Open Networking Summit, the industry’s premier
open networking event featuring discussions on the automation of cloud, network, and IoT services and more, recently concluded its 2018 event, and there were a number of takeaways for the telecom industry.
FierceTelecom took a look at some of the key trends that surfaced during the summit. Here's a sampling:
Service Providers Taking Charge
"Cost is only one equation that service providers need to weigh as they virtualize their networks. A growing group of service providers and industry groups like the Open Network Forum (ONF) have taken matters into their own hands, citing frustration with the lack of movement by vendors.
Several carriers have joined ONF, including AT&T, China Unicom, Comcast, Google, Deutsche Telekom, NTT Group, Telefonica and Turk Telecom. They recently announced a strategic plan for the ONF to move open source, next-generation SDN solutions into production mode."
Accelerating White Boxes
"White boxes may still be a nascent concept, but when AT&T makes a bold announcement to the concept, it shows that the idea is gaining momentum. Just as ONS kicked off, the service provider said it would install 60,000 white boxes in its cell towers “over the next several years.”
Andre Feutsch, president of AT&T Labs and CTO for AT&T, said that the adoption of white boxes “means faster hardware upgrades, since anyone can build to these specifications. AT&T has taken a similar approach for its optical network with OpenROADM as well as its FlexWare platform. FlexWare—part of the carrier’s Network on Demand platform—allows its enterprise customers to set up multiple virtual network functions, such as a router and a firewall, on a single FlexWare device."