THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBING
Network Infrastructure Magazine | Tuesday, June 15, 2021
Several initiatives to transform the optical transport network into an open architecture have emerged over the last five years, coinciding with the advancement of available architectures in the data center and the 5G Radio Access Network (OpenRAN).
FREMONT, CA: Greater openness aims to eliminate vendor lock-in (which enables multi-vendor best-of-breed networks due to increased product options), improve supply chain resilience through second-sourcing, and more. As software becomes more intelligent, capable, and expansive – consider software-defined networking (SDN), network orchestration, and automation – open interfaces gain relevance and importance. Integration efforts are significantly streamlined when well-defined standard protocols and open source code are used instead of proprietary APIs. While the objectives are similar across networking domains, the path is distinct. For instance, in the 5G RAN, the radio is decoupled from the baseband unit via the CPRI standard protocol. Baseband unit (BBU) functions have been further decomposed and virtualized into the CU and DU. Since optical networks have distinct characteristics and a distinct evolutionary path, the model and architecture for openness will vary. The objective remains constant.
Stay ahead of the industry with exclusive feature stories on the top companies, expert insights and the latest news delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe today.
Initiatives of the industry for open optical networking
The vision is compelling: industry consensus on standard protocols and reference architectures results in modular building blocks for optical hardware and open source SDN software, attracting new vendors, and establishing a robust open ecosystem. Each open optical networking initiative opens a portion or layer of the network or none or opens all of them simultaneously. To reap the full benefits of available architectures, large service providers with in-house system integration capabilities may consider more extensive implementations. Smaller service providers opt for selective deployments based on their intended use. Several significant initiatives are currently underway:
Open ROADM: Specifies the interoperability of ROADMs, transponders, and pluggable optics, including optical and YANG data models.
Telecom Infrastructure Project: works on a variety of sub-projects within the TIP Open Optical & Packet Transport (OOPT) group that address various facets of the network, such as GNPy, Disaggregated Optical System (DOS), CANDI (Converged Architectures for Network Disaggregation and Integration) and OOPT-NOS (Network Operating Systems).
OpenConfig: An informal working group of service providers committed to software-defined networking principles such as declarative configuration and model-driven management and operations.
OpenDaylight is an open-source software-defined networking controller for customizing and automating networks. It includes a Model-Driven Service Abstraction Layer that maps applications to network hardware via YANG models.
The Open Network Automation Platform (ONAP) is used to orchestrate, manage, and automate network and edge computing services. It enables real-time, policy-driven orchestration and automation of physical and virtual network functions.
Open Network Operating System: An extensible, modular, and distributed open-source SDN controller with northbound and southbound interfaces. It is used in the central office, data center, and optical transport networks, such as an ONF initiative (Open Networking Foundation).
More in News