christian laqué: “we are the first in the world to have ...the zxctn 6180h, a 5g transport...

VOL. 19 · NO. 2 · ISSUE 169APR 2017

VIP VoicesVIP Voices

Tech ForumTech Forum

Service-Driven OTN Evolution

ZTE’s Advances in Beyond-100G Research

Special Topic: Super, Smart, Synergetic OTN

Christian Laqué, CTO at velcom

Christian Laqué: “We Are the First in the World to Have Fully Virtualized

Core Network”

ZTE TECHNOLOGIES APR 2017

CONTENTS

05

09

13

Reporter: Shen Wenrong

By Zeng Zhi

Reporter: Qi Cong

Reporter: Pan Xiaolin

By Wang Yingchang

By Wang Cong

By Wang Xiaodong

17

21

23

25

Christian Laqué: “We Are the First in the World to Have Fully Virtualized Core Network”

Service-Driven OTN Evolution

Optimum Telecom Algeria: To Be a Leader in the LTE Market

ENTEL: Riding the Wave of Innovative Cooperation

Improving SDON Capability with Open and Converged ODL Platform

Fronthaul Optical Network Solution Facilitates Widespread 4G Deployment

Building an Elastic Optical Transport Network

Special Topic: Super, Smart, Synergetic OTN09

13

13

VIP Voices

05

ZTE TECHNOLOGIES

Advisory CommitteeDirector: Chen Jane Deputy Directors: Xu Ming, Zhang Jianguo, Zhu Jinyun Advisers: Bao Zhongjun, Chen Jian, Cui Li, Fang Jianliang, Wang Xiang, Yang Jiaxiao

Editorial BoardDirector: Wang Xiang Deputy Director: Huang Xinming

Sponsor: ZTE CorporationEdited By Strategy Planning DepartmentEditor-in-Chief: Wang XiangDeputy Editor-in-Chief: Huang XinmingEditorial Director: Liu YangExecutive Editor-in-Chief: Yue Lihua

Circulation Manager: Wang Pingping

Address: NO. 55, Hi-tech Road South, Shenzhen, P.R.ChinaPostcode: 518075Tel: +86-755-26775211Fax: +86-755-26775217Website: wwwen.zte.com.cn/en/about/publicationsEmail: [email protected]

A technical magazine that keeps up with the latest industry trends, communicates leading technologies and solutions, and shares stories of our customer success

Members: Bo Gang, Cui Liangjun, Han Gang, Heng Yunjun, Huang Xinming, Liu Shouwen, Sun Jiruo, Wang Xiang, Ye Ce, Zhang Zhenchao, Zhou Yong

NG-PON

VOL. 18 NO. 4 ISSUE 165AUG 2016

A Discussion of NG-PON Evolution Trends

Olivier Wicquart, CTO of Orange Jordan

SpecialTopic

VIP Voices

Tech Forum

Orange Jordan: Simplify the Lives of Customers

OEID: A New Tag Technology in Op�cal Wireless Communica�ons

ZTE

2APR 2017

By Yu Jianjun

By Xu Wei

By Wang Yingchang

By Tang Haitao

33

28

31

37


Ethio Telecom Builds 100G WDM Backbone Network for Rapid Development

China Unicom Builds a SDON Commercial Trial in Sanya

NFV Makes Networks Lighter

Tech Forum

Success Stories

Solution

17

28

31

Super, Smart, Synergetic OTN

TE News

ZTE Releases End-to-End, Enhanced and Elastic E-OTN Solution

28 February 2017, Barcelona, Spain ― ZTE announced that i t h a s r e l e a s e d t h e E - O T N solution, which covers the core ideas of end-to-end, elastic and enhanced. The solution meets the development requirements of big video, wireless, government & enterprise private lines, data centre interconnect (DCI) and o t he r new se r v ice s , help i ng op e r a t o r s bu i ld u l t r a - l a rge -c a p a c i t y , u l t r a - l o w - d e l a y, secure and reliable multiservice transport end-to-end OTN and drive the evolution from OTN to all-optical networks.

Wit h t he developme nt of big v ideo, 5G and other new services, bandwidth demands have grown rapidly, leading to operators creating a t rend for the deployment of large-capacity OTN equipment and building OTN from access/aggregation layers to core networks. Based o n t h i s b a c k g r o u n d , Z T E releases the end-to-end E-OTN solut ion , which suppor t s the express pass in opt ical layer, the unified transport of Optical C h a n n e l D a t a Un i t / Pa c ke t /Virtual Container (ODUk/PKT/VC), as wel l as more elas t ic network architectures, and can elastically process services in r ig id p ipel i ne s . Mea nwh i le , E-OTN product series adopt the advanced cooling structure for energy saving and low power consumption.

ZTE 5G Solutions Primed for Commercial Pre-deployment in 2018

28 Febr uar y 2017, Barcelona , S p a i n ― Z T E a n n o u n c e d t h a t t he compa ny’s 5G solu t ion s a re s ch e d u le d fo r c o m m e r c i a l p r e -deployment starting from the third-quar te r of 2018, as ZTE enables operators to minimize the t ime to build 5G-ready networks.

At Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona, ZTE is unveil ing a new series of 5G products, giving operators first-mover advantages in their t ransit ion to next-generation s e r v ic e s . Z T E p r o je c t s t h a t i t s 5G products wi l l be deployed in commercial 5G networks in the first quarter of 2019.

ZTE is also releasing a full range of n e w m mWave a n d s u b - 6 G h z

base stations. The new 5G solutions s up p or t 5G new r a d io ( N R) a i r interfaces of 3GPP and mainstream 5G frequency bands in the industry. The new ZTE 5G base stations use MIMO, beam tracking, beamforming a nd o t he r key 5G t e ch nolog ie s , meeting pre-commercial deployment requirements for 5G.

ZTE Releases Industry’s First IP+Optical

5G Flexhaul Transport Solution

28 Febr uar y 2017, Barcelona , Spain ― ZTE released at MWC 2017 the industry’s f irst IP+Optical 5G Flexhaul solution, a fronthaul and backhaul integrated solution based on I P+ O pt ica l t e ch nolog y. T he solution provides unified transport of 5 G f r o n t h a u l a n d b a c k h a u l se r v ices on one dev ice , a s wel l as super-la rge bandwidth , u lt ra-low latency and sof tware-def ined net work ing (SDN)-based t raf f ic engineering. It is estimated that the solution can reduce TCO by 30%.

The solut ion implements end-to-end applicat ion of IP+Optical s y n e r g y a n d p r o v i d e s u n i f i e d planning, scheduling, management

and maintenance by SDN controllers. IP+Optical integrated devices are used in the mass access layer to reduce network construction costs and save equipment room space. It also implements super-large-bandwidth t r a n s p o r t by mu l t i -w ave le n g t h c o n n e c t i o n b e t w e e n a d j a c e n t nodes. With the FlexE feature, it can f lexibly isolate sub-channels of different services to provide optimal forwarding plane suppor t for 5G bearer network slicing. The ZXCTN 6180H, a 5G transport pre-commercial equipment that is also showcased at MWC, is only 3RU high and supports up to 1T networking capacity of one access ring.

ZTE

7SEP 2016

ZTE

3APR 2017

ZTE Pre5G TDD Massive MIMO 2.0 Sets New Record for Single-Site Peak Rate

28 February 2017, Barcelona, Spain ― ZTE announced that its Pre5G TDD Massive MIMO 2.0 product has demonstrated its high-speed service in multi-user scenario, reaching 2.1 Gbps and setting a new single-site peak rate record at a demonstration held at Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona.

The power-on service of ZTE’s Pre5G TDD Massive MIMO 2.0 product provides an ultra-high speed through16-stream spatial division multiplexing, 3-carrier a g g r e g a t io n , a n d 256 QA M manifesting a new stage of Pre5G R&D.

To solve the conflicts between the surge in capacity demands and insufficient site resources in existing networks, ZTE’s large-capacity outdoor Pre5G Massive M I M O m a c r o b a s e s t a t i o n ach ieves much h ig he r speed and capacity than those in 4G networks by leveraging existing sites and spectrum resources. At MWC 2016, ZTE won the Best Mobile Technology Breakthrough aw a r d a n d t h e O u t s t a n d i n g Overall Mobile Technology—The CTO’s Choice 2016 award for it s Pre5G Massive MIMO technology. At BBWF 2016, ZTE won the Best Wireless Broadband Innovation award. The disruptive innovation and high commercial value of this product has been recognized by global operators, contributing to its commercial deployment in Europe, Japan and many other high-value markets.

TE News

ZTE Signs Cooperation Agreement with Intel for IoT Innovation

28 Febr ua r y 2017, Barcelona , Spain ― ZTE and Intel off icially s ig n e d a s t r a t e g i c c o o p e r a t i o n a g r e e m e n t a t a n I oT f o r u m i n Ba r c e lo n a , Sp a i n . B o t h p a r t i e s will jointly establish an innovative lab for research and development of f u t u re key IoT t e ch nolog ie s , including experimental verification, e v a l u a t i o n , a n d r e s e a r c h a n d development of related technologies,

ZTE Wins Innovative Solution and Application Award

t he r eby p rov id i ng i n t eg r a t e d market-oriented IoT solutions.

1 March 2017, Barcelona, Spain ― ZTE won the ‘Innovative Solution a n d A p p l i c a t i o n Aw a r d’ a t t h e GTI Summit 2017 for its enhanced wireless broadband (eWBB) solution, in recognit ion of it s outst anding c o n t r i b u t io n t o eW BB s o lu t io n innovation and deployment. As an inf luential organization within the TDD and 5G industry, boasting more than 120 operator members and 103 vendor partners, GTI is committed to building a global industrial platform for TDD and 5G, thereby facilitating t h e f o r m a t i o n o f a p r o s p e r o u s ecological chain.

ZTE’s practical eWBB solution i s m a i n l y u s e d i n t w o t y p i c a l scenarios in existing networks. One is to provide f ibre -l ike last-mile

wireless access, suppor ting rapid network deployment to guarantee high return on investment (ROI). The other is to reduce data traff ic i n me t rop ol i t a n a r e a s (n a mely, operators’ value areas), to ensure o p e r a t o r c o m p e t i t i v e n e s s i n capacity. Compared with traditional WBB solutions, the eWBB solution involves a variety of new measures fo r c a p a c i t y e n h a n c e m e n t a n d interference cancellation, including 4×4 MIMO, Massive MIMO, high-order modulat ion, neat cel l , and c a r r i e r a g g r e g a t io n (CA) . T h e eWBB solution also supports VPN and IPsec functions for enterprise a p p l i c a t i o n s , a s we l l a s B a n d 38/39/40/41/42/43 CPEs, data cards, and Pocket WiFi.

