AUTOMATION
Communications service providers (CSPs) today share a
nearly universal goal – to drive down network costs and
increase profitability. This goal boils down to three basic
elements: reducing capital and operating expenditures,
while improving the range and quality of services offered.
CSPs must also meet the growing unpredictable network
connectivity requirements of IoT devices and on-demand
streaming services.
To achieve this combination of seemingly conflicting
goals, CSPs are taking steps to transform their optical
networks. Moving from static, one size fits all, models to
open and programmable network platforms that deliver the
exact level of performance required at any point in time.
CSPs need to be able to easily tune, control, and dynamically
adjust optical capacity as needed. This will enable them to
address end users’ requirements more efficiently.
By Helen Xenos, Director
Portfolio Marketing, Ciena
www.ciena.com
Automation can monitor and mine
all available network assets while
responding to new demands
in an instant
The autonomous network
In the UK, we are also seeing a growing presence of major
Internet content players such as Facebook, Google, Amazon
working with service providers to bring content closer to the
end-user. We also see a growth of private and public cloud
infrastructure being built by large enterprises and network
operators alike. As a result, optical networks need to be
more dynamic so that they can respond in real-time to the
unexpected bandwidth requirements driven by content
moving to the cloud.
Underpinning the new autonomous network approach is
software defined networking (SDN), where software is used
to automate processes and help increase revenue potential.
SDN also transforms the way optical networks are built, by
eliminating old processes and enabling new operational
practices. Engineers can be more creative in how they design
the network when some hardware barriers are removed.
For example, historically, the limited visibility into network
performance has meant that conservative engineering
assumptions are made when planning optical network
capacity. This results in a network with excess SNR (signal-
to-noise ratio) margin that operates at sub-optimal capacity.
Now, with real-time monitoring and reporting, network
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