For more information about Open ROADM MSA, see www.openroadm.org and GitHub. The Open ROADM initiative and the Multi-Source Agreement (MSA) brought together several network providers and operators to develop an agreed approach to building scalable, cost-effective and flexible networks. The Open ROADM MSA defines interoperability specifications for ROADM networks, including control and management. Fujitsu has been an important contributor since the beginning of the project. For more information, visit the Open ROADM project website openroadm.org. The first two blogs in this series describe an approach to open optical networks commonly referred to as partial disaggregation. It focuses on providing a heterogeneous SDN controller as well as transponders on a closed and proprietary ROADM network. This approach offers some of the benefits of a disaggregated network while avoiding many of the complex interoperability issues that arise when increasing the openness of the network architecture. From Wikipedia: A Multi-Source Agreement (MSA) is an agreement between multiple manufacturers to produce supplier-compatible products, act as de facto standards, and create a competitive market for interoperable products Start building the openroadm application as follows. In the next release, we will add it to the list of THE MOST IMPORTANT ONOS applications so that it can be built as part of an ONOS version.
AT&T was a founding member of the Open ROADM MSA in 2016 with Ciena, Fujitsu and Orange. The group focuses on leveraging the open source community to improve interoperability and accelerate the development process. Open networks should also lead to cost savings and improve network performance. As it stands, the application saves service, network, and device models to the dynamic configuration runtime. These models are completely independent of each other, which essentially means that an operation on the service model does not result in a device configuration. Linking these models can be done either externally via an orchestration component (ONAP comes to mind) or by extending the current openroadm application. Adams, however, questioned whether network operators would be willing and willing to “trade performance for openness and interoperability.” With greater interoperability and competition between providers, the benefits to the service provider are numerous: advanced technology, supply chain resilience, easier multi-source management, reduced logistics and deployment planning, and the elimination of pitfalls that typically lead to delays in service activation. To promote speed and innovation, members decided to create a multi-source agreement (MSA) for OpenZR+ and open the MSA to others. The service provider chose the Fujitsu Virtuora planning and design application to streamline and simplify the planning, design, configuration and testing of its open optical network. For central SDN control, the Fujitsu Virtuora Network Controller (NC) is selected as the manufacturer`s sole controller. The controller supports a NETCONF/YANG interface for ROADM nodes and network transponders.
Layer 0-1 physical hardware includes Fujitsu RoadM 1FINITY L100 and 1FINITY L110 elements, as well as 1FINITY T300 transponders that work with MSA-compliant ROADM and third-party transponders. This system runs applications with 100G on a DWDM optical network, with data rates of 400G in 2021. Other network elements approved for use on this network include the 1FINITY C200 series communications integrator for multi-blade control and the 1FINITY package frame for power distribution. Heidi Adams, an analyst at IHS Markit, had previously said that “pressure is mounting on the industry to provide more open and interoperable optical networks.” Fujitsu is a founding member and active contributor to the Open ROADM MSA. The MSA`s open optical architecture has been approved and is currently being used by a Tier 1 service provider in North America. .