ZTE

4APR 2017

IP Voices

Christian Laqué, CTO at velcom

IP Voices

ZTE

7SEP 2016

ZTE

APR 2017

5

Last year, Belarusian mobile operator velcom implemented a revolutionary project to create a fully virtualized core network, a bold undertaking that has resulted

in a major breakthrough in the industry. This large-scale transformation would not be possible without such reliable and sound partner as ZTE Corporation. Christian Laqué, CTO at velcom, has shared his thoughts about the future of Belarus’ telecom market, successful partnership with ZTE and the role of fixed lines in a mobile operator’s business.

How would you characterize Belarus’ telecom market and its potential?

It has been always perceived that Belarus is lagging behind, because 2G, 3G and especially 4G were coming late compared to other European countries. However, if we look at the fixed line market, for instance, GPON, Belarus has a really big advantage in this area. The country is on quite a good track and the capability to grow and to be innovative is extraordinary high. As

Reporter: Shen Wenrong

Christian Laqué:“We Are the First in the World to Have

Fully Virtualized Core Network”

to the upcoming market of IoT, a combination of telecom and IT capabilities, Belarus would be well positioned. The IT capabilities are recognized by such countries as South Korea and Japan, which have recently signed development contracts for ICT, or companies like EPAM that is doing business worldwide and is one of top ten IT companies in the world. So, I see a lot of potential for the future.

What are velcom’s latest networking developments?

First, jointly with our partner ZTE we have swapped the entire radio access to a fully software defined radio network which has all the capabilities for launching 4G, narrowband IoT and further technologies just by software. Second, we have fully virtualized our core network, which is already prepared to go for 5G. We are the first in the world to have done the full migration from legacy core network to NFV-based one. With this we made a big jump to the edge of technology. Now, we are doing something similar in fixed lines with GPON/XPON and

IP Voices

ZTE

APR 2017

6

just 9 months without any negative impact for customers. This is only possible with one of the best teams you can think of.

What is the average time needed for such a project?

Other market players are saying “I am happy to do it in three years” or “I’ll do one component in one year”. We have done it within less than one year. You have to have a belief and a very strong team. Luckily there are plenty of very experienced guys in our company and we could get such top experts also from the partner. There was also a willingness to work at night or on weekends sometimes. We have shown what is possible—with the right partner, the right set-up, and the true belief. The major factor is that we have done it with one partner and with the right one. The headache of interoperability was minimized by having one consistent SW suite and ZTE have had the same setup in its labs.

What do you think of ZTE as a partner?

We are lucky to have such partner as ZTE. One point is that they are delivering what they have promised. Another point is that they are able to take risk and manage it. We had one common game to win and done it together. It is a huge thing to have a partner who is taking your journey as his own one. Our promise that we will not cause any negative impact on our five million customers was fulfilled.

Do you intend to continue cooperation with ZTE in future?

We have already decided to do it for minimum the next five years together. I am open for any cooperation if it is successful as this one.

What are the goals for velcom’s sustainable development?

The growth in data and supporting the customer demand are our basic duties as a

the core components. This will open the way to the gigabit society. It’s much easier to do it here than in most Western countries because the cost to bring infrastructure into buildings is low. Cooperation with partners in China is quite common in Belarus due to very good connections with China.

Have you encountered any challenges while implementing this project and how did you solve them?

Competition is the driver for innovation and developments. Hurdles are the obstacles to develop technologies with freedom, i.e. technology neutrality for frequencies. This has to be liberalized in Belarus. Other markets with open policy have proven the huge positive value to end users and to the entire country because infrastructure is such a huge driver for development of an economy. A hundred years ago it was about having a proper railway system; fifty years ago we had to have a very good motorway system. Today it’s the infrastructure of the telecommunication and IT world. This is fiber, advanced mobile network and broadband data. If someone is investing, he is checking the infrastructure including mobile and internet availability and competitiveness of the price.

You’ve completed the construction of the core network in a very short term. What are the results of introducing ZTE’s vEPC solution?

It’s an amazing journey that we have made. A little more than a year ago, we discussed what we were doing next with the core network, and it was clear that we had to opt for a fully virtualized version as key enabler for the future, reducing dramatically complexity. ZTE offered the most convincing package including a commitment to deliver the full migration till end of 2016. Mind that we decided to team up with them in the first quarter, the migration to the fully virtualized platform took place within

IP Voices

ZTE

7SEP 2016

ZTE

APR 2017

7

consuming TV/video mostly at home, not on the road. It is not sufficient to do all broadband just with a mobile network. Wi-Fi will become a seamless access. Most of your devices will be used everywhere.

What do you think about the upcoming XPON deployment?

We have started to step into the XPON technology. We have just bought a company that has done it with Ethernet and we are going more and more into fiber to the home. XPON is the enabler to go with a huge bandwidth over the last mile and then provide final access inside apartments or offices over the last meter in the most cases wireless with Wi-Fi. Everything is going wireless even recharging.

Bobruisk is our first rollout of GPON in Belarus. We will launch it very soon. The most common fixed broadband service in Belarus is in the range of 30 Mbps, which is sufficient for the majority of content today, but 100 Mbps and beyond is becoming more and more popular.

IP Voices

ZTE

APR 2017

8

mobile operator. And the same is in the fixed line part of our business: there will be a huge increase in demand and we will meet it. We are also developing services such as TV, OTT and IPTV.

Another dimension for development is to grow with applications for IoT. Mobile data is not only to provide a tube. It should also be made tangible for the customer. This year we will launch our data center to provide a cloud for the customer. It is a challenging target for this year but with the success of 2016 I am very happy to step in.

Could you expound on Telekom Austria Group’s convergence strategy? How will that influence velcom’s growth path?

Convergence means that wherever you are you get broadband access with the best suitable for the situation. To achieve this, we have to go deeper into houses providing access.

Fixed line is good in a situation when you need a huge bandwidth because you are

ZTE

7SEP 2016

ZTE

APR 2017

9

IP Voices

Reporter: Qi Cong

Optimum Telecom Algeria:To Be a Leader in the LTE Market

Alaa Abdelghaffar, CTO of OTA

to gain the experience and knowledge of using the OTTs and new services, and therefore their demand for data is increasing continuously. They are enjoying these new services, which creates the potential for us to upgrade our networks and develop our business.

What distinguishes OTA from other operators in Algeria?

OTA has a very strong brand effect since its foundation in 2001. We are No.1 in Algeria. As a brand, Djezzy is known for its high quality of service, and that’s our important differentiation. Maybe the five years’ ban that was applied to Djezzy has caused some disturbance, but after the lift of the ban, Djezzy managed to come back quickly and continue to provide services with high quality. Now, we are still maintaining the No.1 position in Algeria.

When it comes to differentiators, first and foremost is that Djezzy has the biggest network in the country. We have the highest penetration in terms of the subscribers and the widest coverage in terms of the number of sites. The facts show the commitments of Djezzy and its shareholders in maintaining the leading position as an operator to provide customers with the best quality of services.

The latest LTE auction also shows our commitment. If you look at the result of the LTE building contest, Djezzy is committed to rolling out more than twice the number of LTE networks than any other operator in Algeria. You can see that we are the quickest and biggest operator to launch LTE in the country.

What are the major challenges that you are facing during project execution?

Well, challenges are always around us. For instance, to make sure that we have the right

ZTE

APR 2017

10

IP Voices

Optimum Telecom Algeria (OTA) is Algeria's principal mobile network operator, with a market share of more than 58%

and a network covering 90% of the population. Its brand name is Djezzy. Djezzy is known for its high quality of service in Algeria. Recently, ZTE Technologies interviewed Alaa Abdelghaffar, CTO of OTA. He shared with us the unique characteristics of Algerian telecom market, OTA’s achievements and challenges, and his thoughts on the future trends in the global telecom market. He also talked about his assessment on ZTE’s team and his expectations for ZTE.

How would you characterize the Algerian telecom market and its users’ habits?

I would like to say that the Algerian telecom market is a really promising market, and it is quite clear since 3G networks came to the market. We have seen that the number of data users is growing rapidly year by year. With the operation of DSL in Algeria, the weakness of telecom infrastructure in the country offers quite a big opportunity for operators to develop data services. Let’s say, it is an opportunity to accommodate all operators, so as to satisfy the hungry market for data services. There are a lot of things we can do for the customers in Algeria.

The user habits of Algeria are quite similar to that of other markets where VimpelCom is operating. It is very clear that users are looking for new services that come with data in addition to the traditional services like voice. According to the percentage of data traffic that we have now in our network, it shows that users like to use the effective online tools, such as Facebook, WhatsApp and YouTube, to broadcast their news.

We can see that customers in Algeria start

—Alaa Abdelghaffar, CTO of OTA

We have increased our market share in Algeria with ZTE’s support in 2016.

I think it’s a signal that we appreciate the quality of equipment from ZTE. We also appreciate the fact that ZTE’s team has overcome the challenges we put on their shoulders.

ZTE

7SEP 2016

ZTE

APR 2017

11

IP Voices

skills and right teams to perform projects with us, to make sure that we are adapting our logistic machine to all the local regulations, to make sure that we are optimizing our internal process, and to make sure that we are not putting more delays whenever it happens. These are some of our major challenges.

In addition, we need to be aware of the internal regulations. We are now trying to ensure that our processes are tailored to be dynamic, so we can determine as quickly as possible whether they comply with the local process. I am talking about things like customer clearance, and getting necessary approval for the whole procedures that is related to our rollout, implementation and engineering. We have to ensure that we are efficient on that front.

In my view, the resources and skills are also very important. That’s why we look at ZTE and other vendors to help us bring the right resources here and train our engineers and teams. With

right skills, our engineers can move with high speed that we are looking for in different phases of the rollout.

How would you assess ZTE’s team and solutions?

We have increased our market share in Algeria with ZTE’s support in 2016. I think it’s a signal that we appreciate the quality of equipment from ZTE. We also appreciate the fact that ZTE’s team has overcome the challenges we put on their shoulders. I would like to say that ZTE provided us with the right quality of services, and satisfied the expectations that we expect from them.

We are still looking forward to creating more achievements. The more we depend on ZTE, the more responsibilities and challenges will be taken by ZTE. I believe ZTE is able to achieve what we expect from it, and I think

IP Voices

ZTE

APR 2017

12

what will come in the future, especially in 2017, is a bigger market share and better performance than 2016. We look forward to operating with ZTE to skill up and overcome challenges.

What do you expect from future cooperation with ZTE?

One point is that we are expecting to gain a bigger market share and a bigger volume. Another point is that Djezzy will go aggressively on virtualization in 2017, and ZTE is going to be a major player on that front as well.

