In
telecommunication
Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...
, a "carrier grade" or "carrier class" refers to a
system
A system is a group of Interaction, interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. A system, surrounded and influenced by its environment (systems), environment, is described by its boundaries, ...
, or a
hardware or
software
Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work.
At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...
component that is extremely reliable, well tested and proven in its capabilities. Carrier grade systems are tested and engineered to meet or exceed
"five nines" high availability
High availability (HA) is a characteristic of a system which aims to ensure an agreed level of operational performance, usually uptime, for a higher than normal period.
Modernization has resulted in an increased reliance on these systems. Fo ...
standards, and provide very fast
fault recovery
Fault detection, isolation, and recovery (FDIR) is a subfield of control engineering which concerns itself with monitoring a system, identifying when a fault has occurred, and pinpointing the type of fault and its location. Two approaches can be ...
through redundancy (normally less than 50 milliseconds).
"Carrier grade" is not a standard or very clearly defined term but, rather, a set of features and qualities that make the product acceptable by a carrier:
The feature set that enables the carrier to utilize the business with use of that equipment. High quality and very good MTBF (Some requirements are stated in TR-144 chapter 7.17). Redundancy (if one part goes down, there is an alternative). Easy and cost-efficient O&M. All Standardized as much as possible
See also
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Carrier Grade Linux
Carrier Grade Linux (CGL) is a set of specifications which detail standards of availability, scalability, manageability, and service response characteristics which must be met in order for Linux kernel-based operating system to be considered "ca ...
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Real-time computing
Real-time computing (RTC) is the computer science term for hardware and software systems subject to a "real-time constraint", for example from event to system response. Real-time programs must guarantee response within specified time constrai ...
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Redundancy (engineering)
In engineering, redundancy is the intentional duplication of critical components or functions of a system with the goal of increasing reliability of the system, usually in the form of a backup or fail-safe, or to improve actual system perform ...
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Carrier system
A carrier system is a telecommunications system that transmits information, such as the voice signals of a telephone call and the video signals of television, by modulation of one or multiple carrier signals above the principal voice frequency or ...
*
High availability
High availability (HA) is a characteristic of a system which aims to ensure an agreed level of operational performance, usually uptime, for a higher than normal period.
Modernization has resulted in an increased reliance on these systems. Fo ...
External links
What's all the fuss about network resiliency?(link no longer available)
Carrier Ethernet Ready for Prime Time: Five Things to Consider
{{Telecomm-stub
Telecommunications engineering
Reliability engineering