Our edge

High-capacity, high-throughput access cluster

The Net-Net SLB enables creating a Net-Net Cluster that supports up to two million subscribers from a single IP address for SIP signaling. RTP media flows directly from endpoints to the SBCs when needed and can be released within an access network, maximizing cluster throughput and minimizing media latency.

Dynamic, adaptive stateful load balancing

Subscribers are distributed to specific SBCs in the cluster at time of registration based upon SBC availability, health score, capacity and current load. This information is exchanged between SBCs and the SLB using an intra-cluster protocol. SBCs can be easily added or even removed from the cluster without any service disruption, assuming sufficient capacity exists in the cluster. Subscribers are rebalanced only when they do not have active calls or sessions in process.

Low-latency, hardware-based signaling plane

Only the packets of a subscriber’s SIP REGISTER message are processed by the Net-Net SLB’s software system. Once a subscriber is assigned to a specific SBC, all subsequent SIP signaling messages are processed in hardware. Hardware latency is only 10 microseconds, compared to 10 milliseconds for software processing latency.

Any service, application or access network; virtualization supports multiple services

A Net-Net Cluster can be virtualized to physically support multiple services, applications and access networks:

  • Any service—mobile, residential, enterprise
  • Any application—voice, video, presence, messaging, video conferencing, telepresence, content and video share, unified communications and collaboration
  • Any access network—Internet, managed fixed line or mobile network; IPv4, IPv6 and interworking; enterprise VPNs and overlapping IP addresses

Co-located or geographically distributed deployment models

To enable geographic distribution and preserve the transparency of the endpoint’s IP address, the Net-Net SLB uses IP-in-IP encapsulation (RFC 2003) to forward traffic to the SBC. Three deployments models provide increasing degrees of geographic redundancy and network resiliency:

  • Co-located Cluster—Net-Net SLBs and SBCs are physically co-located in the POP.
  • Distributed Cluster—Net-Net SLBs and SBCs are physically distributed and separated from each other. Each SLB only has access to a specific group of SBCs. This solution provides geographic redundancy.
  • Fully distributed, fully meshed cluster—The Net-Net SLBs and SBCs are physically distributed and separated from each other. Each SLB has access to all SBCs. This solution provides maximum capacity, geographic redundancy and network resiliency.

Investment protection

The Net-Net Cluster supports existing Acme Packet SBCs and can be comprised of a heterogeneous mix of SBC hardware platforms—Net-Net 3820, 4500, 9200 and MPU4500 for the Net-Net 14000.

Industry-leading Net-Net OS SBC functions & features including Net-SAFE security

The Net-Net Cluster solution supports all of our industry-leading Net-Net OS border control functions and features in the areas of security, service reach maximization, SLA assurance, regulatory compliance, and cost and revenue management.

Centralized management

Cluster configuration and provisioning can be performed by Net-Net Central, which manages the cluster as single virtual SBC. From Net-Net Central, SBCs can be added or removed from the cluster, subscribers can be migrated and software can be upgraded. Centralized fault and performance management is supported through SNMPv2c and our historical data recording capabilities. The Acme Packet CLI and syslog enable the management and troubleshooting of individual systems.