We want ZTE to be our aggressive partner to develop new technologies, and help us understand what will make the future of Djezzy. This is what we depend on ZTE to help us achieve our goals in the future.

What do you think of the future trends in the global telecom market?

On the one hand, as many other operators in the world, Djezzy is seeing continuous drop of voice revenues. On the other hand, we are also seeing the explosive increase of data traffic. Like a lot of other operators who are now thinking seriously about their strategies, Djezzy is thinking whether to turn itself into a pipe for providing data services or a smart pipe that would provide differentiation through better services. No doubt we would like to be a smart pipe.

As a part of VimpelCom group, Djezzy is capitalizing on the experience of VimpelCom group, making sure that we are going to become an operator looking for the differentiation, looking for increasing the volume of services provided to the end-users, and providing services with best quality that is always associated with the name of VimpelCom or Djezzy.

Therefore, the battle in the coming four to five years will be around how to turn ourselves

from a traditional operator to a digital operator. When we do the transformation, how can we do it in a smart way? I think we need to provide a necessary differentiation in terms of services. At the same time, as an operator different from others, we have to ensure that the new technologies are available, and we can use them to achieve the digital transformation.

Digital transformation is not about adding some new IT abilities, it’s more than that. It is about a way of operation and way of life. It involves all the touch points with customers, and the way of an operator doing its business day to day.

Again, Djezzy is capitalizing on the experience of VimpelCom group to go through the digital process, and is committed to being the No.1 operator in Algeria to do the digital transformation.

Do you have any comments or suggestions to improve ZTE's support level in OTA project?

What I like about ZTE is that they continue to take challenges even though they had some critical difficulties. I’ll say that it was very challenging for them from an operational point of view, even from the economic point of view. We also appreciate the commitment of ZTE’s local team to continue supporting Djezzy and our team.

If I have any suggestions, it would be around making sure that we will raise our expectations for ZTE’s team in 2017 and beyond. I hope ZTE will skill up to meet bigger challenges. In 2017, we are going to launch LTE with ZTE. As we know, LTE is a new technology, so we need to have the right people from ZTE side to help us launch it.

When it comes to virtualization, we need the experience to take us go through the journey, so we look forward that ZTE’s team can improve their existing skills, and take us go through the challenges in the coming years.

IP Voices

ZTE

7SEP 2016

ZTE

APR 2017

13

network and services in cities, but also in rural areas.

How would you comment on cooperation between ENTEL and ZTE?

Hugo Fernández: At the present, ENTEL and ZTE are trying to pass from a buying and selling services relationship to a broader and deeper partnership on the basis of complementary advantages. We are looking forward to a brighter future if the new contract produces the results that both parts are expecting. Bernardo Paz: I don’t work here as a technician but I am attracted so much to advanced technology. Here in Bolivia we are cooperating on normal and common technology, but ZTE’s cutting-edge technology showcased at MWC 2016 in Barcelona really feasted my eyes. I was very happy when we were at MWC talking with your clients. They have clear benefits and they told us they are satisfied with ZTE’s services. And what’s more impressive are the prizes ZTE has obtained. ZTE has won the Global Mobile Award for its Pre5G Massive MIMO at MWC 2016 and the TMF President’s Award at 2015 TM Forum Global Summit in Nice, which is an eloquent proof of ZTE’s advancement and innovation.

Reporter: Pan Xiaolin

ENTEL: Riding the Wave of Innovative Cooperation

Headquartered in La Paz City in the middle of South America, ENTEL is the largest Bolivian telecommunications

company, accounting for 46% of the market share with about 5 million users.

ZTE and ENTEL started cooperation in 2010 when ZTE helped ENTEL construct a UMTS HSPA+ network. From then till now, the two sides have been trying to cooperate more and more closely in all fields. In early 2016, ENTEL signed a contract with ZTE to swap over its existing BOSS system to a new one of the latest technology.

ZTE Technologies interviewed Hugo Fernández, Chairman of ENTEL, and Bernardo Paz, Secretary to the Board of Directors, with the presence of Zhou Daosheng, General Manager of ZTE Bolivia. The two sides discussed about their past, current and future cooperation.

What are ENTEL’s competitive advantages?

Bernardo Paz: We are the No. 1 operator in Bolivia not only in terms of the quantity of customers, but also in terms of network coverage. We are trying to not only provide

ZTE

APR 2017

14

IP Voices

And I believe we are heading towards mutual benefits and win-win cooperation.

In 2016, ENTEL awarded a contract to ZTE for its BOSS system swap project. Why did you choose ZTE as your partner in providing the BOSS solutions?

Hugo Fernández: There were a lot of considerations. At the end of the process, the board of directors analyzed three or four major proposals. Among all the factors that we took into consideration, technology and price were of the highest priority. But we needed also a contract that will contribute to a long-term cooperative relationship between the two sides. When we were at MWC we witnessed that ZTE’s innovative technologies are excellent and we have every confidence that ZTE is

among the best international providers of telecommunications technology and solutions. We were convinced that ZTE is playing a significant role in this field and will provide to ENTEL the technology and solutions that we exactly need at a reasonable price. We are lucky to begin a long-term cooperation with ZTE.

At MWC 2016 in Barcelona, Mr. Chairman, you have showed your great interest to build a Joint Innovation Center (JIC) between ENTEL and ZTE for talent training on new technologies. What’s your vision of the center and how about your plan for building it?

Hugo Fernández: For us it is a good idea to have a training center here in La Paz for new

Hugo Fernández, Chairman of ENTEL

ZTE

7SEP 2016

ZTE

APR 2017

15

IP Voices

technology transference. Bolivia is located in the middle of South America with neighbors like Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru. All of them are more developed than Bolivia in technology and training services. It will be an effective measure to build a training center here for ENTEL employees and even students in universities. Also it’s important for us to train people who will be in charge of our new instruments. Without any worries about the technology, one issue I am concerned is about communication. It’s important for your people involved in the project to speak our language Spanish. Bernardo Paz: We have discussed about the idea on the training center in Barcelona with

your boss Ms. Chen Jie. I think it will be far more than the products or services that will be offered. Other companies have never before put forward to us this innovative idea to build a center for knowledge transference and sharing.

Around 15 years ago, there were the same three companies here in Bolivia. ENTEL said we would not launch GSM technology; it’s not for Bolivia since it will come in 10 years. But another company in Bolivia took the lead and started to deploy GSM technology, which turned out to be better than TDM-based technology. Six months later, almost all customers in Bolivia asked for GSM technology. ENTEL had to admit that

Bernardo Paz, Secretary to the Board of Directors

Hugo Fernández, high-efficiency and energy-saving solutions are very important for ENTEL. As it’s sparsely populated in some outlying areas with less than 50 people in a village, it’s unnecessary to build a big base station there. ZTE will provide compact solutions called fast diet site (FDS), with compact tower, base station and energy. We have already deployed these compact solutions in some areas and it turned out to be effective and useful. With broad and thorough coverage across the country, I can image that people will definitely tend to choose ENTEL as their preferred carrier.

What is ENTEL’s investment strategy to compete in the current challenging environment? How would you describe ENTEL’s goals over the next few years?

Hugo Fernández: Bolivia has a territory of one million square kilometers with sparse population in the rural areas. Then the telecommunication services tend to be very expensive in certain rural areas. As a government-owned corporation, it’s a bounden duty for ENTEL to provide telecommunication services across the country. We need to be very efficient and competitive in the urban areas where cost effectiveness is assured. Bernardo Paz: Customers are asking for better services and solutions about the technology that they are witnessing around the world, let’s say, in Argentina or Brazil, instead of just around themselves. Technology goes very fast, and it’s very expensive for us to respond to this kind of demand, but it is necessary.

Before nationalization, ENTEL in 2007 invested 2.39 dollars per person a year in Bolivia, and in 2015 we invested 33.27 dollars, which was apparently still not enough. We are trying to provide complete services to our customers besides the internet and telephone services.

ZTE

APR 2017

16

IP Voices

it had made a very bad choice to let go the advanced technology at that time. Zou Daosheng: The initial idea for the center is that ZTE provides equipment and teachers, while ENTEL provides venues and organizes students for new technology training. Of course, we need ENTEL to join us to discuss new technology trend and direction in Bolivia. And I think we can have a trial based on this idea.

As a veteran and leader in Bolivia’s telecom market, what do you think are the main challenges for operators in Bolivia right now?

Hugo Fernández: In Bolivia the first challenge is the low mobile phone penetration and fixed-line tele-density in the country. With our vast territory it’s very difficult to provide network coverage of good quality to all the people throughout the country. Currently people in big cities have access to good network services while people in rural areas have no services at all. We need to improve network coverage in rural areas.

The second challenge is more investment in telecommunications. The more developed peer markets in South America such as Argentina and Brazil are investing more in telecommunications and providing better telecommunications services to their people. We need to accept the challenge and provide better services than our neighbors. Our people deserve it.

In the third place, we need to keep pace with world’s telecommunications technology development. Bernardo Paz: The coverage is very important but it’s far from enough. We need high quality coverage. The situation in Bolivia presents great complexity since sites in some remote areas are lack of electricity. So we have much more to do than in other peer countries in South America.Zou Daosheng: Referring to the coverage challenge in rural areas as mentioned by

By Zeng Zhi

In the future, networks will be centered on data centers (DC), operators will compete to build cloud data centers, high-speed backbone networks will provide direct inter-IDC routes, central office (CO) reconstruction will promote the deployment of metro edge DC and regional DC, and high-speed large-bandwidth OTN will work as an inter-DC link. Being the infrastructure layer to carry these services, OTN must meet the first requirement on ultra-high bandwidth transport.

The second requirement is low latency. Internet of vehicles (IoV), telemedicine and other new applications have the strict latency requirements. Also, the latency requirements for finance and other industries cannot be ignored. High-frequency financial transactions require a latency less than 1 ms, DC disaster recovery requires a latency less than 10 ms, industrial control a latency less than 10 ms, and 4K videos a latency less than 25 ms. If the service requires a low latency, there will be smaller time delay allocated to the transport system but higher requirements for the transport

pecial Topic: Super, Smart, Synergetic OTN

ZTE

7SEP 2016

ZTE

17APR 2017

OTN Evolution

Service-Driven

Zeng Zhi

Product Planning Manager of OTN Product Team, ZTE

In recent years, video has gradually evolved from being operators’ value-added service to being their basic service. Video has also become a main driving for new broadband. Video

services have three characteristics: high traffic, high bit rates, and high user experience. The current popular 4K videos require a bandwidth of 30 to 50 Mbps, while VR needs a bandwidth of more than 200 Mbps.

