Operators have shared their perspectives on IP and optical convergence, with network management and planning coming in for close scrutiny.

Sterling Perrin, Senior Principal Analyst, Heavy Reading

May 22, 2014

3 Min Read
Accelerating Packet-Optical Convergence

In March, a group of leading network operators, led by Telefónica, published a white paper entitled "IP and Optical Convergence: Use Cases and Technical Requirements." The objective of this paper, as the authors write, was to outline the benefits, enablers, and challenges for IP and optical convergence, and the rationale for encouraging international collaboration to accelerate progress and development in this area.

In addition to Telefónica SA (NYSE: TEF), other contributing companies were: AXTEL Mexico; Bouygues Telecom; BT Group; China Unicom; Colt Telecom; Deutsche Telekom; KDDI; KT Corp. (Korea Telecom); Orange; and Telecom Italia.

The operator group assessed the value of a number of different IP and optical use cases. This blog focuses on multi-layer management, multi-layer planning, and multi-layer resilience, which garnered the most interest among the operator group -- and by a large margin.

The white paper looks at multi-layer resilience and focuses on an IP and optical layer resilience scheme that uses fast reroute (FRR) at the IP layer and GMPLS at the optical layer. The multi-layer network reduces operator capex by eliminating some of the requirements for 1+1 protection in the network. With traditional 1+1 protection, 50% of network capacity is reserved for backup in case a failure occurs, but a multi-layer control plane can be built to use 1:1 protection only when necessary.

While this paper does not provide multi-layer resilience savings statistics, DT research work published in 2012 demonstrated capex savings of 24-27% using a combination of IP layer and photonic layer restoration when compared to traditional network architectures implying IP layer restoration with full 1+1 protection. We have also seen equipment vendors cite even higher capex savings potential for this application.

Looking at multi-layer planning and management, a full integration of IP and optical layers can lead to better network manageability, but the complexity of full interaction (today, at least) requires a single vendor proprietary implementation. On the plus side, a proprietary integrated approach can speed up and simplify provisioning, fault management, and network planning. On the negative side, buying IP and optical layer equipment from a single vendor creates "dependencies that constrain network evolutions," according to the white paper. "Additionally, it brings a significant risk of increasing part of the OPEX, through the different upgrades and associated release qualifications since IP routers implies a high number of release updates," when compared with pure transport equipment releases.

The operators conclude that, in the case of proprietary, fully-integrated IP and optical management systems, the negatives outweigh the potential positives. The authors recommend that the industry begins working on open standards to achieve converged network management systems. This conclusion is very consistent with Heavy Reading 's findings from surveys and operator interviews during the past 18 months.

However, we continue to get pushback on this issue from various equipment vendors. A consistent counter argument we are hearing from suppliers is that, in the absence of full standards, operators will need to make proprietary decisions or lose out on the benefits of multi-layer integration completely. Granted, vendors have a strong incentive to preserve the status quo, but there is also a legitimate point being made here. With no clear cut path to standardization, how long will operators wait for multi-vendor interoperability to emerge?

— Sterling Perrin, Senior Analyst, Heavy Reading

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About the Author(s)

Sterling Perrin

Senior Principal Analyst, Heavy Reading

Sterling has more than 20 years of experience in telecommunications as an industry analyst and journalist. His coverage area at Heavy Reading is optical networking, including packet-optical transport and 5G transport.

Sterling joined Heavy Reading after five years at IDC, where he served as lead optical networks analyst, responsible for the firm’s optical networking subscription research and custom consulting activities. In addition to chairing and moderating many Light Reading events, Sterling is a NGON & DCI World Advisory Board member and past member of OFC’s N5 Market Watch Committee. Sterling is a highly sought-after source among the business and trade press.

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