IP/MPLS networks with hardened pipes: service concepts, traffic engineering and design considerations

The concept of embedding a hard pipe within IP/MPLS network architecture has recently been proposed in IETF RFC 7625 contribution as an advanced networking architecture to address the need of many large organizations and utility companies for TDM-like leased line services with end-to-end guaranteed bandwidth, low delay and high reliability in order to support pervasive mission-critical applications. In this paper, we carry an in-depth investigation of the traffic engineering and design considerations that need to be taken into account when deploying hard pipe strata in IP/MPLS networks. In particular, we focus on LSP provisioning, QoS management, time synchronization, availability, delay/jitter requirements and interoperability considerations. We discuss some of the design and traffic engineering alternatives, critique their relative merits and propose some recommendations to enhance bandwidth usage, provide support for delivering end-to-end QoS and maximize revenues. Finally we propose future research prospects in the search of additional traffic engineering mechanisms to further optimize resource allocations, bandwidth usage and SLA compliance.