Technical staff designing and dimensioning an IP-MPLS Core and Access Network for a service provider of IP services in technology convergence of data, voice and video apply the skills and knowledge in this unit.

Relevant job roles include designer and installer of Next Generation Networks (NGN). These IP networks provide fast internet, voice over internet protocol (VoIP), IPTV and internet TV services.

ELEMENT

PERFORMANCE CRITERIA

1. Produce and evaluate design requirements for an IPTV network

1.1. Analyse the major video models and the impact the video challenges will have on the design of an IPTV network

1.2. Evaluate IPTV against other competing TV broadcast technologies to determine optimum design approach

1.3. Produce the topology of an IPTV network showing network architecture from the IPTV standards bodies and determine the design requirements

1.4. Plan the dimensioning of network parameters for multicast and unicast video delivery over broadband in a service provider network

2. Design an IPTV network for video on demand (VoD) delivery

2.1. Design the content delivery system (CDS) to cache IPTV content in each major metropolitan area for broadcast or streaming VoD models to eliminate performance variability introduced by Internet transport or core peering relationships

2.2. Design a video network to provide VoD loads with network solutions using VoD design requirements

2.3. Design VoD application to meet bandwidth requirements and quality of service (QoS) requirements for commercial viability of IPTV network

3. Design and configure an MPLS IPTV network to meet business requirements

3.1. Determine the IP-MPLS network design requirements

3.2. Investigate factors that affect design considerations and ways they can be minimised

3.3. Produce the design topology of a MPLS network to provide secure methods of transporting IP packets using layer 2 protocols

3.4. Design an MPLS layer over the IP networking structure to combine the efficiency of multicast protocols with traffic engineering (TE) facilities to enable fast packet forwarding for real time video streaming applications

4. Manage the delivery of IPTV services

4.1. Determine the operational processes required to support IPTV by operators

4.2. Produce a plan of the management and customer support model including strategies dealing with the delivery of VoD issues

4.3. Produce a plan of a video network using video delivery strategies to deliver optimum average revenue per user (ARPU) to serve the demographic of an area and the nature of an operator's business

4.4. Manage and monitor video across the network using a management tool

Required skills

analytical skills to analyse and evaluate:

broad features of a particular business domain and best practice in networking technologies when hardware and software network components to be installed are identified

competing video models over broadband networks

literacy skills to produce plans

problem solving skills to solve a predictable range of network problems

project planning skills to set benchmarks and identify scope

technical skills to:

deploy multipoint-to-multipoint VPLS domains via IP-MPLS cloud

design VoD facility for video delivery

dimension network parameters

implement and verify:

border gateway protocol (BGP)

enhanced interior gateway routing protocol (EIGRP)

Flash

hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP)

internet group management protocol (IGMP)

open shortest path first (OSPF)

real time streaming protocol (RTSP)

routing information protocol (RIP)

web cache communication protocol (WCCP) operations

implement MPLS architecture across a wide area network (WAN) environment

implement secure video streaming over MPLS network

Required knowledge

competing video delivery over broadband networks

current industry-accepted hardware and software products

networking technologies incorporating detailed knowledge of network operating systems, IP networks and MPLS networks

transmission technologies and protocols

The evidence guide provides advice on assessment and must be read in conjunction with the performance criteria, required skills and knowledge, range statement and the Assessment Guidelines for the Training Package.

Overview of assessment

Critical aspects for assessment and evidence required to demonstrate competency in this unit

Evidence of the ability to:

produce and evaluate design requirements for an IPTV network

design an IPTV network for VoD delivery

design and configure an MPLS IPTV network to meet business requirements

manage the delivery of IPTV services.

Context of and specific resources for assessment

Assessment must ensure:

protocols, configuration documents, management tools and standards

network and demographic trends, and customer demand data.

Method of assessment

A range of assessment methods should be used to assess practical skills and knowledge. The following examples are appropriate for this unit:

review of design requirements and network designs completed by the candidate

oral and written questioning of the candidate on required knowledge

direct observation of the candidate designing and configuring and MPLS IPTV network and managing IPTV services.

Guidance information for assessment

Holistic assessment with other units relevant to the industry sector, workplace and job role is recommended, for example:

ICTTEN6172A Design and configure an IP-MPLS network with virtual private network tunnelling.

Aboriginal people and other people from a non-English speaking background may have second language issues.

Access must be provided to appropriate learning and assessment support when required.

Assessment processes and techniques must be culturally appropriate, and appropriate to the oral communication skill level, and language and literacy capacity of the candidate and the work being performed.

In all cases where practical assessment is used it will be combined with targeted questioning to assess required knowledge. Questioning techniques should not require language, literacy and numeracy skills beyond those required in this unit of competency.

Where applicable, physical resources should include equipment modified for people with special needs.

