PETER DYKES OPTICAL SOFTWARE
get more bandwidth over a particular distance. Health and analytics can trigger optimisation automatically.
Basically, Nokia has taken open software applications which take
advantage of the investment operators are making in SDN and leveraged new advances in open interfaces which allow operators to get information from the network quickly via streaming telemetry. The vision is that network insight can make it easier to extract capacity from the network and the network apps can monetise that capacity. Larrigan explains, “One of the things we’ve done is take that capacity, monetise it instantly and then with node automation we create a work order for the actual service, but we also associate and deploy the equipment quickly and leverage the mobile client so that you don’t need a mobile device to commission the client device in an end-to end deployment. Not only do we want to get the services supported, provisioned and assured more efficiently, but also get the supporting equipment that constructs those services and get the data we need to assure and visualise the performance of these services. It’s about what is the right sort of automation for every customer, because optical customers don’t want to take risks with their networks.” Currently, Nokia is offering wavelength services, carrier ethernet services and a new optical service with software support that can be passed up any number of levels. Larrigan says that in
The hierarchical structure of WaveSuite
customer prefers to go through a ready- to-use portal. These portals are brand- aware, so if a customer wants to order a service and they go to their portal, they do not see the virtual operators between them at all. They don’t see the operator at all, they own the relationship with their end customer, and the end customer sees them as the proprietor. They don’t know who’s behind the physical infrastructure. The portals are secure and ready to go and basically, at every point in the hierarchy, the only thing anyone at any point in the chain can see are their own customers.” Larrigan explains that the way it works is the suite contains a work order tool which abstracts and selects the
work order and insert a wireless dongle into the port of the equipment and start up a temporary channel using wi-fi or Bluetooth. Service enablement will be available in 4Q18 and, says Larrigan, it means Nokia will be first to market with Network- as-a-Service capabilities with hierarchy and it sees a wide market for WaveSuite. Larrigan says, “Today’s networks are all vertically integrated, but by going to an open environment and leveraging SDN, our apps are applicable not only to our own networks, but also multi-vendor networks. Anyone that has an optical infrastructure and they want to slice it for end customers with just one layer of hierarchy or multiple layers of hierarchy, is a potential customer. Anyone who needs an optical network to support their customers or they want to own or operate an optical network to support their business, they’re a potential virtual network customer.” He adds that there are open interfaces above the applications to OSS/BSS orchestration systems, and while some systems offer the ability to ask for a slice of the network in order to support a product service, such an end-to-end approach to orchestration is not the goal. He says, “Below us, we have open interfaces to equipment, so we can fit in not only to our own equipment, but also multi-vendor networks. People are putting a great deal of money into open data models to support open interfaces and we’re offering the opportunity to get payback on that investment.” Early reactions from the analysts are positive Tim Doiron, principal analyst, intelligent networking at ACG Research, says, “Nokia is transforming the way transport services are consumed and monitored. Nokia’s hierarchical, multi- tenant business logic and application software are right on point to radically reduce service delivery times, strengthen distribution channel partnerships and enable enterprise customers to easily consume and monitor transport services on demand.”
we’ve introduced open software applications that look at the relationship between the optical network operator, the end customer and everyone in between
SCOTT LARRIGAN, SENIOR MARKETING MANAGER, NOKIA
the future, every physical or virtualised network will offer carrier ethernet services, but in the near term the focus is on wavelength services and optical support for virtual slices of the physical or virtual network. He says, “When we get capacity to sell, we can push it up the chain very quickly, so we see new capacity in the physical network and we can advertise it up to be consumed. That’s the virtualised hierarchy, but the thing that really makes this work is the service enablement part. We provide at every one of these virtual instances a web portal with open api’s if the
equipment behind the service. Once the service is selected the tool gets everything needed into a bundle and creates a work order, a process which will eventually be automated when the service enablement tool is implemented. Then the work order is downloaded to a mobile client commissioning device, making it possible to leverage the commissioning software to outsource the installation of the equipment, hand it to the end customer or an operator can do it themselves. The installer picks up the equipment, goes to the site, they start up the equipment, download the
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| ISSUE 15 | Q4 2018
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