OpenDaylight SDN Controller marks 6 years with Neon release

The OpenDaylight (ODL) Software Defined Networking (SDN) controller marked its sixth anniversary with its tenth release -- OpenDaylight Neon.

OpenDaylight was founded in 2013 as an open source framework to accelerate adoption, foster innovation, and create a more open and transparent approach to SDN. It was the Linux Foundation's first networking project and is now part of LFN. ODL helps power over 1B global network subscribers.

The Linux Foundation said it continues to see more industry partners deploy the ODL platform and realize the power of open SDN/NFV. Recent examples include:

Coweaver, one of the largest optical network system makers in South Korea, used ODL to build its Network Management Service (NMS), which is leveraged by South Korean and global vendors.

• FRINX's UniConfig, now powered by PANTHEON.tech's lighty.io, is based on OpenDaylight and enables vendors to build and deploy applications faster.
• Inspur's OpenDaylight-based SDN controller is used to manage virtual and physical devices for both enterprise and government cloud environments in China.
• Partnership between NoviFlow and Lumina Networks, a provider of OpenDaylight-based SDN Controller solutions, who together are using OpenDaylight as part of a solution to create and deliver an intent-based Terabit-scale network that reduces costs and network complexity.
• Lumina Networks also just announced Lumina Extension & Adaptation Platform, LEAP, which is a platform that extends the benefits of OpenDaylight to legacy devices as well as advanced model-to-model translation, and a cloud native app (or MicroServices) dev environment.
• Telecom Argentina has chosen OpenDaylight for a wide range of use cases, including the enablement of CDN traffic optimization capability that improves customer experience and reduces data transport costs.
• Integration with other open source communities continues to grow, including collaborations with OpenStack, Kubernetes, OPNFV, and ONAP. ONAP is using OpenDaylight in its APP-C, SDN-C, and SDN-R projects for use cases like 5G and CCVPN.
• Meanwhile, SDN adopters  – including AT&T, CableLabs, China Mobile, Ericsson, Globo.com, Orange, Tencent, Verizon, and more – continue to leverage OpenDaylight within their networks and solutions.

OpenDaylight Neon brings updated features important to networking use cases, such as optical transport networking, WAN connectivity and routing, as well as virtual networking in cloud and edge environments. Neon also features new stability and scalability enhancements, and cements the project's leadership in working with other open source communities to expedite next-generation networking solutions.

Specific enhancements in OpenDaylight Neon include:

Cloud/Edge Network Virtualization features have been hardened with the Neon release to further enhance the suitability of OpenDaylight in production networks.
Optical Transport Infrastructure Control now offers new features that ensure interoperability with higher level controllers using an open northbound API.
WAN Connectivity: Building on Fluorine's mature BGP stack, Neon brings enhancements that improve error reporting, restarts and network stability.
Improved Stability and Reliability: Neon includes improvements in stability and scale, in addition to functional enhancements and bug fixes. OpenDaylight continues to undergo infrastructure enhancements making it easier for vendors and downstream open source projects to rapidly put-together and deploy OpenDaylight-dependent products and platforms.

"This has been possible in large part due to the modular and extensible software architecture which makes it possible to use OpenDaylight in a variety of use cases," said Abhijit Kumbhare, OpenDaylight Technical Steering Committee chair.

"Neon speaks to OpenDaylight's longevity as well as its integration with other projects like Kubernetes, ONAP, OPNFV, and OpenStack," said Phil Robb, vice president, Operations, Networking, and Orchestration, the Linux Foundation. "I am continually impressed by the community's cohesiveness in delivering platform releases with updates and features that enhance evolving SDN use cases."

