ADVA Optical Networking – Scripting Innovations in the Optical, NFV and Synchronization Space

Spotlight on Innovation | TelecomDrive.com

Germany’s ADVA is a name that has become almost synonymous with the optical networking space. With the help of its fast-paced innovative spirit – the company has carved a unique and hugely respectable space for itself within the telecoms community.

ADVA provides network equipment for data, storage, voice and video services. And the company’s FSP platform has been deployed in more than 250 carriers and 10,000 enterprises globally.

Brian Protiva, CEO of ADVA spoke with TelecomDrive.com on the sidelines of the recently held ConnecTechAsia in Singapore.

“We have 1900 people globally and out of this 900 are engineers. Our focus is to be an innovation leader in three spaces. One being optical networking – mostly WDM equipment or packet optical solutions, the next focus area for us is the packet edge solution set that includes carrier Ethernet products and ever more layer three features that are converting those layer two carrier Ethernet products into edge or access routers.

And at the same time we have designed a full NFVi architecture – what we call a network edge OS platform – which is a software architecture that sits on top of a white box server on Intel and soon to be ARM infrastructure. And we can host any number of applications on top of that infrastructure.

We have an orchestration layer as well, that allows you to service change. So it is an end-to-end solution set that has been announced with various carriers including Verizon.

Our third focus area is synchronization. A few years ago, we realized that sync and timing will become critical for future networks including 5G driven networks. It is also an essential technology for various verticals like BFSI vertical where we do support time-stamping.

We see ourselves as innovation leaders. We sell to carrier customers, service providers, managed service providers, as well as to enterprises. About 35% of our business is with enterprise segment and the rest with the telecoms segment,” he explained.

A bit of ADVA History

Highly regarded in the telecoms space, ADVA was founded in Germany way back in 1994 by Brian Protiva. It established its headquarters in Martinsried near Munich and its first production facility in Meiningen.

The company’s initial focus was on the development of wavelength division multiplexing technology, designed to provide enterprises, including banks, insurance firms and utilities, with high-bandwidth network connectivity.

Today, the company has taken this legacy ahead and is addressing the space of virtualization, programmable edge and network security – while helping its customers drive future-proof networks.

Here is a interaction with Brian Protiva, CEO of ADVA.