Huawei, Telefonica trial SDN-based IP/optical convergence

Huawei and Telefonica last week reported on a joint field trial of IP and optical layer "synergy" via software-defined networking (SDN) using infrastructure from Telefonica Peru. The successful trial is a step toward actual deployments, the parties say.

The field trial leveraged a mesh network in the country's capital, Lima, based on Huawei's OSN8800 as a ROADM, its OSN9800 packet-aware Optical Transport Network (OTN) switches, its NE40E service routers, and its NE5000E as core routers. The multilayer network therefore included IP/MPLS and OTN/ROADM layers. The controller and orchestrator were based on Huawei's commercially available Smart Network Controller (SNC) and NetMatrix.

The network control architecture used in the trial is based on standard blocks defined within the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). These include Path Computation Element Protocol (PCEP) and Virtual Network Topology Manager (VNTM)). The IETF blocks worked with the network systems' distributed IP/MPLS and Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching (GMPLS) control planes to enable network automation, simplified service provisioning, and multi-layer restoration. The partners assert the field trial successfully accomplished all the targeted test cases related to automatic provisioning, multi-layer service provisioning, multi-layer network restoration, path diversity, and shared risk link group avoidance.

The Huawei/Telefonica SDN partnership began with lab-based proof of concept test a year ago (see "Huawei, Telefonica trial SDN-based IP and optical layer interworking"). The successful completion of the field trial now paves the way to commercializing the SDN-based "IP and Optical Synergy" approach, Huawei says. The next step is moving to a real traffic pilot phase and then commercial deployment.

Telefonica has partnered with Huawei and other several other vendors to create test beds for multi-vendor inter-operation testing in the Telefonica I+D lab (see, for example, "Telefonica I+D, Infinera demo SDN-based Network-as-a-Service capabilities").

For more information on high-speed transmission systems and suppliers, visit the Lightwave Buyer's Guide.