Video traffic is directly carried by fixed and mobile broadband networks. Basically, fixed broadband rate increases tenfold every seven years. Driven by video services and the “Broadband China” strategy, fixed broadband access rate rises up to 100 Mbps and will reach 1 Gbps in the future. Mobile broadband evolves to Pre5G and 5G, with a 1,000-fold increase in traffic density, 100-fold increase in peak rates and 100-fold increase in connection density. The private line bandwidth of enterprise users is also upgraded from 10–100 Mbps to 100 Mbps or above GE.

network. In other words, latency is money, it is a lifeline, it is user experience, and it is more about network performance.

The third requirement is operations management. Future network traffic flows and directions will be faster than those of today’s networks, and there will be larger network scale. These require that OTN should be easy to deploy, easy to adjust, and easy to converge, so that it can carry multiple services, respond quickly to service demands, increase resource efficiency, and support multi-domain synergy and interconnection for rapid service innovation.

To meet the core requirements of OTN for future service development (Fig. 1), ZTE needs to consider developing its OTN products and technologies.

Ultra-High Bandwidth

100G and beyond-100G technologies are available to address the requirement for ultra-high bandwidth. 100G optical networks have been deployed on a large scale for several years and have achieved an unprecedented success, and now they are still optimized. In the backbone network, the performance of 100G long-haul transport is continually improved. ZTE has developed the third generation SD-FEC that provides 25% redundancy and back-to-back OSNR tolerance of 10 dB. This greatly extends transport distance, increases

backbone direct circuit connectivity, and reduces electrical relay cost and service delay. In the metropolitan area network, ZTE has launched low-cost 100G interconnection solution that uses photonic integration, bandwidth expansion of low-speed optical transceivers, new modulation and compensation algorithms. The solution provides lower cost than a coherent system and has advantages in short- and medium-haul transport. Since the current 100G equipment chips and optical modules get smaller and smaller in size and consume less power per bit, small-sized 100G OTN equipment has such a promising market prospect that 100G high-speed interconnection can be extended to the metro edge.

With the growth of traffic flow, the maturity of 400GE and beyond-100G OTN standards, and the establishment of related industrial chain, beyond-100G line transport is just around the corner. The beyond-100G increases symbol rates, the number of bits per symbol, and the number of sub-carriers by balancing system capacity, transport distance and component performance. Depending on application scenarios, there are a variety of beyond-100G solutions including 200G single-carrier PM-16QAM, 200G single-carrier PM-8QAM, 400G dual-carrier PM-16QAM, and 400G quad-carrier PM-QPSK. In the beyond-100G stage, optical modules adopting the silicon optical technology will have small size, consume less power, and support an ultra-high-speed system. For long-haul trunks, the transport distance without electrical relay can be extended by using hybrid amplifiers composed of Raman OA and low-noise EDFA or by deploying low- or ultra-low-loss fibers in the trunks. These technologies can improve spectrum efficiency, increase transport capacity, and guarantee a transport performance equivalent to the 100G system.

ZTE has scored significant achievements in the ultra-100G field. In June 2015, ZTE transmitted 400-Gbps signals via OFS ultra-low-loss fiber for a distance of 10,130 km, setting a new world record. ZTE’s 400G system has been commercially deployed, and there also have been its success cases about transport of 10G/100G/400G hybrid signals.


ZTE

18APR 2017

© ZTE All rights reserved

Home broadband &

4K video

Mobile broadband

& IoT

DCIPrivate line of enterprise users

Ultra high bandwidth

Ultra low latency

Efficient operations

Figure 1. The core requirements of OTN for service development.

Large-Capacity Hybrid Optical/Electrical Switching

In addition to line rates, cross-connect capacity also needs to increase. Large electrical cross-connect capacity makes it easy to implement non-blocking grooming and scheduling of the traffic of different granules. For example, the 28T cross-connect capacity can schedule a total of four to five lines of traffic, with 40-wavelength 100G traffic in each line. The electrical cross-connect capacity of a single rack can rise to above 60T, and future multi-rack cluster will extend its cross-connect capacity to more than 400T. As the electrical cross-connect capacity of a rack grows, its power density also increases although the power consumption per bit drops. When electrical cross-connect capacity further increases, it is difficult to address the power supply and heat dissipation issues under existing equipment room conditions, and the operating cost is also relatively high. Optical cross-connection has therefore drawn more and more attention. A reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer (ROADM) provides reconfigurable

channel scheduling capability to meet the needs of dynamic traffic, improve network architecture, reduce the processing cost and capacity pressure at the electrical layer, and to significantly cut down high power consumption caused by electrical regeneration and cross-connection. According to different application scenarios such as metro area network, chain trunk, ring trunk and regional networking, ROADM needs to analyze different models and select different configuration combinations such as wavelength independence, direction independence, conflict independence, and arbitrary grid, to get the optimal result between network flexibility and cost. In the future, hybrid optical/electrical cross-connection will become an important feature of optical network nodes.

Multiservice Bearing Capability

OTN also needs to have multiservice bearing capability. Traditional OTN equipment only supports L0 and L1, while new-generation OTN equipment supports L2 packet functions. TDM, fixed bit rates, and IP/Eth services sharing no bandwidth are transmitted via L0/L1 rigid lines. After the convergence, 10M–100M small-

ZTE

7SEP 2016

ZTE

19APR 2017


Super, Smart, Synergetic OTN

granule services carried over the original MSTP can also be transferred to OTN. These services are scheduled and physically isolated according to wavelength or ODUk sub-wavelength to ensure performance and security. The services that have IP/Eth variable bit rates or share bandwidth are carried via elastic packet lines. Although they are carried via elastic packet lines, their QoS is guaranteed. Services can be distinguished by labels and scheduled by service priority to meet different needs for delay, jitter and bandwidth. Therefore, the OTN platform with overlaying packet functions can provide a unified transport line that features rigidness, elasticity, and guaranteed performance.

Ultra-Low Latency

Some optimizations such as path optimization, layer optimization, networking optimization and equipment optimization must be done to meet the needs for carrying low-latency services. ● Path optimization: Optimize optical paths, reduce

alternate paths, and choose the shortest fiber path and the least forwarding nodes.

● Layer optimization: Since high-layer protocol processing results in greater latency, services are recommended to be processed and forwarded at the low layer. Protocol processing at the optical layer is

faster than that at the electrical layer. ● Networking optimization: Flat networking or grid

networking allows fewer layers to be used and can also avoid hop-by-hop forwarding.

● Equipment optimization: It is necessary to optimize optical modules and components for internal forwarding, processing, and interconnection. This can greatly reduce the total latency and support more latency-sensitive services.

Efficient Operations

SDN is certainly the main technological means for high-efficiency operations. The SDN-based OTN brings a flexible, intelligent, efficient, and open network. ZTE has cooperated with China’s operators to develop and test BoD and OVPN applications, hoping to rapidly deploy services, reduce operational manpower and improve tenant experience in the cross-domain, cross-vendor network environment. The next step is to gradually run commercial trials. ZTE has also worked with overseas multinational operators for joint innovation in IP and optical synergy, aiming to cut network Capex and Opex in the scenarios of cross-layer service planning and distribution as well as high-volume IP traffic

bypass. Large internet companies are also ZTE’s important partners. ZTE and China’s major ICPs have jointly developed DCI bandwidth scheduling to meet the needs of cloud services.

In general, the development of new services has put forward three core requirements for OTN: ultra-high bandwidth, ultra-low latency, and high-efficient operations. The evolution of OTN product and technology needs to meet these requirements in five aspects including ultra-high-speed large bandwidth, large-capacity optical/electrical hybrid scheduling, high integration level and low power consumption, function integration, and openness and intelligence (Fig. 2). New networking ideas are also necessary. In the future, OTN will maintain long-term rapid development and there will be more innovations and changes.

ZTE

20APR 2017



Multiplex modeSDM

PM

TDM

WDM

Optoelectronic material integration

Si+P

InP

SiP

ASON

WASON( O or E )

WASON( O + E )

SDON

Control plane

Opticalcross connection

FOADM

ROADM( CD )

ROADM( CDCG)

65nm 40nm 28nm 14/16nmChip integration technology

Transmissionrate

10G40G100G400G/1T

Convergence

Electricalcross connection

L0L0

~L1

L0~L

3

400G

3T

60T+,

Cluster

28T

L0~L

2Ultra-high-speed large bandwidth

Large-capacityO/E hybrid scheduling

High integration level and low power consumption

Openness andintelligence

Functionintegration

ROADM

Figure 2. OTN product and technology evolution.

ZTE

7SEP 2016

ZTE

21APR 2017

new structure and new services. As the basis of telecom networks, WDM/OTN is also facing the challenges brought by new service types and models. WDM/OTN needs to not only meet the increasing bandwidth demands, but also to rise to the challenges of dynamic service changes, reduced operation costs, and value-added network functions.

With the emergence of beyond- 100G technologies, the spread of open, programmable network resources, and the growth of transmission rates (from 10 Gbps, 40 Gbps, 100 Gbps, to beyond 100 Gbps) and resource attributes (bandwidth granularity, modulation mode, spectrum width, and the number of carriers), WDM/OTN resources have to be effectively optimized, managed, and controlled.

In response to these needs, optical networks urgently need to be software defined, so that operators can schedule and assign WDM/OTN resources in a flexible manner and offer quality transport services to fulfill the need of diverse network service development.

SDON Solution and Application

Based on the ODL platform, ZTE has developed its ZENIC software

By Wang Yingchang

defined optical network (SDON) controller for WDM/OTN transport. The SDON controller provides WDM/OTN system products with an open, elastic, efficient, and intelligent optical network solution.

The SDON controller based on the hierarchical architecture facilitates operators to manage devices from multiple vendors in a unified manner and to implement service-oriented end-to-end connection configuration. In this way, the integration difficulties in the traditional OSS are resolved and networks that are provided by different vendors and located in different domains are interconnected. For the IP and optical networking scenario, SDN-based architecture enables resource optimization and synergy control for IP and optical layers (Fig.1). This alleviates the load of backbone routers and the pressure of capacity expansion, and reduces network costs and transmission delay. When data centers are interconnected through an optical network, the policies on tasks such as content synchronization, virtual machine migration, and remote backup are processed on the SDN control plane to flexibly schedule bandwidth resources of the optical network. This greatly improves bandwidth efficiency.

with Open and Converged ODL Platform

Improving SDON Capability


Wang Yingchang

BN Product Planning Director, ZTE

The Need for Software Defined Optical Networks

With the rapid development of telecom networks, traditional network

architecture is facing the challenges of scalability, adaptability, and security. All parties in the industry have been actively involved in network architecture reconstruction, aiming to build open, converged, innovative networks with new technologies,

ZTE

22APR 2017

Optical virtual private network (OVPN) is also a main feature of SDON, and its typical application scenario is data center interconnection. In the context of cloud-based network service, data center users have their own needs for special network service, and network operators also need private networks to meet their own applications. By mapping virtual private networks to physical networks, OVPN can help users share physical network resources, combine and reuse resource fragments, and balance network load through optimization, so that they can improve QoS and significantly reduce Capex and Opex.

