Telefónica and Huawei Proceed with Network Development upon Successfully Completing T-SDN Software Tests

• To optimize the management, monitoring and diagnosis of photonic mesh
• The satisfactory results obtained constitute progress towards the automation of the networks 

[Madrid, January 10, 2018] Telefónica and Huawei have successfully completed the laboratory tests on the T-SDN (Transport Software-Defined Network) solution, a controller which incorporates improvements for the planning, management, monitoring and diagnosis of Telefónica España’s photonic mesh.

In this regard, the tests on this new software solution to improve network operations in the photonic mesh, whereby the communication is all optical to transport large volumes of data by light, entail the creation of a solid basis for the commercial deployment of T-SDN.

In 2009, Telefónica began deploying its largest photonic mesh network, covering more than 200 locations throughout Spain. This network used the flexible ROADM (Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer) technology and an advanced network control plane. This improved the reliability and flexibility of the service and also posed challenges for Operation and Maintenance (O&M). To address these challenges for O&M related to the national photonic mesh, Telefónica has tested the benefits of the T-SDN solution with Huawei. The new centralized controller developed by Huawei can be used as the network’s brain to obtain real-time information and to use online incident simulations to compile reliable information on the service. The aims are to rapidly identify the risks to the service and to prevent potential network incidents by means of this technology.

The centralized T-SDN algorithm can also be used to optimize the spectrum and to improve the reliability and performance of the new WDM (Wavelength Division Multiplexing) networks. In addition, Huawei is developing a new platform known as NCE (Network Cloud Engine) to integrate the online WDM planning tool, the control plane and the network management system.

María Antonia Crespo, Director of IP Connectivity and Transport at Telefónica España, commented: “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.”

As for Richard Jin, President of Transmission at Huawei, remarked: “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”.