Cisco and Telefnica Deliver a Platform for Testing Converged Networks Leveraging Software Defined Networking and Open, Standards-Based Capabilities

Cisco and Telef nica Deliver a Platform for Testing Converged Networks Leveraging Software Defined Networking and Open, Standards-Based Capabilities Innovative platform tests Optical and IP Networks and will help Service Providers reduce operating costs and deliver innovative services faster

Madrid, 17th September 2014. Cisco and Telef nica have announced the creation of an advanced testing platform to jointly explore and capitalize on the benefits of converged IP and optical networks.

Convergence of IP and optical networks based on IETF standards makes it possible to unify the planning, management and engineering of optical network layers and IP network layers, with a consequent improvement in efficiency and cost savings.

Telef nica will be leveraging the Cisco Open Network Architecture comprised of the Evolved Services Platform (ESP) and Evolved Programmable Network (EPN) which combine both hardware and software to deliver innovative capabilities for global carriers. These capabilities include virtual network functions (NfV), software-defined networking (SDN) and advanced orchestration functionality.

Key Highlights

Over the next two years, Cisco and Telef nica will be jointly using the Cisco WAN Automation Engine software, which automates and optimizes the engineering of the WAN network, provisioning flexible SLAs (Service Level Agreements) and ultimately, creating a better user experience.

Telef nica and Cisco will collaborate on different use cases extracted from the Telef nica network topology, including multilayer restoration, the creation of a multidomain routes and multilevel by-pass, all of this with a multi-vendor approach in order to guarantee compatibility between products from different manufacturers.

The tests will be based on various hardware solutions from Cisco and other vendors that are widely used in the market. Cisco platforms includes Cisco CRS Series routers and the Cisco Network Convergence System 2000 transport platform.

The testing platform will also be using Cisco nLight, which is a multilayer control technology (GMPLS, Generalized Multiprotocol Label Switching) facilitating the exchange of information between the IP and optical layers to optimize operations and maximize the benefits of a converged transport network.

Telef nica will be validating models which help minimize investment cost -by means of reducing redundant and underutilized resources)- and to achieve a unified network architecture that is more efficient, less complex and easier to upscale, downscale and operate, enabling it to obtain significant savings in operating and capital costs.

The testing platform -located within Telef nica R&D facilities- is the first in its class in Spain, and consists of a multidisciplinary team formed by engineers and researchers from Cisco and Telef nica.

Supporting quotes

Enrique Blanco, Global Chief Technology Officer of Grupo Telef nica:

"We are delighted to be collaborating with a world leader in networks like Cisco to optimize our core network architecture and respond to the exponential growth of traffic in both capacity and complexity, as well as reducing our costs and contributing to the standardization of the IP Class Optical Convergence technology."

Bill Gartner, Vice President of Optical Networking Group at Cisco:

"Architectural approaches based on network layers that are constructed and run independently generate inefficiencies of scale, provisioningand operation that must be resolved as soon as possible. What we need is an innovative focus capable of creating an optimally converged transport infrastructure, and thats what we, along with Telef nica, are trying to provide leveraging the benefits of SDN technology."

Supporting resources

Cisco Evolved Programmable Network (EPN).

Cisco Network Convergence System.

Cisco Service Provider Blogs.

Discover white papers, presentations and informative charts in Cisco Service Provider SlideShare.

Cisco Service Provider community.

About Cisco

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