The Telecom Infra Project (TIP) has been championing a new approach to building and deploying telecom network infrastructure since 2016. TIP is a global community of companies – including Cisco – and organizations working together to accelerate the development and deployment of open, disaggregated, and standards-based technology solutions that deliver the high-quality connectivity that the world needs now – and in the decades to come.
We are proud to apply our domain expertise and industry acumen to accelerate the pace of innovation in the telecom industry. In particular, we are working with TIP to accelerate the innovation of IP and optical networks for open hardware platforms as well as OS software across TIP’s strategic network areas – Access, Transport, and Core & Services.
We are demonstrating our commitment as part of the Open Optical & Packet Transport (OOPT) group to develop disaggregated transport technologies that are more flexible, efficient, and open. The OOPT is a project group within TIP that works on the definition of open technologies, architectures, and interfaces in Optical and IP Networking. The project concentrates on different parts of the transport network architecture, including optical transponders, line systems, IP access devices, open APIs, and network simulation and planning tools.
Since the formation of the OOPT, some of the world’s leading service providers, technology leaders, and technologists have collaborated to build more open and disaggregated network infrastructure. This has resulted in more flexibility and a wider range of technological choices for operators to build and operate telecom networks.
Most recently, we have committed to work with TIP Phoenix project, which is led by key service providers such as DT, MTN, NTT Communications, Telefónica, Telia Company, and Vodafone, to develop disaggregated solutions together with multiple optical hardware and software vendors.
The TIP Phoenix project is a great initiative to take disaggregation further. We already see disaggregation of coherent transponders from Open Line Systems. Our NCS 1004 platform, which was shortlisted by some of these operators during a multi-operator RFI process executed in 2020, will be validated across different combinations of transponder and line system vendors in the new phase of the Phoenix project.
The final goal we aim to accomplish together with our collaboration partners is software disaggregation. While software disaggregation for optical transport applications still has open questions on commercial and operational models, the Phoenix project provides a great collaborative forum to investigate feasibility further and collaborate on these issues.
At Cisco, we are committed to powering an inclusive future, and our leadership with TIP demonstrates our commitment to the industry to drive and accelerate innovation in IP and optical networks through collaboration, changing the way transport networks are deployed, extending and improving global connectivity.
I’m hopeful that we’ll arrive at a point where ‘open networking’ infrastructure reaches its inflection point, similar to the evolution of the software OS and the rise of Linux. Just imagine the upside growth possibilities. My point: don’t stop at optical networks; explore the full potential for open innovation. Cisco, break down the walls of incumbent inertia. Get out front of this ‘open’ momentum, and lead the way forward. You can do it!
Good to hear Bill.
Bill,
Great to hear of your quest for further disaggregation in the Network. At Xtera we share the same goal as Cisco and have invested major R&D effort to develop a truly ‘Open’ architecture for the subsea network. With this approach customers are able to leave the procurement decision considerably later than when the initial system is designed. They are able to select the most advanced technologies rather than procure the SLTE from the system supplier. In addition our active supervisory system enables real time monitoring of the disaggregated elements.
Our vision is to see the subsea and terrestrial networks having increased inter working, therefore achieving greater scale and further cost reduction.
Hey Keith – good to hear from you. Indeed, the subsea area is one where we have seen good progress in open systems as the SLTE is separate from the underlying line system. We’re seeing more of this in terrestrial systems as well. We’ve deployed NCS1K in these open line system applications as it is designed to be an open disaggregated multi-haul transponder – serving metro, long-haul and subsea applications. Stay well!