Why a Flexible Network Architecture Is Key to Delivering Positive Subscriber Experiences

A great subscriber experience starts with the network. It forms the foundation for reliable connectivity, high service availability, and the fundamental attributes for delivering value-added services—helping broadband service providers (BSPs) differentiate and remain competitive.
 

By designing a network that adapts to evolving needs, BSPs can enhance reliability and performance for subscribers and accelerate the delivery of new service offerings.
 

How To Dynamically Respond to Network Demands

Flexibility is vital in responding to changes in network demand. In traditional broadband networks, service routing is usually centralized in the core or aggregation domain. However, BSPs can now push network intelligence closer to subscribers by implementing Layer 3 routing closer to the subscriber-facing network.
 

This enables BSPs to utilize Layer 3 to enhance traffic management and performance, optimize bandwidth across multiple ports, and scale cost-effectively to reduce the network’s total cost of ownership (TCO) while dynamically adapting to changing business demands.
 

4 Benefits of Moving Network Routing Functions Closer to the Subscriber

BSPs can proactively manage capacity demands and maintain high-quality connectivity by moving service intelligence closer to the subscriber. The new Calix ASM1001, for example, enables BSPs to move routing into remote cabinets, nodes, and small offices—closer to the subscriber.
 

This deployment option unlocks several advantages, helping BSPs:

• Ensure high availability. Deploying intelligent routing and aggregation in the access network provides more links that enhance redundancy and fault tolerance, ensuring a more reliable network for subscribers.
  
  
• Enhance network performance. Perform traffic management and segregate network traffic across different virtual local area networks (VLANs) as well as optimize bandwidth by load balancing across multiple links.
  
  
• Increase access network capacity. Bringing intelligence closer to the edge reduces backhaul strain, enabling more efficient use of available capacity and avoiding additional CAPEX.
  
  
• Simplify network design. Using automated network provisioning, deployment, and configuration, BSPs can allocate resources more efficiently, allowing existing resources to focus on higher priority business activity.
  
  
• Eliminate the need to upgrade remote enclosures. The ASM1001’s compact form factor allows it to be deployed in existing cabinets, eliminating the cost and delays in acquiring permits and building new cabinets.

These capabilities offer flexibility and enable BSPs to build networks customized to meet subscriber demands. For instance, serving rural subscribers over 50 miles from the central office becomes significantly more feasible and cost-effective.

Transforming to an Experience Provider

In highly competitive markets where subscriber experience is the key differentiator, BSPs need a network strategy that balances performance, efficiency, and adaptability. Bringing service intelligence closer to the subscriber effectively enhances service quality and responsiveness while maintaining a cost-effective and scalable network.
 

Network engineering teams can play a vital role in transforming BSPs into experience providers by embracing flexible network architectures and delivering a dynamic network that subscribers can trust.
 

Discover more in our eBook, “Subscribers Are Demanding Highly Available Broadband—Here’s How To Deliver It.”