NEC concludes second multi-vendor Wireless Transport SDN Proof of Concept with the Open Networking Foundation

Tokyo, June 13, 2016 - NEC Corporation (NEC; TSE: 6701) today announced the completion of the second multi-vendor Wireless Transport SDN Proof of Concept (PoC) with the Open Networking Foundation’s (ONF) Open Transport Working Group. The PoC took place in April 2016, hosted by the Telefonica laboratory in Germany for a period of four days. A total of 12 companies, including NEC, took part in the PoC.

The aim of the PoC was to encourage the standardization of a common information model for SDN-enabled wireless transport environments, simplifying the operations, management and control of network elements, and facilitating the integration of distinct multi-vendor solutions under a common and single control framework. A standard OpenDaylight (ODL) based controller was used for the PoC.

The PoC demonstrated the capabilities and benefits of utilizing a common information model for multi-vendor control of wireless network elements through open management interfaces. The actual PoC consisted of five use cases used for the purpose of demonstrating dynamic network view, configuration, discrepancy monitoring and detection, and event handling:

• Detection and configuration of new microwave devices
• Detection of aberrances
• Detection and visualization of the configured microwave network
• Detection and visualization of the currently effective network
• Receiving, displaying and storing of alarm information

For this PoC, NEC provided iPASOLINK VR ultra-compact microwave communications systems equipped with a NETCONF interface. The PoC successfully demonstrated that iPASOLINK VR completed all the test cases for configuration and management of wireless network elements in an open environment with an OpenDayLight-based controller.

"Through this PoC, NEC proved the readiness of its iPASOLINK VR to be deployed in SDN-based advanced wireless transport networks for customer and market demand," said Hideyuki Muto, Deputy General Manager, Mobile Wireless Solution Division, NEC Corporation. "Looking forward, we will continue to promote development of innovative mobile backhaul with SDN features to meet the requirements of the ever growing market and customer demand."

This activity is partly executed under the "Research and Development of Network Virtualization Technology" program commissioned by the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and an O3 project.

A white paper about the PoC will be published by ONF in the coming weeks, available on the ONF website at https://www.opennetworking.org/sdn-resources/technical-library.