Telcos must disaggregate before they accumulate
Spanish mobile operator group Telefónica has recruited developer Radisys to direct its fixed broadband access network disaggregation. The operator is using the vendor’s Connect Open Broadband portfolio to create the same sort of network flexibility and programmability that it offered its parent company, Jio Platforms. The brief for the telecoms developer is to avert the risk associated with supply chain shortages and simplify the introduction of new network systems and services.
The Radisys Connect Open Broadband system’s hardware and software component include networking’s own ‘combination boiler’ that brings together both passive optical networking and optical line termination units. In addtion there are specialist units that have been proven effective in network disaggregation operations such as a Connect Broadband Access Controller (CBAC) and Radisys Management System (RMS) software. Now that secret lab tests of Radisys’s cloud-native disaggregated broadband system have been completed the two companies plan to run the technology in a live commercial network, supporting residential and enterprise customers as early as 2023.
Telefónica is leaving behind the legacy chassis-based OLT equipment to new systems built with Radisys’ white-box OLTs with software-defined networking control. The software improves their telco cloud capacity with greater efficiency and automation and offers much greater programming options for automation, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
Radisys’ hardware and software components can easily integrate with Telefónica’s OSS/BSS, resulting in increased operational simplicity, said Olmeda. This will set the operator for future convergence and make it a genuine cloud native. “Telefónica is an early pioneer in disaggregating its broadband network, while our open and disaggregated Connect Open Broadband solution is carrier-grade and ready for commercial deployment in the wider market,” said Harris Razak, head of Radisys’ Broadband Access Business.