Press Release
ZTE Corporation, a major international provider of telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions for the Mobile Internet, today announced the release of its innovative vPIPE bearer network solution oriented to the service cloud era ahead of Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2017. This solution introduces software-defined networking (SDN) technology into Internet protocol (IP) and optical networks for the first time, to implement unified planning, scheduling, operations and maintenance (O&M), and optimisation of both the IP layer and optical layer, so as to build a low cost efficient bearer network. It is estimated that the solution can effectively reduce both capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operational expenditure (OPEX) by 50 percent, and increase the investment utilisation rate to 80 percent.
The cloud service era brings rapid growth in backbone network traffic and the IP and optical layers are facing high expansion costs. Until now, IP and optical networks have been planned, operated, and maintained individually, so the service launching, deployment and failure diagnosis costs time and money, and is less efficient. ZTE’s vPIPE solution introduces SDN technology into IP and optical networks to implement pipeline resource pooling, perfectly satisfying the demands of the bearer network in the cloud service era. The solution keeps the control plane of IP/multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) networks at the forwarding equipment, migrates path computation element (PCE) to IP controller, and migrates the optical network control plane to the optical controller. Then H-Controller is deployed to finally realise the centralised control of IP and optical networks. IP and optical networks exchange information via generalised multiprotocol label switching user-network interface (GMPLS UNI). Meanwhile, router port resource pooling and optical layer link resource pooling is achieved based on ZTE’s patented technologies, which enable flexible scheduling of bearer network bandwidth on demand. As a result, service deployment, coordinative protection, O&M, and resource optimisation are all significantly improved.
ZTE’s vPIPE solution can effectively assist operators in building an efficient bearer network to carry the emerging high-bandwidth services such as big video, as well as various diversified services in the cloud era. At the stage of network planning, with the IP and optical integrated planning software, it is possible to enter the specified requirements, and avoid over-protection and invalid forwarding, as to save up to 50 percent in CAPEX. At the stage of deployment and O&M, the SDN controller gets all of the IP and optical network’s information. With the customised app, it can implement one-button service launch and fast failure diagnosis, and save up to 50 percent in OPEX. Based on network bandwidth resource pooling and dynamic network self-adjusting, network bandwidth can be flexibly scheduled on demand at the stage of network optimisation, which can solve bandwidth traffic tides and increase the investment utilisation rate to 80 percent.