"We are pleased to congratulate OpenDaylight on its sixth birthday," said Brian Freeman, Distinguished Member Technical Staff, AT&T Labs. "AT&T has been using OpenDaylight since Hydrogen, with production deployments since Helium in 2015. Today, we have global deployments with L3 applications using BGPCEP and NETCONF. Our deployments span control of L0 OpenROADM devices to L7 Mobility PNFs and VNFs. Needless to say, we look forward to test-driving Neon and deploying it to production."



https://www.opendaylight.org/what-we-do/current-release/neon

Read More

Quantum Network Link goes live in UK

The world’s first commercial-grade quantum test network link is now operational between the BT Labs in Suffolk and the Cambridge node of the UK’s new Quantum Network, which is being built by the Quantum Communications Hub, a collaboration between research and industry, supported by the UK’s National Quantum Technologies Programme. The new connection stretches from BT’s Adastral Park research campus near Ipswich in the East of England, to Cambridge. The wider UKQN network then extends onward over the National Dark Fibre Infrastructure Service to Bristol in the South-West.

The link uses over 125km of standard BT optical fibre between Cambridge and Adastral Park, with BT Exchanges acting as ‘trusted nodes’ along the route. The link will carry both quantum and non-quantum traffic; the QKD technique shares data encryption keys via an ultra-secure quantum channel over the same fibre that carries the encrypted data itself.

ADVA confirmed that its FSP 3000 is playing a key role in the new UKQNtel transport network secured by quantum key distribution (QKD). As part of an initiative led by QComm Hub, and with partners BT, ID Quantique and the universities of Cambridge and York, ADVA has constructed a QKD link capable of carrying classical and quantum channels on the same standard, installed fiber.

“Today’s launch is a significant step for network security. As well as being the UK’s longest QKD-protected link able to transmit both classical and quantum applications, this solution breaks new ground by showcasing the readiness of quantum cryptography for real-world transport,” said Professor Tim Whitley, MD, research and innovation, BT. “Our team has been at the forefront of developing quantum-secure telecoms infrastructure from day one. We’ve succeeded in taking the technology from PoCs in the lab to real-world demonstrations. Now we’re closing in on enabling customer trials and plans for full-scale deployments. Soon mission-critical networks will be protected even from cybercriminals intent on harvesting information today in order to decode and exploit it tomorrow.”

https://www.btplc.com/News/#/pressreleases/testing-begins-on-uks-ultra-secure-quantum-network-link-ukqntel-between-research-and-industry-2851900

https://www.advaoptical.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/20190326-adva-plays-key-role-in-development-of-uks-quantum-secured-transport-network

Read More

Video: The Road to On-Board Optics w Nathan Tracy of TE Connectivity

One minute video: Nathan Tracy at TE Connectivity discusses how COBO utilizes TE's high-speed connector and how the two companies form an industry partnership to enable new aggregate bandwidth rates for next-generation optical data centers.

https://youtu.be/_QNJqZY_RGg

Read More

IDT announces ClockMatrix timing devices for 5G

Integrated Device Technology (IDT) introduced its ClockMatrix family of multi-channel clocking devices for a variety of network devices used in both backhaul and fronthaul 5G applications. The devices are already used in 5G base stations, routers, switches and other networking equipment.

The ClockMatrix family is comprised of three lines of devices:

• System Synchronizers, which generate telecom-compliant clocks for network equipment
• Port Synchronizers, for extending telecom-compliant clocks to the many ports in network equipment
• Universal Frequency Translators (UFT), which perform jitter attenuation, clock generation and frequency translation functions for general purpose applications.

"We recognized several years ago that the wireless carriers' impending migration to 5G networks would require more precise time synchronization, and so we designed our ClockMatrix family to both upgrade the time precision of existing network equipment as well as support new equipment designs to enable a smooth migration," said Kris Rausch, vice president and general manager of IDT's Timing Products Division. "ClockMatrix devices are the only timing solutions on the market to combine such performance and features with exceptional flexibility, which not only makes them excellent for 5G networking equipment, but a variety of other applications."