SDON Future Trends

SDON has become the focus of industry attention in the area of optical network control. The SDON technology and its applications will also evolve to be virtual, intelligent, and cloud-based.

As OTN is developing rapidly and user demands for services are diversifying, there is an increasingly urgent need for cloud-based SDON with the “service on-demand” and “plug-in-use” features. It is necessary to dig deep into SDON to make it deliver more sophisticated and more powerful cloud-based capabilities such as OVPN survivability (or dynamic migration and self-healing capability in

case of failure) and multiple optimization policies based on programmable OTN resources. The virtual management of OTN topology resources means to handle a mathematical model of physical topology resources at the OTN equipment side and thereby generate an OTN network abstraction layer. In this way, users are screened from complex operations and usage of network infrastructure at the physical layer, so that they can easily deploy new applications in the application layer. This is of great significance in simplifying network-defined operations for OTN users. Moreover, multiple users can share the same physical network through flexible mapping policies between the network abstraction layer and the physical layer of OTN. This is of practical significance in reducing network deployment complexity, shortening the deployment cycle, and lowering Capex and Opex.

As networks evolve to become increasingly intelligent, artificial intelligence (AI) based OTN technologies have gradually emerged in the industry in recent years. AI is a vivid manifestation of the SDON concept. Using the AI technology in an SDON to address dynamic network control issues such as network congestion and load unbalancing and introducing AI-featured learning, cognition, and decision-making modules and heuristic algorithms into algorithm engines of SDON controllers can considerably improve optical networks’ responsiveness to emergencies.

Summary

Since the launch of ZENIC SDON, ZTE has completed a number of SDON tests in laboratories and verifications in existing networks to constantly improve functionalities and performance of SDON controllers. ZTE looks forward to carrying out in-depth cooperation with ODL and other vendors in terms of network intelligence, virtuality, and cloudification, with the aim to further expand functionalities of core SDN software such as AI-featured heuristic MILP algorithm engine and virtual network topology manager and to better meet user requirements for diverse and flexible services. ZTE also hopes that the ODL platform can strongly support function expansion of future SDON controllers in respects of system operation efficiency, stability, and interface adaptation.


© ZTE Corporation. All rights reserved

IP layer

Op�cal layer

Op�cal controller IP controller

H-controller

Orchestrator

APP

Figure 1. SDN-based IP and optical synergy.

ZTE

7SEP 2016

ZTE

23APR 2017

centrally deployed to meet the needs of low cost, high capacity, low power consumption, and easy operations. The centralized BBU deployment can address the issues of difficult site acquisition, high construction and operation costs, and growing energy consumption when building LTE networks. Also, a BBU site can connect several remote radio units (RRUs) for sharing baseband resources. The key to centralized BBU deployment lies in building mobile fronthaul networks.

With the widespread commercial 4G deployment and continued service growth, the speed of fronthaul construction is increasingly important and will have a direct impact on whether operators can quickly seize the market. The fronthaul construction has placed three requirements on transport: high bandwidth, low delay, and high precision. ● High bandwidth: Now the maximum

CPRI bandwidth of LTE base stations is up to 9.830 Gbps.

● Low delay: The CPRI standard requires the maximum distance of CPRI transport links should be no less than 10 km.

● High precision: The carrier frequency stability of BS air interfaces is better than ±0.05 ppm and the clock tracking precision is better than ± 0.002 ppm.ZTE’s fronthaul optical network

solution adopts CPRI over OTN, which can solve the problems of fiber resource shortage, limited transport distance and lack of supervision in the traditional way of direct fiber connection (RRU and BBU are directly connected via optical fiber). The solution is suitable for centralized BBU deployment (Fig. 1).

The fronthaul solution is based on ZTE’s OTN product ZXMP M721 that consists of ZXMP M721 OD61 and ZXMP M721 DX62 for CPRI transport. ZXMP M721 OD61 is an integrated box device deployed on the RRU side. It is also a new outdoor OTN device that features low cost and high integration and is energy efficient. The OD61 device meets the requirements of fronthaul construction for service access, transport, O&M, energy saving and emission reduction. ZXMP M721 DX62 is a plug-in box device deployed on the BBU side (typically deployed indoors). It is only 2U high and can be stacked to connect with OD61.

ZTE’s fronthaul optical network solution meets the requirements of fronthaul network construction for high bandwidth, low delay and high precision. The solution has the following attractions:● Powerful service bearing

capability: ZXMP M721 OD61 has a bandwidth of 30 Gbps or


By Wang Cong

Facilitates Widespread 4G Deployment

Fronthaul Optical Network Solution

Wang Cong

OTN Product Planning Manager, ZTE

In the era of mobile internet, operators are facing the challenges of high Capex and Opex, rapid data traffic growth and slow ARPU increase in radio access

networks (RAN). To meet growing demands for broadband services, operators continue to increase the bandwidth of air interfaces and the number of base stations (BS). The problem of energy consumption in RAN becomes increasingly serious, and the tidal effect also results in low average BS utilization rate.

In this context, operators have put forward the concept of energy-efficient network evolution, in which baseband units (BBUs) are

ZTE

24APR 2017


60 Gbps (60 Gbps is the largest bandwidth in the industry). It supports CPRI option 2 to 8, STM-1/4/16, and GE, and can access 12-channel CPRI services at most. The OD61 device can also converge 6/12-channel CPRI services into 3/6-channel OTU2 signals. ZXMP M721 DX62 can access services with the rates ranging from 2 Mbps to 10 Gbps.

● Outstanding transport performance: Without any optical-electrical repeater, the maximum budget for the line between RRU and BBU is up to 15 dB. The end-to-end time delay introduced by devices is 15 μs, and a transport distance of 37 km can be supported.

● Flexible networking: ZXMP M721 supports point-to-point, chain and ring networking modes and also single-fiber bidirectional and dual-fiber bidirectional transport modes, which can meet various networking needs in a radio network. The single-fiber bidirectional transport mode is usually adopted for point-to-point networking. Each OTN system occupies only one fiber core, resulting in a substantial reduction in fiber resources. For chain and ring networking, the dual-fiber bidirectional transport mode is used. The ring networking can provide 1+1 protection at the line side, with a protection switching time less than 50 ms, which improves service security.

● Excellent clock performance: ZXMP M721 carries CPRI services, with the frequency offset value better than ±0.05 ppm and the clock tracking precision better than ±0.002 ppm.

● Perfect management information transport: ZXMP M721 supports OSC and ESC, allowing users to flexibly choose management information transport modes according to application scenarios. Two

optical directions are supported at most.● Flexible installation: ZXMP M721 OD61 is

applicable to various outdoor conditions, meeting the requirements of IP65 standards. It can be used in ambient temperature ranging from –40°C to 55°C, and its lightning protection capability reaches class C. It also supports wall and pole mounted installation options. ZXMP M721 DX62 is generally used indoors, and supports IEC/ETS standard cabinets as well as wall mounted and outdoor cabinet installation options.

● Easy system commissioning and simple O&M: ZXMP M721 uses NetNumenTM U31, the general network management system for a full range of ZTE’s OTN equipment, to implement remote fault management, performance management, security management, configuration management, maintenance management, and system management. Both ZXMP M721 OD61 and DX62 support DC and AC power supply. Moreover, ZXMP M721 DX62 supports high-voltage DC power supply, and ZXMP M721 OD61 supports the CLI-based system commissioning and maintenance that network O&M is not needed. ZXMP M721 OD61 can also be connected directly to the fiber, and supports WiFi debugging and convenient O&M. This guarantees the security of O&M personnel.As LTE networks are commercially deployed on

a large scale, centralized BBU deployment model—a new network architecture has emerged. In the centralized BBU deployment, fronthaul network construction is of great importance. ZTE’s fast, easy, secure, and cost-effective fronthaul optical network solution will become the best choice for operators.


1

IPRAN/PTN/OTN

Centralized BBU

Fronthaul Backhaul

MME/S-GW

MME/S-GW

Node B

eNB

CPRI services

BTS ZXMP M721

Figure 1. ZTE’s fronthaul optical network solution.

ZTE

7SEP 2016

ZTE

25APR 2017


OTN has entered the beyond-100G era. According to Ovum’s “Optical Networks Forecast Report: 2015-20”, beyond-100G optical networks will have accelerated commercialization (Fig. 1). Core nodes in the OTN network need to have larger cross-connect capacity to groom big data flow.

In terms of networking, great emphasis should be put on OTN in the metro area, and it is imperative to build an end-to-end OTN system from the metro access/aggregation layer to core layer in order to accommodate increased bandwidth usage. Meanwhile, it should be noted that most service access ports at the access/aggregation layer are GE/10GE, but service ports at the core layer are usually 100GE. Therefore, “service convergence” and “port aggregation” are required during service uplink transmission. In the traditional solution, the OTN is used to build the uplink pipe, the data equipment completes service convergence and port aggregation, and the MSTP equipment carries the TDM private line services. This increases network level and complexity. The packet OTN equipment can not only build large-capacity transport pipes, but also implement service convergence and port aggregation with its packet switching capability, reducing the network level and Capex.

By Wang Xiaodong

Major Application Scenarios of Packet OTN

The major application scenarios of packet OTN include optimizing optical line terminal (OLT) uplink for family broadband, VIP private line services, and serving as the basis of the converged IP and optical transport layers.

Changing the OLT Uplink for Family Broadband

In the early days, family broadband was mainly available in urban areas since access bandwidth demands were not high and the number of users was not large enough. Most early solutions of OLT uplinking to broadband remote access server (BRAS) used direct fiber connections, resulting in a serious waste of fiber resources.

With the continuous increase of access bandwidth and user number, the OLT uplink bandwidth should be further increased, which challenges the traditional direct fiber connections. Moreover, since China is increasing broadband coverage in rural areas, OLT will expand to other areas. In some counties, the increased transmission distance from OLT to BRAS also challenges the direct fiber connections. Thus, small OTN equipment is deployed to build the uplink pipe from OLT to

Transport Network

Building an Elastic Optical

Wang XiaodongOTN Product Planning Manager, ZTE

At present, China is going all out to build an information society. While such concepts as 4K HD video, pre-5G and 5G are being

proposed and developed, there will be unprecedented demands for network bandwidth. China has issued the “Broadband China” strategy to increase broadband speed and coverage. The rapid increase in access bandwidth requires that the optical transport network (OTN) bear more data traffic. Therefore, the “Broadband China” strategy needs to take OTN as the basic supporting infrastructure.

