Telecom service providers have been driving costs out of their network through automation since the switch replaced the switchboard. But new technology, currently in trial at Verizon within its wholesale unit, Verizon Partner Solutions, takes the notion of an automated network to new lengths.

Using control plane technology, Verizon Partner Solutions is allowing network elements themselves to talk with each other in order to quickly set up an end-to-end circuit across the network, with only the beginning and end points predetermined. The service being offered is bandwidth-on-demand for carrier customers — either quickly setting up and taking down circuits or adding bandwidth as needed to an existing circuit.

“Bandwidth-on-demand is not that unique to the industry. The difference here is we are doing it with optical control plane technology,” said Larry O'Neil, optical product development manager for Verizon. “Most of the just-in-time services are OSS controlled — there is intelligence in software that sits above and instructs individual network elements.”

By contrast, with optical control plane technology, the network elements themselves have the intelligence, he said. Once the beginning and end point of the network connection are determined, the optical network elements can use their own signaling system, not unlike SS7, to determine the correct path.

“It functions much more like a packet network — here's the on ramp, here's the off ramp, and the network figures out the path it is going to take and institutes that routing to put up a full dedicated link between those end points,” O'Neil said.

While that sounds simple enough, Verizon and others have been working on this capability for three years, said Bill Eulias, director of new products for Verizon. Inherent in the process is the requirement to flow information through the network to the ordering systems, network IT systems and operations support systems that attend to billing, equipment inventory and other necessary processes. In addition to multiple systems, Verizon also is working with multiple vendors.

“We have been working with the industry now for more than three years on a very focused effort to drive interoperability standards so that we could create the messaging sets that are required so vendors could bring it to [general availability] quality products,” he said. “There have been proprietary offerings available. But Verizon is very focused on building a network with multi-vendor interoperability.”

Verizon's trial network in New York consists of five nodes, O'Neil said. Telcordia is providing an early version of a software package that addresses the OSS and network IT functions, he added, with a final version expected by the end of the year that vendors can use.

MAKING BANDWIDTH-ON-DEMAND FLOW THROUGH

KEY

1. Order received

2. OSS converts order to network provisioning request

3. Network IT system communicates with nodes, ask for bandwidth

4. Provisioned bandwidth-on-demand circuit

5. Network IT system updates network inventory

6. OSS confirms provisioning of service, notifies customer