Key findings from Heavy Reading's third Open, Automated, & Programmable Transport Networks operator survey highlight the operational requirements of IP and optical convergence.
Sponsored by Ciena
The IP over DWDM renaissance was sparked by the commercialization of coherent pluggable optics, initially at 400Gbps data rates. But IP and optical convergence involves much more than buying pluggable optics. Convergence also requires multi-layer control and management, tight organizational coordination, open hardware and software interfaces and extensive automation.
Heavy Reading delved into these issues as part of its third annual Open, Automated, and Programmable Transport Networks global operator survey. This blog discusses some of the key findings.
IP/optical team coordination
One important aspect of IP and optical convergence is team coordination. To what extent do IP and optical groups work together closely across different use cases? The Heavy Reading survey showed that team coordination among IP and optical groups is relatively low across the transport use cases analyzed. For a plurality of operators (if not the majority), coordination between teams is "as needed" for all seven use cases.
Most coordinated today are network performance monitoring (coordinated by 32% of operators), network troubleshooting (also 32%) and network optimization and traffic engineering (31%). Among the use cases given, network optimization and traffic engineering is also the least likely to be siloed (just 13% of operators selected siloed). On the other hand, energy consumption optimization has the most room for improved coordination, and this is expected to be a focus area given the many organizational sustainability targets.
The coordination of network performance and optimization enables operators to better comply with strict customer SLAs by engineering traffic flows to be "smarter" for reliable performance instead of overbuilding infrastructure at each layer. With a holistic data model across network layers that enables visualization of correlated data and modular automation, IP and optical operations teams can coordinate more easily and efficiently.
How do operations teams coordinate on IP/optical use cases in your transport network today?
Network management
How to manage coherent pluggables as part of the overall transport network is one of the primary challenges for IP/optical convergence among network operators. Heavy Reading survey data shows that operator views and preferences are split. Hierarchical controllers are preferred by a plurality of respondents (selected by 33%). Still, just over one in five operators (at 21%) prefer optical controllers and 16% want IP controllers to manage their pluggables. Meanwhile, 13% are using no controller at all, though it is not clear whether that is by preference or lack of other options at this early stage. In all cases, standardized open interfaces are a prerequisite for interoperability between infrastructure suppliers.
Underscoring the role of organization structures in convergence strategies, Heavy Reading also finds that pluggable management strategies vary greatly by where in the organization employees sit (i.e., by technology role). For example, respondents in converged roles tend to prefer hierarchical controllers, those in optical roles favor optical controllers and those in IP roles prefer either hierarchical or IP controllers. The data suggests the importance of a business decision maker who considers the total cost/benefit.
What strategy are you adopting for managing coherent pluggables in routers?
Lastly, Heavy Reading survey data consistently makes it clear that coherent pluggable optics and transponders will coexist in networks for many years to come. 59% of operators plan to weigh the pros and cons of pluggable optics versus transponders when making their optics decisions, while an additional 25% prefer transponders (due to performance requirements). For most operators, the question of transponders versus coherent pluggables optics is not a "not either/or" decision, but a bit of both. The data points to the utility of automated methods to help operators assess which form factor suits their deployment scenario best.
For IP and optical convergence, it is important to manage pluggable optics on parity with transponders in the network, including the ability to fine-tune performance parameters. The chosen control and management architecture should not sacrifice management and monitoring capabilities at the optical layer.
Given that pluggable optics are generally less spectrally efficient than high performance transponders, how does spectral efficiency impact your optics deployment strategy?
Inevitably, IP and optical convergence has reached the "things are complicated" stage of maturity. This is not a bad thing, as the challenges identified by network operators are squarely focused on operational issues. It is now up to the operators, their suppliers and industry standards groups to work together to address any issues they identify.
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This blog is sponsored by Ciena.
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