Telefónica and Huawei successfully trial T-SDN software solution
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Telefónica and Huawei successfully trial T-SDN software solution

Telefónica and Huawei have successfully completed laboratory tests on Huawei's T-SDN (Transport Software-Defined Network) solution and have now moved onto the network development stage.

The solution is a controller which improves the planning, management, monitoring and diagnosis of Telefónica España’s photonic mesh. The controller enables all communication on the photonic mesh, to be sent using optics transporting large volumes of data by light.

Commenting on the announcement, María Antonia Crespo, director of IP connectivity and transport at Telefónica España, said: “We were interested in seeing how T-SDN technology can help Telefónica in many different areas. Firstly, we’d like to improve the performance of the WDM control plane, helping to reduce restoration times. We also hope that it will enable Telefónica to manage its resources more efficiently and improve its network diagnoses. Finally, it will be very useful for us if we can move towards the automation of the network, as this is one of the key goals in Telefónica’s strategy for the coming years.”

Telefónica began deploying its photonic mesh network in 2009, covering more than 200 locations in Spain, using flexible ROADM (Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer) technology and an advanced network control plane. With this improved flexibility and came challenges with the Operation and Maintenance (O&M) which led Telefónica to test Huawei T-SDN solution. Huawei’s centralised controller can be used as the ‘network’s brain’ to gather real-time information and to use online incident simulations to compile reliable information on the service. 

In addition, the centralised T-SDN algorithm can be used to optimize the spectrum and improve the reliability and performance of the new WDM (Wavelength Division Multiplexing) networks. Huawei has also said that it is developing a new platform called NCE (Network Cloud Engine) which wil integrate the online WDM planning tool, the control plane and the network management system.

“Huawei continues to lead the global deployment and use cases of T-SDN. This solution has been implemented in more than ten networks for customers in different countries and has supported diverse business scenarios, including finance, governments, leased company lines, the media industry and data center interconnect (DCI). This solution has been highly praised by customers. Huawei will continue its close cooperation with Telefónica to reinforce its transport network and to provide the best service experience in Spain,” added Richard Jin, president of transmission at Huawei.

Earlier this month, Philippines operator PLDT selected Huawei to help improve its wireless service delivery across all its brands. PLDT said that the move is part of its "massive capital expenditure programme" and will see Huawei help overhaul PLDT’s fixed and wireless networks infrastructure and its information technology systems.

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