ANTONY SAVVAS NEXT GEN SOFTWARE
NEXT GEN OPTICAL SOFTWARE THE KEY TO FUTURE SERVICES
Operators need to take a mix and match approach to networks if they are to meet the demands of the cloud, 5G, the Internet of Things and other network-draining applications. By Antony Savvas
T he growing prominence of SDN, TSDN and NFV protocols, SD-WANs and cloud orchestration technologies in the communications industry, point to software having to be de-coupled from the optical infrastructure for the industry to succeed, Antony Savvas charts the progress being made. A HOLISTIC APPROACH Speaking at the recent Broadband World Forum in Berlin, Federico Guillén, Nokia’s president of fixed networks, told delegates that operators had to take a holistic approach to their networks if they are to meet rising customer demand, improve scalability and reduce network complexity. He said there is no single technology or access mode that will deliver ubiquitous ultra- fast connectivity, and that instead a combination of technologies is required. Those operators that don’t recognise this will fail to meet speed and connectivity targets and lose ground to the competition, he said. Guillén said virtualisation will have a key role keeping operational costs low as the network gets more complex, provided it is used in the right way. “There is no doubt that virtualisation can simplify networks, and that moving
concurs that operators are prioritising software to address their operational needs, with SDN and NFV set to deliver next generation optical access, and indeed, meet developments in edge computing - from the corporate network “Connectivity is becoming more flexible with SDN and NFV. The next stage of its development is Transport Software Defined Networks (TSDN), which refers to SDN/NFV capability at the optical layer. TSDN is a significant development.” He added: “By investing in the latest optical technology end users are able to self-serve their core optical networks at the click of a button, because they’ll have direct control over how their optical network works through a portal. They’ll be able to shift bandwidth immediately, and change A and B end locations in real time. “TSDN means businesses can respond to instant market challenges. Look at Black Friday, for example. If a retailer can predict that their network is going to need significant greater capacity over that time-frame, this could be monitored, managed and optimised in real time to make the most of a time-bound opportunity. Post initial implementation, no more lengthy set- up projects or year-long contractual obligations. TSDN is where the industry is heading.” to the data centre and the cloud? Smith tells Optical Connections:
network hardware into the cloud makes networks easier to manage and scale. But virtualising everything is not the answer. Operators must look at the business case for virtualisation and identify which areas are going to provide the most value.” FROM HARDWARE TO SOFTWARE Martin Courtney, an analyst at TechMarketView, says traditional network hardware vendors are having to adapt to the needs of their operator customers in the face of dipping sales. Speaking after Juniper Networks’ recently reported its third quarter results, which saw the company experience falling sales, Courtney said there was only one direction the company could go in. “Juniper Networks, like rival Cisco and other companies whose traditional business has relied predominantly on selling routers and switches, is striving to shift more of its activity into software and service provisioning in the face of flat or declining network hardware sales,” he said. “A change of focus to cloud-orientated data centre infrastructure solutions and software defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualisation (NFV) platforms for enterprises and service providers is making up ground in the market,” Courtney added. Je Smith, head of product development at SSE Enterprise Telecoms,
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| ISSUE 10 | Q3 2017
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