IDT said its new devices can make extremely accurate phase measurements on timing signals using their multiple inputs and precision time-to-digital converters (TDC), with some family members capable of measuring to less than 1 ps. Additionally, they offer precise control of input-to-output phase (as low as 1ps steps) along with excellent close-in phase noise performance.

The pulse width modulation (PWM) capability of the devices eliminates the need for customers to redesign existing backplanes. This allows manufacturers to get new line cards to market quickly and to target an existing installed base with a simple migration path. PWM can transmit and receive clocks, frames pulses and time-of-day (TOD) data in one signal.

The ClockMatrix family of synchronizers meet carriers' constant time error (cTE) and G.8273.2 telecom boundary clock (T-BC) requirements. Their exceptional phase alignment performance makes the devices ideal for T-BC classes C and D, with demonstrated cTE performance better than 5 nanoseconds in customer systems.

https://www.idt.com/products/clocks-timing/clockmatrix-timing-solutions

Read More

European Commission issues 5G cybersecurity recommendations

The European Commission issued a set of recommendations concerning cybersecurity and 5G networks. The recommendations include legislative and policy instruments.

Key points

1. At national level -- Each Member State should complete a national risk assessment of 5G network infrastructures by the end of June 2019. Member States should update existing security requirements for network providers and include conditions for ensuring the security of public networks, especially when granting rights of use for radio frequencies in 5G bands. These measures should include reinforced obligations on suppliers and operators to ensure the security of the networks. The national risk assessments and measures should consider various risk factors, such as technical risks and risks linked to the behaviour of suppliers or operators, including those from third countries. National risk assessments will be a central element towards building a coordinated EU risk assessment.

EU Member States have the right to exclude companies from their markets for national security reasons, if they do not comply with the country's standards and legal framework.

2. At EU level -- Member States should exchange information with each other and with the support of the Commission and the European Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA), will complete a coordinated risk assessment by 1 October 2019. On that basis, Member States will agree on a set of mitigating measures that can be used at national level. These can include certification requirements, tests, controls, as well as the identification of products or suppliers that are considered potentially non-secure. This work will be done by the Cooperation Group of competent authorities, as set out under the Directive on Security of Network and Information Systems, with the help of the Commission and ENISA. This coordinated work should support Member States' actions at national level and provide guidance to the Commission for possible further steps at EU level. In addition, Member States should develop specific security requirements that could apply in the context of public procurement related to 5G networks, including mandatory requirements to implement cybersecurity certification schemes.

Commissioner Mariya Gabriel, in charge of the Digital Economy and Society, added:"Protecting 5G networks aims at protecting the infrastructure that will support vital societal and economic functions – such as energy, transport, banking, and health, as well as the much more automated factories of the future. It also means protecting our democratic processes, such as elections, against interference and the spread of disinformation.”

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-19-1832_en.htm

Read More

T-Mobile Austria launches 5G

T-Mobile Austria activated its first 5G base stations on Tuesday, March 26, 2019.

The first twenty-five 5G sites are the municipalities of Feichtendorf (Carinthia), Hochstrass (Lower Austria), Hohenau an der March (Lower Austria), Innsbruck (Tyrol), Kaindorf an der Sulm (Styria), Kalsdorf bei Graz (Styria), Kapfenberg (Styria), Kirchbichl (Tyrol), Loosdorf (Lower Austria), Oberhofen am Irrsee (Upper Austria), Pirka (Styria), Ried im Innkreis (Upper Austria), Seefeld in Tirol (Tyrol), Serfaus (Tyrol), St. Johann in Tirol (Tyrol), Villach (Carinthia), and Wartberg im Mürztal (Styria).

