SearchTelecom.com's tutorials offer expert insight, technical tips and best practices on core and access networks, IPTV, fixed mobile convergence, VoIP, WiFi/WiMax, wireless and mobile devices, MPLS, service areas, network operations and more.

Building the 4G wireless network: Exploring LTE architecture and services drivers 

This four-part Telecom Insights guide takes a detailed look at how 4G Long-Term Evolution (LTE) architecture and technology planning and deployment decisions should be influenced by LTE service opportunities in various wireless markets, as well as why carriers need to evolve their metro network infrastructure toward an Evolved Packet Core for wireless broadband and how changes in metro network technology and operations are being driven by these issues.

Evolved Packet Core Primer 
The Evolved Packet Core (EPC) is a new, end-to-end packet core architecture for 4G Long-Term Evolution (LTE) that provides a converged voice and data networking framework to connect users to an LTE network. EPC makes LTE more like traditional IP networks rather than previous generations of voice-centric wireless networks. This primer provides all of the information necessary to gain some initial familiarity with EPC.

100G DWDM optical networking transport: The telecom industry prepares 
Telecom service providers have made it clear they need 100G transport technology in their long-haul networks in order to handle increased customer traffic and bandwidth use. While the industry wants to move quickly to develop 100G DWDM optical network transport, speed isn't the only issue to be addressed. Transmission performance, price, and space and power dissipation per bit also have to be improved over 10G and 40G DWDM transport solutions. In this expert lesson on increasing optical channel rates to 100G, optical expert Eve Griliches, managing partner of ACG Research, looks at the forces driving first-generation adoption of 100G DWDM and examines what the industry is doing to prepare for it, particularly after learning from the mistakes of 40G development. This three-part guide includes predictions on the 100G market.

Telecom Insights Guide to MPLS VPN/Ethernet VPLS edge networking services 
Working with Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) virtual private network (VPN) technology, Carrier Ethernet standards, virtual private LAN service (VPLS), or virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) in edge networking present different issues. Carriers need to choose the right network routing protocols that work with enterprise customer needs, distinguish between the customer's routing setup and their own, effectively separate customers for security purposes, and make service decisions based on offerings that will provide value in the future. MPLS VPN and Ethernet-based VPLS technologies can play a crucial edge networking role. This guide looks at what carriers need to know when drawing up plans, how to handle enterprise network routing expectations and guidance on helping enterprises make choices that can benefit them and alleviate stress on service provider network management systems.

BGP essentials: The protocol that makes the Internet work  
Service providers working with IP networks are very clear that the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is the most complex and difficult to configure Internet protocol. Its emphasis on security and scalability makes it essential, however. This guide offers you a detailed look at how and why BGP-enabled routers in core networks exchange information securely with several hundred thousand IP prefixes, as well as simple and advanced approaches for troubleshooting connectivity problems.