The range statement relates to the unit of competency as a whole. It allows for different work environments and situations that may affect performance. Bold italicised wording, if used in the performance criteria, is detailed below. Essential operating conditions that may be present with training and assessment (depending on the work situation, needs of the candidate, accessibility of the item, and local industry and regional contexts) may also be included.

Major video models may refer to:

broadcast video or multicast models replicating the behaviour of a Cable TV (CATV)system offering a customer multi-channel viewing

'store for play' model or download model allowing the customer to load the video onto a local disk for viewing

VoD or unicast models allowing the customer to stream video in real-time as selected by the customer.

Video challenges may include:

streaming video requiring real-time consistent network performance

user perception of video to be a continuous long term experience with complaints if any significant portion goes badly

video being bandwidth hungry as an application.

Competing TV broadcast technologies may include:

CATV

internet TV or content delivery network

satellite TV.

Topology of an IPTV network may include:

digital subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM)

head end servers

home gateway

media centres

media content servers

MPLS routers

MPLS switches

set-top box (STB).

Network architecture may include:

Access Networks:

carrier Ethernet

fibre to the x (FTTx)

passive optical network (PON)

wireless fidelity (WiFi)

worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX)

x digital subscriber line (DSL)

core distribution network (MPLS)

internet TV or content delivery network (CDN):

CDN applications:

hyper syndicated video

session shifting

user generated content

internet delivery protocols:

Flash (RTMP, RTMPE, RTMPT and RTMPTE)

HTTP

RTSP

internet video formats:

video compression protocols (Flash, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264and VC-1)

video encapsulation (MP4, WMV, AVI, SWF, FLV)

terminal device:

home gateway

media centre

STB.

IPTV standards bodies may include:

third generation partnership project (3GPP) - IP multimedia subsystem (IMS)

3PPP

DVB

European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI)

Home Gateway Initiative (HGI)

International Telecommunications Union (ITU-T)

Open IPTV Forum (OIPF)

Telecommunications and Internet converged Services and Protocols for Advanced Networking (TISPAN).

Network parameters may include:

broadcast system:

acquisition video quality (MPEG 2 - 6 to 20 Mbps)

distribution video quality required(H.264 2 to 8 Mbps)

level of redundancy

number of standards definition (SD) and high definition (HD) linear channels

CDS:

amount and location of vault storage required

number of VoD titles (SD and HD)

placement of streaming caches reduces network bandwidth

storage and stream redundancy required

streaming capacity based on peak concurrent streams required

conditional access system:

number of concurrent leases

number of STBs

peak transactions per second

headend control system:

number of STBs changing channels

number of STBs rebooting at one time

network requirements:

access and customer links

bandwidth across the core

number of linear channels viewed at a given time

placement of VoD streamers to save bandwidth.

Network solutions may include:

dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) application on optical fibre

network capacity

separation of VoD to other applications

size of pipe

star rather than mesh topology.

VoD design requirements may refer to:

delivery model:

characteristics of customer access network and metro connection network

management and support model:

ways of ordering, supporting and billing

service model:

appliances to which video is delivered to

nature of content

video format.

Network design requirements may include:

bandwidth

number and type of core and edge routers

number of channels

protocols:

BGP

IGMP

label distribution protocol (LDP)

OSPF

resource reservation protocol (RSVP)

RTSP

WCCP

quality of service (QoS)

security

throughput.

Factors may include:

protocol incompatibility

QoS issues:

jitter

latency

loss rate

throughput

router availability.

MPLS network may include location and type of:

core label switch routers (Core LSR)

edge label switch routers (Edge LSR)

hosting servers for media content.

Layer 2 protocols may include:

asynchronous transfer mode (ATM)

Ethernet

frame relay

IGMP

packet over SONET (POS)

point to multipoint for IPTV (p2mp)

PPP - unicast for VoD streaming

protocol independent multicast (PIM)

spanning-tree protocol (STP).

Operational processes may include:

content management

customer support

network operations

service activation

service delivery.

VoD issues may include:

congestion level problems

customer care costs

packet loss problems

practices towards reduction of customer complaints

QoS issues

responsibility for customer care.

Video delivery strategies may include:

delivery dimension:

linear RF format or IPTV

multicast or unicast

streamed or download

mobility dimension:

fixed

mobile

both

technology dimension:

Ethernet or tunnel infrastructure (BRAS)

using IP infrastructure (DHCP)

combination of both.

Nature of an operator's business may include:

access network

broadcast or VoD strategy

content and media production

content delivery

core network

home network.

Management tool may include:

Network and video service management for end to end video network management (ROSA)

vulnerability assessment management service (VAMS).

Unit sector

Telecommunications

Telecommunications networks engineering

This unit contains employability skills.