EUROP: testing an operator network in a single room

What is EUROP?

Jacques Fayolle: The EUROP platform was conceived through a dual partnership with the Loire departmental council and LOTIM, a telecoms operator in the region and subsidiary of the Axione group. EUROP brings together researchers and engineers from Télécom Saint-Étienne specializing in networks, telecoms and IT. Increasingly, we are seeing a convergence between infrastructure and the services that use it. That's why these two areas of expertise are so complementary.

The platform's challenge is to simulate an operator network in a single room. To achieve this, we have reconstructed a complete network, from service production to consumption by a corporate customer or individual. In this way, we represent all stages of the distribution chain from a network to the home.

What technologies are present on the platform?

JF : Today, we're working on wired technologies, which make up the operator part of a fiber network. What we're particularly interested in is being able to compare the operation of a service according to the protocols used during signal transport between the server and the end client. For example, we can compare what happens in a housing estate when an ADSL connection is replaced by FTTH(Fiber to the Home).

The platform's technologies evolve, but the platform as a whole never changes. All we do is add possibilities, because the whole point is to be able to compare one technology with another. A telecom device has a life cycle of 5 to 10 years. In the beginning, we focused on copper technology, then we added point-to-point fiber, then point-to-multipoint. As a result, today we have several dozen different technologies on the platform. That's just about all the technologies currently used by telecom operators.

Maxime Joncoux: And they're all functional. The aim is to test technical configurations in order to understand how a technology works, depending on the physical layout of the network we're setting up.

Operating principle of the EUROP platform.

How can a network be represented in a room?

MJ : The network is very large, but in reality it fits into a small space. If we take Saint-Étienne as an example, the network fits into a large building, even though it covers all the city's communications. This represents around a hundred thousand copper cables that are reduced in size. Instead of having 30 connections, we only have one or two. As for the 80 kilometers of fiber that this network represents, they are simply wound on a spool.

JF: We also have distance simulators, which are objects we can configure according to the distance we wish to represent. Thanks to these technologies, we can reproduce a real high-speed or ADSL network. This enables us to say: if I'm in a situation where I have a very high-speed network, for example in the heart of Paris, this is how my service will be consumed. Or if I'm in an isolated area in the countryside, my bandwidth may be less easy, so here's how my service can be consumed. EUROP allows us to physically test these networks rather than using computer models.

This is not simulation, but real laboratory reproduction. We can set up scenarios and compare situations with other configurations. In this way, we can directly assess the impact that a change in technology along the chain can have on the service offered by an operator.

Who is the platform for?

JF : We directly target companies wishing to innovate on the platform, either by validating service configurations, or by evaluating the evolution of a particular piece of equipment with the aim of achieving better quality of service or higher throughput. The platform also serves the school directly as a training and research tool. Finally, it enables us to raise awareness among rural elected representatives of the fact that broadband access is a means of developing their local economy.

MJ : For elected representatives, our aim is to provide a practical guide to the seamless deployment of fiber. We don't want Paris and Lyon to have fiber in 5 years' time, while the rest of France still has ADSL.

Can you give some examples of partnerships?

JF: We carried out a study for Adista, a local telecoms operator. They presented us with the network load they wanted to support for a national event. Our job was to determine the configuration needed to meet their requirements.

We also have a partnership with IFOTEC, a small business in the Grenoble area that develops innovative networks. Together, we are working to bring very high-speed broadband to complicated geographical areas. In other words, with distances to network nodes that are greater than those found in major cities. The SME has developed DSL offsetting techniques (part of the connection is copper, while there is fiber at the end of the line), enabling it to bring at least 20 MB of throughput 80 kilometers from the network node. This is the kind of industrial target with which we innovate, by seeking out an innovative protocol or hardware.

What does the Carnot label mean for you?

JF : The Carnot label gives us visibility. SMEs are always a little hesitant to collaborate with academics. This label gives us credibility. On top of that, the Carnot quality charter gives substance to our contracts.

What does the future hold for the platform?

JF: Our aim is to move towards a technology used in large data centers, to tackle big data and cloud computing. Many companies are asking themselves how their current services can operate in a cloud mode. We're also interested in setting up configuration systems adapted to the Internet of Things. All these technologies rely on an efficient network. The EUROP platform is there to help validate the necessary configurations.