ZTE

26APR 2017


BRAS, which solves the problems of bandwidth and LH transport and also drives the development of family broadband.

Packet OTN further optimizes the OLT uplink. The traditional solution cannot complete service convergence and port aggregation. Since the OLT uplink port rate is generally lower than the BRAS port rate, aggregation switches need to be deployed to complete service convergence and port aggregation. If the packet OTN is used to create the uplink pipe from OLT to BRAS, it can realize large-capacity LH transmission and also implement service convergence and port aggregation without using aggregation switches. The solution simplifies network layer and helps operators reduce the total network investment by about 30%.

Unified Bearing of Multi-level VIP Private Line Services

VIP private lines have become a major profit growth point for many operators. While the scale and number of enterprises are increasing, the global VIP private line services will have large granularity and become IP-based. In the next few years, the proportion of Ethernet private lines will rise gradually. The private line bandwidth ranging from 2 Mbps to over 10 Mbps will move towards 100–1000 Mbps, and the proportion of large-granularity private line services will rise gradually. However, it should be noted that small-granularity TDM private lines still have a considerable amount of stock in the next 3–5 years, and the co-existence of different private line services will characterize the future VIP private line market.

Therefore, the best VIP private line solution is to bear different private line services while ensuring QoS, and the private line services can be differentiated

based on customer type and requirements. The current VIP private line service bearing solution employs a variety of devices. Take China Telecom for example. It is leading in the development of VIP private line services in China. It uses the MSTP network to bear small granularity, low-latency and high reliability VIP private line services, IPRAN to bear small-granularity packet private line services, and OTN to bear private line services for large ICP enterprises. Meanwhile, since MSTP equipment is being phased out, many TDM private line services are in urgent need of a new platform. IPRAN/PTN cannot provide rigid pipes to meet the low latency and high reliability requirements of special enterprises (e.g., finance and electricity). The traditional OTN equipment has rigid pipes but has low bearing efficiency and little flexibility for small-granularity private line services.

The packet OTN equipment changes how VIP private line services are transported. It combines the functions of the traditional OTN, MSTP, PTN, switches and other devices. It provides the advantages of the traditional OTN, such as rigid pipes, low latency and large capacity, and supports scheduling of TDM private line services at VC4 or VC12 level. It is able to bear small-granularity packet private line services and perform statistical multiplexing by using L2 switching or MPLS-TP technology, improving the bearing efficiency and flexibility for small-granularity private line services. Operators only need to build a packet OTN network to meet the bearing requirements of all private lines, reducing network complexity and facilitating operation and maintenance.

IP + Optical Convergence

In recent years, SDN/NFV technology has become the major trend of network development. An important application scenario of SDN technology in the bearer network is IP and optical convergence.

In the existing networks, the IP data layer as represented by core routers and the transport layer as represented by the OTN are independent from each other. The devices in these two layers run Figure 1. Global 10G, 40G, 100G, and beyound-100G WDM line-card revenue comparison.

operators’ operation and maintenance pressure.

Two Ways for Implementing Packet OTN

Packet OTN is mainly divided into two types: board-level packet OTN and centralized packet OTN.

The board-level packet OTN integrates packet processing and OTN functions into one board. Since it does not require a separate cross-connect board, it is suitable for small OTN equipment and is mainly applied to access layer. However, its service processing capability is limited by board port and bandwidth, and it does not support packet switching between the boards.

The centralized packet OTN with centralized cross-connect boards has more powerful functions than the board-level packet OTN. The mainstream centralized packet OTN adopts the universal cell switching technology. The OTN over packet fabric (OPF) protocol, defined by the OIF organization, specifies how to use universal cell switching to transport optical channel data unit-k (ODUk) so as to achieve backplane cross connections. In this method, the device’s cross-connect board is taken as a universal cell switching matrix. A variety of services such as ODUk/PKT/VC are sliced into cells on the service boards. These cells then enter the universal cell switching matrix and are switched to the line-side boards where they are encapsulated into an OTUk for further transmission.

ZXONE 9700 is ZTE’s new-generation ultra large-capacity packet OTN equipment. It adopts universal cell switching and supports the electrical cross-connect capacity of up to 28.8T. It also supports unified bearing of ODUk, PKT and VC services and non-blocked scheduling of ODUk, TDM and packet services, which can help operators build elastic OTNs.

ZTE

7SEP 2016

ZTE

27APR 2017


independently from each other, and most devices come from different vendors. There is no unified management of the IP and OTN devices and the service creation and provisioning period is long, making operators less competitive. SDN provides a way to create the synergy between the IP and optical layers. It uniformly manages IP and OTN devices through an orchestration mechanism, fulfilling functions such as rapid service provisioning and router bypass.

Implementing SDN needs to be supported by new technologies. The OTN layer needs to be aware of the changes at the IP layer. In many scenarios, the OTN layer should realize some functions performed at the IP layer. Compared with forwarding on core routers, the OTN equipment has advantages in terms of cost, power consumption and latency.

In the traditional IP networks, a large amount of data is forwarded between core routers. The transport layer built by the traditional OTN equipment does not provide packet functions, but only large-capacity pipes. A large amount of data is forwarded on hop-by-hop basis by core routers so that a large amount of resources of core routers are occupied and Opex is increased for operators.

To achieve IP + optical synergy, the packet OTN is used to build the optical channels between the routers. SDN realizes unified control of both the IP and OTN layers. The packet OTN, by using MPLS-TP or L2 VPN technology, creates a bypass channel at the optical layer according to the flow direction of the forwarded data. A large amount of data is forwarded via the bypass channel. There is no hop-by-hop forwarding on the core routers, thus bypassing the core routers (Fig. 2). This solution saves a lot of ports on the core routers and reduces the pressure on the core routers, minimizing

© ZTE Corporation. All rights reserved

2

IP network

Optical network

IP controller

OTN controller

Orchestrator

UNI-C

UNI-N

GMPLSUNI

CDPI

CVNIIP network

Optical network

E-NNI

Optical network

Note: The blue arrow represents the flow direction of data forwarded in a traditional manner. The red arrow represents the direction of the data flow when packet OTN is used for router bypass.

networkIP

Figure 2. Achieving router bypass by using packet OTN and IP/optical convergence solution.

ETHIO TELECOM BuILds 100G WdM BACkBONE NETWORk FOR RApId dEVELOpMENTBy Xu Wei

Xu Wei

BN Product Planning Manager, ZTE

The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (hereinafter referred to as “Ethiopia”) is a country in northeastern Africa. Ethiopia, at the center

of the Horn of Africa, is bordered by Djibouti and Somalia to the east, Sudan to the northwest, Eritrea to the north and Kenya to the south. Mountains and plateaus make up the main landform of Ethiopia. Most of its territory is on the Ethiopian plateau, and its annual average temperature is 16°C. With more than 91 million people, it has Africa’s second largest population. As a member of the African Union, Ethiopia is one of Africa’s fastest growing economies.

Ethio Telecom is the only mobile operator in Ethiopia and one of the oldest telecom operators in Africa. Established in 1892, Ethio Telecom has a history of 125 years. As the only state-owned operator, it plays a key role in Ethiopia’s continued development. Its business covers fixed-line, mobile communications and internet services. Since 2005, it has undergone a large-scale transformation and modernization.

Service Development of Ethio Telecom

Ethio Telecom has been in service since 1893, but the government began to pay attention to telecommunication

ZTE

28APR 2017

uccess Stories

leading polarization-division multiplexing quadrature phase shift keying (PM-QPSK) modulation, coherent reception and software defined forward error correction (SD-FEC) key technologies. The transmission backbone network will be built to achieve a large-capacity OTN cross connection, optical network intelligent scheduling and ultra-long distance transmission, helping Ethio telecom respond to the business evolution in the future. ● 100G transmission performance:

Compared with the existing 10G/40G optical transmission networks of Ethio Telecom, ZTE’s 100G optical system adopts the advanced coding technology of coherent detection, the DSP algorithm and the third generation SD-FEC technology. With excellent optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR) tolerance index, it achieves more than 5,000 km transmission without OEO processing, which increase the transmission capacity and reduces the unit cost by nearly 30%.

● WASON platform and hybrid optical/electrical scheduling: Ethiopia’s first WASON has been deployed by ZTE for Ethio Telecom. With WASON network, the optical network transmission becomes more intelligent, the service deployment time is shortened, and multiple recovery paths can be provided for critical services to improve network resource utilization. Meanwhile, the hybrid optical/electrical scheduling makes the backbone WDM network scheduling more efficient and end-to-end service creation easier.

service penetration and coverage in 1991. In 1997, Ethio Telecom launched dial-up services. In 2001, it achieved digital data network (DDN) connection. In 2005, it connected voice data and video data through multimedia. In the same year, it rolled out a 4,000 km fiber backbone network, but only 20,000 internet users were available.

In 2008, Ethio Telecom selected ZTE to build a new wireless network, and it invested USD 1.5 billion in this project. In 2011, Ethio Telecom began to deploy 3G networks for 1.7 million 3G users. In addition to 3G networks, it deployed 3.5G/3G+ networks and completed 4G coverage in some areas of the capital city, Addis Ababa. Now, its subscribers reach 9.4 million. From 1.7 million in 2011 to current 9.4 million, Ethio Telecom made a quantum leap.

Thanks to the new wireless network, Ethiopian villages have been covered by wireless services with a coverage ratio of 62.14% in 5 km radius. In recent years, the subscribers of Ethio Telecom have increased as fast as 30% annually. Currently, more and more Ethiopians are using internet to solve problems both at work and in life.

In Ethiopia, poverty alleviation is a top priority. The Ethiopian government spares no efforts to eradicate hunger and poverty, improve the quality of education and raise the level of health care. It developed a Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP), which is a medium term strategic framework for the five-year period (2010/11—2014/15). In the telecom sector, the government plans to launch broadband networks in rural areas and increase the penetration

of internet to 55%. There are 160,000 villages in the country; the Ethiopian government aims to connect all of them within five years. It also tries to connect the schools via internet.

ZTE’s Optical Network Solution

As a global leader in telecommunications and information technology, ZTE is committed to providing integrated end-to-end products and solutions for customers and partners. Over the years, ZTE has always been a strategic partner of Ethio Telecom, and has provided many high quality telecom services for Ethiopians. Therefore, the Ethiopian government and Ethio Telecom highly appraised ZTE and its products and services.

