Categories
Telecom industry is witnessing a major transformation to a software-defined network (SDN) paradigm that makes carrier networks more programmable to allow a more agile deployment of new applications and faster instantiation of services. With SDN, telecom operators envision re-architecting their networks such that new services can be turned up automatically “on-demand” as opposed to taking months of tedious, manual processes. Network Function Virtualization (NFV) virtualizes proprietary network appliances for specialized functions such as firewalls, routers, switches, intrusion detection, NAT and DNS such that they run in software often implemented in cloud service frameworks. The benefits of NFV include reduced investments in dedicated hardware and associated operational costs in terms of space rentals, power and cooling. In addition, NFV enables telecom service providers to rapidly launch innovative network services with the flexibility to scale up (or down) as per varying business demands.
Telecom central offices are being reimagined as data centers (CORD) through an SDN operating system that will enhance the flexibility and cloud-service capabilities of traditional service provider networks. While the SDN concept originally emerged in the context of data centers of large web-scale companies, it is being gradually extended to radio access networks, packet transport and optical layers through the evolution of dedicated SDN “domain controllers”. Open source options such as Open Network Operating System (ONOS) that are widely supported by the telecom community including large carriers and vendors are now available and are being used to build carrier-grade SDN controllers with open application programing interfaces (APIs) to northbound orchestration systems and southbound network equipment. From a network management and monitoring perspective, XML-based network configuration protocol (NETCONF) in combination with YANG data modelling language is gaining significant traction in the industry. NETCONF/YANG is often supplemented by REST APIs that provide a simpler API interface for developers with XML/JSON encoding formats.
Tejas provides intelligent network management software(NMS) for easy deployment of large-scale networks. Our NMS enables unified management of our products from a graphical and web-based user interface. Tejas optical products are designed to be SDN/NFV-ready for management by a Tejas SDN controller with support for industry standard open northbound and southbound interfaces. This includes an extensive feature set for inventory, topology, service, alarms and performance management. Software plug-ins are also made available for integration with third-party controllers and for suitable enhancements by third-party application developers.