Optical Transport SDN deployment touted by Huawei, China Telecom

Huawei, China Telecom Fujian (Fujian Telecom), and China Telecom Beijing Research Institute say they have combined to deploy what they say is the first Transport Software-Defined Network (T-SDN). The T-SDN supports an intelligent private-line bandwidth on demand (BoD) application for premium customers as well as IP and optical synergy for data centers, the companies say.

The deployment is part of China Telecom’s "Internet-based Transformation" road map.

The China Telecom Beijing Research Institute developed the private-line BoD app. The app enables customers to apply for private-line services online; the T-SDN immediately provisions the requested services. Customers also can adjust the service bandwidth of private lines in real-time based on traffic volume via the app.

On the operator side, China Telecom can check the detailed service performance of each customer, facilitating analysis and prediction of customer behavior and development of services that meet diverse customer requirements.

"We are glad to cooperate with Huawei in the optical transport SDN field and to have successfully deployed the world's first innovative T-SDN," said Zhang Chengliang, vice president of China Telecom Beijing Research Institute. "The deployment proves that SDN-based open architecture and the standard northbound interface can realize various innovative applications and interwork with network platforms. It is a key milestone for the development of transport SDN."

Huawei provided the network side T-SDN controller to aid in the deployment. "Huawei cooperated with China Telecom to deploy the innovative BoD private line app based on the transport SDN," explained Zha Jun, president of Huawei Fixed Network Product Line. "The deployment is a key milestone that effectively pushes progress of the transport SDN industry. Huawei will continue to cooperate with China Telecom in developing cutting-edge 400G, 1T, 2T, and SDN technologies, and building a flexible, synergetic, intelligent, and open next-generation transport network."

Huawei and China Telecom recently participated in the optical SDN demonstration conducted by the Open Networking Foundation and the Optical Internetworking Forum (see "OIF and ONF enjoy joint Transport SDN demonstration success"). In addition to the BoD private line app, Huawei envisions virtual customer networks, SMD virtual test instruments, cloud and network synergy, and automatic online operation as potential features transport SDN could enable.

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