Open XR Optics Forum showcases advanced network management skills

The Open XR Optics Forum has revealed outcomes from their latest endeavour to scout advanced management capabilities as set out in their Management Architecture Specification. Headed by member Liberty Global, the initiative successfully showcased the fluid administration of intelligent, coherent transceivers across varied hosts and routers. A comprehensive range of current network configurations was evaluated using line systems plucked from various vendors in point-to-point and point-to-multipoint applications.

The prime advantages of Open XR optics reside in the simplification of network architecture, fostered by coherent point-to-multipoint connectivity, compatibility across generations of high-speed and low-speed transceivers, and a bandwidth that can be configured via software. Harmonising these benefits in existing networks requires accommodations for diverse routers and transport host devices, along with the coexistence of XR signals in various brownfield DWDM and PON line systems. In numerous cases, seamless amalgamation with present network management methods is also a requisite.

The advanced management features of Open XR optics are well equipped to enable a dual management paradigm, thereby upholding the distinct management of optical functions required to maintain the demarcation between the IP layer and optical layer management typically present in today's optical transport networks.

The successful trial was a testament to Open XR transceivers' immense flexibility and management methods. Experimenting with 400G routers on 400G line systems in point-to-point connections, configurations of 400G to 4 x 100G point-to-multipoint, as well as 2 x 100G transmission over a 50 GHz line system optimised for only 10G transmission; the trial demonstrated substantial versatility.

Also, the trial showed the capacity to transmit 100G full-duplex optical signals across a single-fibre PON infrastructure, cohabiting with the 10G XGS-PON signal. This PON overlay method elaborates on how network operators can utilise XR signals over existing PON infrastructure, delivering new high-speed business services with a minuscule incremental investment.

The drive towards this interoperability demonstration saw participation from Open XR Optics Forum members such as DriveNets, Infinera, Juniper Networks, Liberty Global, and UfiSpace. The details and outcomes of this demonstration were unveiled at the European Conference on Optical Communications, which took place in Glasgow, Scotland, in October. These are now available in the comprehensive Open XR Optics Forum report "Dual Management of Open XR pluggable modules in P2MP Applications Hosted in Various Routers with Transmission over Multiple Line Systems Proof of Concept Demonstration".

The Open XR Optics Forum was established to cultivate collaboration amongst its members, enabling the adoption and speeding the growth of network architectures that utilise intelligent point-to-point and point-to-multipoint coherent pluggable transceivers. By establishing standardisation of network interfaces and electro-mechanical hardware interfaces, they aim to facilitate interoperability, create multi-sourcing potential, and develop and publish new specifications as necessary, expediting the broad deployment and adoption of XR optics innovative technology by a diverse range of network operators for a variety of applications.