"With investments of 57 million euros in 5G spectrum, T-Mobile is sending a clear signal for Austria's digital future. This March 26, 2019 is a historic day for our company. We are launching the first 5G network in Austria and offering our first customers mobile broadband with fiber-optic speeds over 5G," said Andreas Bierwirth, CEO of T-Mobile Austria, on launching the 5G network in Austria. "With 5G, mobile broadband coverage will keep up with fiber-optic network performance going forward, supplying regions where the laying of cables would be complex, slow, and expensive. Instead of connecting households to the internet through wires, 5G will ensure that broadband internet reaches homes through radio transmission. T-Mobile will be investing around a billion euros in total between 2018 and 2021 to guarantee that Austria has a powerful broadband infrastructure, both mobile and landline."

T-Mobile Austria will give special 5G routers to the first "friendly customers". The first 5G smartphones are expected by the end of 2019. A greater variety of models and larger numbers of 5G-enabled smartphones and tablet PCs will likely hit the market in 2020.

Austria completes 5G auction in 3.4 - 3.8 GHz band

Thursday, March 07, 2019  5G, Austria  

Austria concluded an auction of 5G spectrum in the 3.4-3.8 GHz band. Licenses were acquired by the three leading operators (A1, Hutchinson, T-Mobile) as well as some smaller players. In total, 438 out of a total of 468 frequency packages (39 packages of 10 MHz each, in twelve regions) were auctioned for a total price of around EUR 188 million. The auction lasted over three weeks.

T-Mobile Austria acquired 110 MHz of spectrum throughout the country (11 packages of 10 MHz each in 12 regions), for a total price of €57 million.

Read More

China Mobile HKG installs 5G infrastructure in shopping malls

China Mobile Hong Kong (CMHK) announced its first installation of 5G infrastructure in residential properties and shopping malls.

The deployment in conjunction with Sino Group occurred in Grand Central and Olympian City. By deploying 5G infrastructure now, China Mobile will be ready when 5G spectrum is officially released in Hong Kong.

Read More

Ericsson intros private 4G/5G for Industry 4.0 projects

Ericsson is launching a wireless connectivity IoT solution for Industry 4.0 digital transformation project.

Ericsson Industry Connect enables communication service providers to offer dedicated cellular networks at factories and warehouses starting with 4G/LTE and evolving to 5G.

The company says its new offering strengthens its private networks and IoT portfolios by making 4G and 5G accessible to new industrial markets.

Industrial-grade wireless connectivity supports use cases such as digital twin inspection (a real-time digital replica of a physical entity) with massive amounts of sensors; mobility for human machine interface (HMI) instructions for workers; collision avoidance and remote control for autonomous guided vehicles (AGVs); and collaborative robotics for automated operations.

Scania has already implemented Ericsson Industry Connect in its smart production lab in Södertälje, Sweden.

Åsa Tamsons, Senior Vice President, Head of Business Area Technologies and New Businesses, Ericsson, says: “Ericsson Industry Connect is built on design thinking to meet industrial customers’ requirements on speed, reliability and security, while being easy to install and manage. It helps enterprises to accelerate their automation and operational efficiency to the next level. It complements service providers’ offerings to enterprises with a solution that is easy to scale. Ericsson Industry Connect increases the relevance of cellular solutions in the high growing segment of industrial connectivity - leveraging Ericsson’s technology leadership, strength in connectivity, and R&D investments to date.”

Read More

Indonesia tests docomo sky drones for tower inspection

PT Solusi Tunas Pratama Tbk. (STP), a company that leases out telecommunication towers in Indonesia, is testing a service called "docomo sky for Tower Inspection" that uses drones to photograph base stations and telecom towers.

The system being tested is based on an operational drone-based tower inspection system developed by DOCOMO for its commercial network throughout Japan, and supports the "docomo sky" ground control station (GCS) app for assistance in inspection tasks, enabling drone operators to input flight data with ease. For the test, DOCOMO will provide its cloud-based platform for operational support and data analysis. The drones fly automatically, take photos and transmit the images via the platform in real time, enabling technicians to inspect the towers via the docomo sky web browser immediately.


https://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/info/media_center/pr/2019/0326_00.html

Read More