The original backbone network of Ethio Telecom was deployed by ZTE, and the average bandwidth utilization of this network has exceeded 70%. With the development of telecommunication services, it is urgent to build a new network to ease the bandwidth pressure. In 2014, Ethio Telecom began a tender for a national WDM backbone transmission network. At the beginning of 2016, Ethio Telecom finally selected ZTE to build the WDM backbone transmission network in the western and southern regions of Ethiopia.

In this project, ZTE’s optical network solution is based on the 100G DWDM/OTN network, integrating intelligent WDM automatic switch optical network (WASON) and adopting industry-

ZTE

7SEP 2016

ZTE

29APR 2017

uccess Stories

● High-reliability system architecture: With many years of engineering practice and powerful R&D strength in the field of optical network protection, ZTE’s optical network solution supports multiple protection modes, including fiber, wavelength, sub-wavelength and L2 layer. Main control unit, power module unit and clock unit support redundant 1+1 hot standby. Cross-connect unit adopts the advanced cubic protection whose reliability is higher than ordinary 1+1 protection by more than three orders of magnitude, greatly improving equipment safety.

● Green operation and efficient energy-saving: ZTE’s optical network equipment adopts the 28-nm AISC chip to reduce

the overall heat and energy consumption. The advanced mechanical and electrical management mechanism is introduced to support the dormancy of circuit and optical modules, and reduce the energy consumption of idle modules. Ultra-high precision temperature measurement and intelligent cooling system dynamically adjusts fan speed according to the temperature value to control energy consumption while lowering the system operating temperature.After Ethio Telecom selected

ZTE to deploy its WDM backbone transmission network, ZTE gained 50 percent of the market share for the optical network, which consolidates it position as leader in the Ethiopian

ZTE

30APR 2017

optical network market. The newly-built 100G WDM backbone transmission network increases the capacity by 10 fold, and helps Ethio Telecom develop its 3G, LTE and broadband services.

At the second World Internet Forum in early 2016, Abdulam Ademar Abeit, CEO of Ethio Telecom, said that ZTE was a trusted strategic partner of Ethio Telecom. He hoped that ZTE would continue to contribute to the telecom sector in Ethiopia and provide the best solutions and services for Ethiopians. He also said that Ethio Telecom would work with ZTE to promote the sustained service growth and the progress of the Ethiopian telecommunications market.

uccess Stories

CHINA uNICOM BuILds A sdON COMMERCIAL TRIAL IN sANyABy Wang Yingchang

With the development of digital information technology, the M-ICT era has come, which is

featured by IoT, anytime and anywhere access, integration of virtuality and reality, ubiquitous services, and universal security. In this era, information creates values.

As the basis of telecommunication network, bearer network is required to adapt to the industry trend, such as IoT, big video, 5G and AR/VR, and act as a basic network that is DC-centered and cloud-oriented. According to its development strategy of “restructuring the next-generation network with SDN/NFV technologies”, ZTE has proposed an innovative elastic solution, which

integrates cloud and management, with the aim to build an elastic, open and cloud-based network. As an important part of the elastic solution, ZTE’s WDM/OTN optical transmission products have been put into SDN/NFV research and practice to build open, elastic, efficient, intelligent and application-oriented optical networks.

On December 25, 2015, Network Technology Research Institute of China Unicom, in cooperation with Hainan Branch of China Unicom and ZTE, initiated a SDON commercial trial in Sanya, which expedites the practice process of SDON.

Sanya is a well-known topical costal city in China, and it received 14,957,300 visitors in 2015. Massive tourists, who are from different regions, have a huge demand for telecommunication

ZTE

7SEP 2016

ZTE

31APR 2017

uccess Stories

Wang Yingchang

BN Product Planning Director, ZTE

different customers and services, so as to make full use of idle resource and improve bandwidth utilization.

OVPN+: Achieve User Self-Service

Optical virtual private network (OVPN) achieves user self-service by providing virtual subnet control right to the tenants after virtualizing network resources with ZENIC SDON controller. With OVPN, Hainan Branch of China Unicom provides better telecommunication services for dedicated line customers in various industries such as tourism, finance and information in Sanya, and boosts the international tourism island construction in Hainan.

Based on OVPN, ZTE has proposed a distinctive innovation solution “OVPN+”, which provides a higher level of security guarantee for customers. Even when the leased network completely fails, “OVPN+” can still ensure normal telecommunication services for dedicated line customers by allocating extra network resource in real time.

In 2016, China Unicom and ZTE started deep research and joint innovation in SDN-based multi-layer synergy, southbound and northbound interfaces of controllers, and application development, to further expand their cooperation and promote the evolution of SDN-based transmission network and even SDN-based bearer network. Adhering to the spirit of “serving with dedication and being committed to our customers”, ZTE will continue its SDN/NFV research and practice to help China Unicom create more value, achieve win-win results, and move together towards the M-ICT era.

deploying SDON.

BoD: Rapid Provisioning of Dedicated Line Services and Efficient Utilization of Network Resource

Bandwidth on demand (BoD) helps China Unicom achieve rapid and convenient provisioning of dedicated line services in a complicated network environment. With BoD, the service type, bandwidth, service time, SLA, service performance and connection route can be configured and adjusted as required.

During Hainan International Tourism Trade Expo 2016, Sanya received a total of 150,000 visitors from all over the world. The explosion of visitors brought huge challenges to VIP customers in terms of network and telecommunications services in many scenarios, such as scenic spots, conference venues and hotels. Therefore, Hainan Branch of China Unicom uses BoD to provide services rapidly and adjust bandwidths according to customer requirement. It also uses BoD to adjust bandwidths periodically according to the usage time of

services at different time. To meet burst requirements of visitors in real time, China Unicom deployed ZTE’s ZENIC SDON to activate services at optical networks rapidly, provide bandwidths for customers as required, and create low-delay user experience.

In 2015, Network Technology Research Institute of China Unicom formally started the research on the evolution from transmission network to SDN. The evolution enables operators to use open northbound interfaces to flexibly manage networks and services. To push the process forward, China Unicom selected ZTE to deploy SDON in the existing network, upgrade the 100G equipment in the metro network, and run a SDON commercial trial in Sanya. With ZTE’s efforts, China Unicom adjusts SDON dedicated line bandwidth dynamically, configures end-to-end service in real time, and achieves network slicing and isolation for virtual tenants. In addition, the open northbound interfaces provide operator-level and user-level application permissions. On the trial site in Sanya, ZTE’s 100G OTN equipment in the existing network can be smoothly upgraded to implement intelligent control of SDN, which plays a significant role for

uccess Stories

ZTE

32APR 2017

By Yu Jianjun

transmission of two-carrier 400-Gbps data signals over a distance of 5000 km through 25 ROADM nodes without electrical repeaters. To resist filter impairment brought by bandwidth restriction, ZTE used a new multi-mode blind equalization digital signal processor to equalize intra-code interference and inter-channel crosstalk. In 2014, ZTE again broke a world record in 400G high-speed transport by transmitting 20 DWDM channels of 400-Gbps single-carrier PM QPSK signals over a distance of 3600 km in single-mode fiber when the spectrum efficiency was improved to 4 bits/s/Hz. The result was accepted and published in a post-deadline paper of OFC 2014.

ZTE also studied filter characteristics of the signal and found that ZTE’s Nyquist filtering technology could be used to transmit single-carrier 400G WDM signals over a distance of 3000 km through 10 ROADM nodes when the spectral efficiency reached 4 bits/s/Hz. Reconfigurable ROADM nodes are essential to an all-optical network in the future. A single channel

In recent years, the rapid development of high-speed optical communication, especially the introduction of coherent communication technology based on digital signal processing has made possible the ultra long-haul high-speed transport. 100G has been widely commercialized, and higher speed, higher

capacity have become development trends of optical communication. In the future transport system, a single channel transmission rate will be 200 Gbps, 400 Gbps, 1 Tbps, or even 1.6 Tbps, and the transmission capacity of optical fiber will exceed 20 Tbps. This article introduces ZTE’s research and development in the field of ultra-high-speed optical communication.

Single-Carrier High-Speed QPSK Transport

Single-carrier or multi-carrier techniques can be used to generate high-speed signals. Single-carrier technique has advantages over multi-carrier technique such as simpler structure and higher spectral efficiency. In February 2012, ZTE’s optical network expert team worked with Deutsche Telekom, the largest fiber optic infrastructure operator in Europe, to successfully complete a dense on-site test at a rate of 400 Gbps in Germany using the single-carrier PM QPSK with coherent detection. This on-site test covered eight network nodes and eight densely populated cities, achieving a hybrid 400G/1T transmission over a distance of 2150 km, which was the longest distance in the industry. In 2013, ZTE was the first to implement ultra long haul

ZTE

7SEP 2016

ZTE

33APR 2017

ech Forum


of single-carrier 400G signals have wide bandwidth, but their quality degrades after passing through multiple ROADM nodes because of the filtering effect. This issue can be addressed by the anti-strong filter technology developed by ZTE. The test result has demonstrated the feasibility of deploying single-carrier 400G for long-haul fiber transport in an all-optical network. If the baud rate of single-carrier signals increases, there will be more redundancies. In consequence, more advanced FECs can be used to provide higher bit error correction capability, and the FEC threshold can also be increased from 3.8×10-3 to 2×10-2. This allows for a longer-haul transmission.

ZTE and OFS carried out research in this aspect, transmitting 400 Gbps WDM QPSK signals at a rate of 128.8-GBaud over 10,130-km fiber links. The successful test demonstrated the coherent

transmission system with the highest electrical time division multiplexing (ETDM)-based symbol rate of 128.8-GBaud over record breaking distances. It was the highest ETDM-based symbol rate reported so far and the longest WDM transmission distance of single-carrier 400G signals with terrestrial span lengths (100km). For the first time, the 515.2-Gb/s single-carrier PDM-QPSK signals in 200-GHz-grid are successfully transmitted over distances of 10,000 km in a terrestrial transmission environment. Researchers have also demonstrated the transmission of single carrier 128.8-GBaud filtered QPSK signals in 100-GHz-grid over a distance of 6,078 km, which has the line spectral efficiency of 5.152 bits/s/Hz.

Single-Carrier High-Speed 16QAM Transport

Thanks to the high baud rate signals generation, transport interfaces with bit-rates of up to 1 Tbps will be achieved in the near future. Bit rates beyond 1 Tbps, such as 1.6 Tbps, will be introduced as Ethernet standard rates since it would be a logical upward path rate at the 400Gb Ethernet interface, which is based on high baud rate signals and high order modulation formats. 16QAM high-order modulation can be used to achieve higher spectral efficiency and transmission rate.

