ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the designs and configurations that cover carrier MAN or WAN networks depending on whether they cover a city, a region, or a country, or if international connections are made. The chapter has been divided into two main sections to tackle this topic. The first part is related to technologies, forms of connectivity, and access-network-related designs. In other words, this refers to the networks connecting companies and even individual users to the carrier networks. This type of connection is also known as last mile, last kilometer, first mile, and first kilometer. The second section deals with technologies, the connectivity forms, and the designs related to the core of the carrier networks. In other words, it deals with the networks in charge of transporting the entire carrier’s flow. The objective of this book is not to present an exhaustive analysis of every single technology, but to present the most relevant ones. It is likely that other technologies that are not being analyzed follow the same model as those analyzed in this book. Two important topics that correspond to GMPLS networks are analyzed at the end of this chapter, which tackles the MPLS future version and therefore carrier networks and IP addressing design related to customers’ network interconnection through the carrier networks.
