Future-Proofing Optical Networks Through Collaboration and Alignment
CableLabs understands that our new era of broadband connectivity relies on vastly improved telemetry and seamless interactions across networks. However, the industry must pass through its current Experience Era before it can flourish in a new Adaptive Era. We must have flowing but organized telemetry and seamless connections before we can have fully self-healing, self-configuring, self-optimizing networks without constraints.
To these ends — through CableLabs’ Optical Operations and Maintenance (OOM) and Common Provisioning and Management of Passive Optical Networks (CPMP) working groups — we’re working with cable vendors and operators to make the Adaptive Era a reality.
Foundational OOM and CPMP
Operators are already evolving toward the Adaptive Era. As they move to fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) and other architectures that use more fiber in more ways, operators are also aligning their fault, configuration, accounting, performance, and security (FCAPS) network management components to streamline operations and align KPIs. This also allows them to develop proactive maintenance approaches for PON and all optical networks.
Operating disparate networks can be an operational challenge, a burden on resources — and a significant expense. Opportunities for alignment bring efficiencies that reduce burden and expense. Real alignment requires industry-wide agreement, which happens through specifications and standards, interoperability events and, importantly, working groups. The CPMP working group has made initial progress on provisioning, and the OOM working group is progressing on all aspects of telemetry.
Industry alignment and general interoperability don’t exist in FTTH, specifically in the various versions of PON networks that are commonly used in FTTH. That might seem surprising, given all the time and standards bodies devoted to working on PON technologies over decades. Recent technology developments have made alignment more possible than before while also strengthening the need for it.
Fortunately, CableLabs has a strong footing in standards bodies such as the Broadband Forum (BBF) and the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), as well as a broadband industry culture that leads to foundational specifications at CableLabs.
The groundwork laid by previous work does provide approaches for alignment — but not necessarily the alignment that needs to occur through:
All network operators must manage these connections, and (for the most part) those operators need the same types of telemetry. This is the work of OOM and CPMP.
Telemetry-Based Interoperation
The OOM working group has a lot more work to do.
After foundationally tracing through operations in our recently released OOM technical report, CableLabs and our partners are driving toward interoperation at the telemetry level in the OOM working group. By defining the use cases that many operators share (e.g., fault management, service assurance, repair, engineering, provisioning), we’ve created a reference for vendors and operators to use for communication purposes to simplify the technology transition work. This common reference point allows vendors to act in ways that align with cable operators better, easing the development burden.
Leveraging existing successful standards is key to CableLabs' strategy for fostering vendor unification. Telemetry-based interoperation will ensure that telemetry data flows in a manner the industry is prepared to capitalize on.
Decades of technological evolution in communications have taught us a critical lesson: telemetry itself is not a differentiator. Instead, it's fundamental — table stakes. Incomplete or friction-filled telemetry inevitably leads to higher operational costs and compromises performance, reliability and security. This friction impacts everyone involved, and its elimination benefits the entire ecosystem.
Common telemetry — directly linked to network elements, functions and dysfunctions — empowers operators to simplify their technology evolution, streamline network management and bolster service assurance. Unification on telemetry models and methods makes it easier to understand how to manage networks and reduces the burden of building the tools to support network operations and engineering decisions. The work here is incremental and continuing but important for the industry.
Be the Hero We Need!
The path to the future happens one step at a time, and you can help the industry take those steps. Engagement in the OOM and CPMP working groups is strong, but the groups’ work is stronger when the right people contribute. Now’s the time to let the industry know that you’re working on these concerns in your own company. Fortunately, with the release of the OOM Technical Report, you can get up to speed on the work of the group and jump right in to contributing!
If you’re a vendor, you can speak on behalf of your customers and communicate what they need to streamline operations. If you’re a network operator, you can speak about your vision for serving your customer base. Do you know a better way to conduct proactive maintenance on optical networks? Have you discovered a method to reduce repair time or windshield time with optical network maintenance?
You have a real opportunity to be an industry hero! You can help both your customers and the broadband industry as a whole by sharing your knowledge with the working group and taking the lead on optical operations and maintenance efficiency.