ZTE, China Mobile Complete “IP+Optical” Pilot Projects in Five Chinese Cities

ZTE Corporation, a major international provider of telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions for the Mobile Internet, has announced that its SDN-based “IP+Optical” solution, which is designed together with China Mobile Research Institute, has passed the SOTN (Software-defined Optical Transport Network) pilot testing held by CMRI (China Mobile Research Institute) in Beijing, Tianjin, Baoding, Cangzhou, and Langfang.

Covering both IP and optical fields in the pilot testing, ZTE has validated the solution’s capabilities, such as IP controller and optical controller synergy, easy IP service provisioning, multi-layer visualization, as well as IP and optical device linking.

It turns out that ZTE’s “IP+Optical” solution is capable of providing automatic network resource adjustment, thereby helping operators reduce the network construction costs and improve the O&M efficiency.

In this pilot testing, ZTE has leveraged the advantage of “IP+OTN” PCE (Path Computation Element) to implement the convenient “one-button” deployment of IP services between routers.

In addition, ZTE’s “IP+Optical” solution has integrated the originally separated two networks into one topology. The multi-layer network can effectively address the problems of failure display, locating, and service correlation in the existing network.

Furthermore, ZTE has also verified various service linking solutions between IP and optical devices. By activating the G.Hao function, the optical device can work with routers to adjust the bandwidth and implement the MPLS VPN service lossless transport of dozens of Gbits with no packet loss.

Meanwhile, the IP controller can automatically trigger channel adjustment of the OTN device, enabling the optical transport network to dynamically meet requirements of router services in a real-time manner.

ZTE’s “IP+Optical” solution can improve the network resource utilization and help operators save construction costs by approximately 30% while breaking the boundary between IP and optical transport in their O&M. To some degree, this solution shows a new path to improve the O&M efficiency.

As one of the leading vendors in optical transport, IP transport, and SDN fields, ZTE will continue helping operators improve network services, promoting technology innovation and development, and accelerating the commercial deployment of SDN/NFV technologies.