Recently ZTE has completed the record-breaking

ZTE

34APR 2017

—Yu Jianjun, Chief Scientist at ZTE US Optical Lab

The introduction of coherent communication technology based on digital signal processing

has made possible the ultra long-haul high-speed transport. Higher speed and higher capacity have become development trends of optical communication.

ech Forum

ZTE

7SEP 2016

ZTE

35APR 2017

ech Forum

of 5.33 bits/s/Hz can be achieved. In addition to advanced signal processing, advanced amplification technologies such as new fibers with large effective area and Raman amplifiers are also needed for long-haul transmission. In 12 WDM channels at 150-GHz grid, ZTE uses new 100 km spans of Terawave fiber and backward pump Raman amplifiers to load 960-Gbps signals (800-Gbps data signals and 20% FEC overhead bits) to each channel over the 1200-km link.

Single-Carrier High-Speed 32QAM or Higher-Order QAM Transport

High-order modulation modes such as 32QAM and 64QAM are needed for optical transport with higher spectral efficiency. These high-order modulation technologies have become the focus of research over recent years, in which ZTE has carried out an in-depth research. In 2016, ZTE completed 51.25-GBaud based PM 32QAM single-carrier 400G signals test for long-haul transport. High-order modulation signals are highly affected by bandwidth and non-linear modulation effects of components, so they need be equalized by advanced digital signal processing. ZTE has proposed training sequence-based front-end pre-equalization and back-end LUT non-linear processing scheme to equalize the impairment brought by the bandwidth limitation and non-linear modulation effects. Using the advanced digital signal processing technologies, ZTE has achieved 400G transmission over a distance

ETDM-16QAM signal test. The 1.6-Tbps 16QAM signals consisting of two single-carrier 800-Gbps signals are successfully transmitted over a distance of 1200 km in fiber links, indicating that it is possible to transmit 1.6 Tbps per channel in the future business system. The generation, transmission and detection of ultra-high-speed optical signals must be supported by a series of advanced technologies and high-speed opto-electronic components. ZTE has adopted single-carrier 120-GBaud ETDM PDM-16QAM optical signals. Although the generation of ultra-high-speed signals is restricted by the bandwidth of electronic and photonic components, ZTE uses its patented optical pre-emphasis at the transmitter side to resist the bandwidth limitation. To further improve detection performance of the receiver, ZTE uses a back-end filter and maximum likelihood sequence estimation (MLSE) at the receiver side to further mitigate the narrow filtering effect caused by bandwidth limitation of opto-electronic components, so that the spectral efficiency

Single-carrier high-speed 16QAM

transport

Single-carrier high-speed QPSK

transport

Single-carrier

high-speed 32QAM

or higher-order QAM transport

Multi-carrier high-speed transport: OFDM

Multi-carrier high-speed transport:

Nyquist WDM

ZTE’s Advances

in Beyond-100G

Research

a big disadvantage of OFDM signals. Too high PAPR will cause huge non-linear impairment in the fiber channels and thus will restrict fiber transport distance. ZTE has proposed the discrete fourier transform (DFT) technology, an effective method to cope with high PAPR. With the DFT technology, ZTE has successfully transported 256-Gbps PM OFDM-16QAM signals, and the test result has demonstrated these signals outperform ordinary OFDM signals. Based on this leading technology, ZTE takes the lead to implement single-wavelength 400G OFDM signal transport, successfully transmitting eight channels of 520-Gbps OFDM-16QAM signals over a distance of 840 km, with the bit error rate less than 2.4×10-2 and the threshold of soft FEC overhead bits lower than 20%.

Multi-Carrier High-Speed Transport: Nyquist WDM

ZTE also uses Nyquist WDM for beyond-100G transport. Nyquist WDM is a higher-dimension multi-carrier multiplexing solution based on dense multiplexing of multiple wavelength channels, with its wavelength spacing equal or close to single-carrier baud rates. During the OFC 2016, ZTE announced 4-carrier 1-Tbps Nyquist WDM solutions oriented to metro and long-haul transport respectively. For metro transport network, ZTE implemented 37.5-GBaud Nyquist 16QAM signal transport over a distance of 820 km, with a carrier spacing of only 37.5 GHz and the original bit rate of each wavelength of up to 300 Gbps. ZTE also verified the transmission of 50-GBaud 8QAM signals over a distance of 1640 km at a wavelength spacing of 62.5 GHz.

Compared with ordinary single-carrier signals, multi-carrier Nyquist signals have higher inter-carrier interference (ICI). Therefore, it is particularly necessary to implement ICI equalization for multi-carrier signals. ZTE has put forward a new joint equalization scheme combining front-end pulse shaping, back-end filtering and MLSE, which can effectively reduce ICI impact from multi-carrier channels. Based on these cutting-edge digital signal processing solutions, ZTE has successfully completed the long-haul ultra-high-speed Tbps-level Nyquist multi-wavelength multiplexing transport in a beyond-100G system. It should be pointed out that when the cost and network factors are considered, multi-carrier Nyquist transport will still be replaced by single-carrier transport as long as there are mature transport technologies and components.

of 1200 km with record-breaking spectral efficiency of 6.15 bits/s/Hz, carrying 400-Gbps data signals and 20% FEC overhead bits.

Multi-Carrier High-Speed Transport: OFDM

To achieve 400G or higher rates, high requirements are placed on the bandwidth of opto-electronic components. For example, 128-Gbaud electrical multiplexers are adopted for transmission of 128-Gbaud single-channel QPSK signals, and a real-time oscilloscope for data recording has a bandwidth of 63 GHz , a sampling rate of 160GSa/s, and a total of four channels. Digital-to-analog converters (DACs) and analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) with such performance have not yet been put into commercial use and still have a long way to go.

To get good transmission effect, multi-carrier transport, electrical or optical Nyquist as well as OFDM technologies are used to address the bandwidth deficiency of opto-electronic components. As DAC and ADC technologies advance, OFDM modulation has experienced considerable development. However, as limited by the OSNR requirement and non-linear sensitivity of OFDM signals, single-wavelength 400G has not yet been achieved. Due to the bandwidth limitation, OSNRs at the high frequency end and low frequency end of multi-carrier OFDM signals are largely different, so it is necessary to adopt the pre-equalization technology.

Moreover, high peak to average power ratio (PAPR) has always been

ZTE

36APR 2017

ech Forum

By Tang Haitao

NFV Makes Networks Lighter

olution

ZTE

7SEP 2016

ZTE

37APR 2017

function virtualization (NFV) and software-defined network (SDN), ZTE can build highly flexible, open, cost-efficient, innovative core networks for operators.

By using the unique TCSA architecture, ZTE’s Cloud UniCore solution is a new-generation native cloud application that has both IT and CT advantages. This solution supports 2G, 3G, and 4G network access with a low-coupling and stateless hierarchical architecture. In this solution, public modules are independent of service logic, thereby acting as universal components. The service processing control plane is separated from the user plane for flexible deployment. Core networks based on components and micro-services enter the native cloud stage and can meet the operational needs in the 4G big-data convergence network age and the application scenarios of internet of everything (IoT) in the future 5G era.

Traditional network devices of an operator are running on dozens of dedicated or private platforms that cannot be operated and maintained in a unified manner. This causes extremely high manpower and material costs. ZTE’s Cloud UniCore solution can help operators make their networks lighter. The solution unifies various equipment platforms and decouples software from hardware so that operators can purchase hardware separately. All the products adopt unified software architecture and can greatly simplify network operation and maintenance.

Previously, an operator needed several months of time to market (TTM) for a new service. However, NFV can significantly reduce the time for new service deployment through an automatic service process. NFV shortens the hardware and software purchasing periods by six weeks, the software deployment time by one week, and the network commissioning time by 79%. Moreover, NFV can achieve automatic network elasticity. It took several weeks to expand equipment capacity in a traditional way, while NFV can complete the expansion in several minutes. This greatly enhances network agility so that operators can take the challenges of network development in stride.

In the field of cloud-based networks, ZTE has always insisted innovation in R&D and has actively driven the industry applications. Throughout the year of 2016, ZTE carried out extensive cooperation with

Tang Haitao

CN Solution Director, ZTE

In the mobile internet era, traditional telecom operators are facing severe challenges from internet companies. With its competitive advantages arising from innovative

technologies and ultra-low cost, over-the-top (OTT) business has been eating into the profits of operators’ traditional business, thereby leading to a slowdown in voice and SMS revenue growth. Traditional telecom operators urgently need to reduce their Capex and Opex to make networks lighter.

To help operators with business transformation, ZTE has launched an integrated Cloud UniCore solution. Through cloud-based technologies such as network

and implements centralized deployment of the control planes in multiple countries. This helps Telefonica reduce operational workload by 70%.

The boom of cloud technologies, cloud storage and big data gives rise to a thriving digital information ecosystem based on cloud computing, cloud storage, and ubiquitous communication. ZTE’s future-proof Cloud UniCore network architecture leverages SDN and NFV architectural framework and introduces the concepts of cloud, big data, and openness to build a software-defined, hierarchically and centrally controlled, elastic network. This provides operators as well as government and enterprise customers with new ideas of network construction and brings them new business value.

ZTE

38APR 2017

olution

global operators and achieved remarkable results.In November 2016, China Telecom announced a joint effort with

ZTE in the field trial of VoLTE in Sichuan and Guangdong using virtualization and centralized large-region mode. On December 6, less than two weeks after the announcement, Sichuan Telecom successfully made the first voice over LTE (VoLTE) call in China. This is the first field VoLTE call of China Telecom, and ZTE is highly recognized by Sichuan Telecom as its equipment and service provider for this project. On December 16, 2016, the first voice call between the network devices from different manufacturers was successfully made in the other VoLTE project constructed by ZTE for China Telecom in Guangdong. On December 17, ZTE took the lead in making an inter-provincial (Guangzhou-Hunan) VoLTE video call. On December 24, ZTE again successfully made the first call between different regions. So far, ZTE has made four first calls in China Telecom’s VoLTE projects.

ZTE’s NFV core network also helps overseas operators with cloud-based network transformation. The vIMS network built by ZTE for Telefonica in seven Latin American countries provides HD voice, HD video, and FMC services, creating a brand-new service experience for users. ZTE also uses intelligent, automatic operation and maintenance

ZTE hypervisor

vEPC vIMS vUDC

Orchestrator

VIM

SDN Ctrl

BOSSBig data Policy

Open API

MICT-OS

Cloud UniCore (vCN)

3rd VNF

Inter-domainSDN Ctrl

EMS

Cloud pla�orm

VNFM

3rd party hypervisor

Service chain

Compu�ng Storage Networking

Inter-domainorchestrator

Figure 1. ZTE’s Cloud UniCore solution.

christian laqué: “we are the first in the world to have ...the zxctn 6180h, a 5g transport...

Documents