now, as is the PP50 packet processing blade. More information is available at www.ccpu.com/products/trillium/lte.html and www.ccpu.com/products/atca/pp50.html

Continuous Computing