AT&T, ON.Lab to lead CORD proof-of-concept demonstration
ON.Lab, developers of the Open Network Operating System (ONOS), says it will join with AT&T (NYSE:T), the ONOS project, PMC-Sierra (NASDAQ:PMCS), and G.fast chip vendor Sckipio to publically demonstrate a Central Office Re-architected as Data Center (CORD) proof-of-concept (POC). The demonstration will take place at next week's Open Networking Summit in Santa Clara.
The CORD approach leverages software-defined networking (SDN), network functions virtualization (NFV), and cloud networking principles to promote the use of commodity hardware to support flexible, rapid service creation and delivery, with a focus on access networks. It can be applied to central offices managing GPON and G.fast architectures as well as their associated CPE. Common building blocks, at least in the minds of the proof of concept participants, include ONOS, OpenStack for virtual infrastructure management, and the XOS open source service orchestration/management platform built on OpenStack.
The demonstration will start with a CORD central office that leverages ONOS, XOS, and OpenStack; white box switches; and commodity servers. The demonstration also will see use of an OpenFlow-enabled GPON OLT MAC from PMC as well as an OpenFlow-enabled G.fast distribution point unit (DPU) connected to a G.fast CPE bridge from Sckipio (see "Sckipio unveils G.fast SDN initiatives").
The participants expect the demonstration to highlight the advantages of CORD for service providers, subscribers, and third-party service providers. They include:
- For service providers, SDN control, orchestration, and management with ONOS OpenStack, and XOS on commodity infrastructure; an open, high-performance leaf-spine fabric; the OpenFlow-enabled PON OLT MAC hardware that enables virtualization of the traditional OLT; and the OpenFlow-enabled G.fast DPU. Services will include access-as-service, subscriber-as-a-service, Internet-as-a-service, and caching/content delivery-as-a-service, as well as virtualized functions such as firewall, URL filtering, parental control, and BNG. The group also will demonstrate a service provider portal for provisioning, management, and monitoring of infrastructure and services.
- For subscribers, a simple CPE that replaces existing complex CPEs and can be managed by ONOS, the subscriber services just mentioned, and a subscriber portal for signing up for and managing services.
- For third-party service providers, support of third-party content delivery (caching) in the service provider network, as well as a portal of their own for signing up for and managing services.
ONOS says it will make the CORD POC software used in the demo available in the ONOS "Drake" release scheduled for the end of August 2015.
Meanwhile, the demo team will continue development of the technology, including lab trials. A CORD "pod" that combines the software and hardware building blocks will be made available for service provider lab trials by the end of 2015, the collaborators say.
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Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher
Stephen Hardy has covered fiber optics for more than 15 years, and communications and technology for more than 30 years. He is responsible for establishing and executing Lightwave's editorial strategy across its digital magazine, website, newsletters, research and other information products. He has won multiple awards for his writing.
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