Huawei Looks to Bring SDN to IP Core, Aggregation and Access Infrastructure

Huawei has begun supporting Software Defined Network (SDN) capabilities on its Service Provider routers. The company said its SDN solution is based on its high-performance, large-capacity hardware platform and fully distributed "VRP" software, which enables a centralized control plane and a software-defined forwarding plane.

Huawei will support Openflow for decoupling of hardware and software. By abstracting the control layer and the orchestration layer, Huawei said its SDN Enabled router enables carriers to rapidly deploy new services without having to change the forwarding hardware.  Another advantage of SDN, according to Huawei, is that end-to-end path calculation based on routing policies is possible with a centralized controller.  The SDN Enabled router is also expected to simplify IP network management.

For IP core networks, Huawei said its SDN Enabled router can realize control plane distribution and virtualization across chassis and across devices while achieving >99.999% reliability. At the metro convergence layer, Huawei will offer an SDN Enabled broadband network gate (BNG), while at the access layer it will also support a series of network virtualization solutions.

Gai Gang, President of Huawei's Carrier IP Product Line, said: "Huawei’s SDN Enabled router can help carriers cut OPEX significantly and alleviate impacts on networks caused by service changes through network virtualization and programmability. In addition, the network openness enables carries to continuously create value from existing resources. Huawei's NE40E high-end router already supports Openflow1.2 protocol, and has tested for interoperability at the Open Network Forum (ONF) this year."


http://www.huawei.com/en/about-huawei/newsroom/press-release/hw-193038-sdnip.htm