WHITE PAPER

A Comprehensive
Approach to Multi-layer
Transport Network
Automation
Service providers continue to face staggering
increases in bandwidth, driven primarily by video
and cloud combined with increasingly competitive
broadband and mobile access speeds. This growth
requires ongoing CapEx investment in the network
at both the IP/MPLS layer (Layer 3/2.5) and the OTN
and DWDM transport layer (Layer 1/0) so that service
providers can continue to deliver high quality network
experiences to their customers. Wall Street, on the
other hand, continues to demand strong financial
performance with new revenues and flat or declining
CapEx-to-revenue and OpEx-to-revenue ratios.

This tension results in a need for service providers to break away from the status quo and evolve
their network architectures so that they can scale while simultaneously creating new revenue
sources and driving cost efficiencies. In 2013 Infinera unveiled the Intelligent Transport Network,
which was built to help service providers with this challenge, enabling them to:
M
 assively scale networks based on photonic integration, featuring platforms and an
architecture that is designed for 100G and 500G DWDM super-channels today and
terabit+ DWDM super-channels in the future.
C
 onverge multiple layers of the network, such as DWDM and OTN switching, to further
reduce both CapEx and OpEx costs (power, space, fiber patches, maintenance, etc.).
A
 utomate the network with GMPLS and SDN to support rapid service delivery, resulting
in a more competitive market posture for increased revenues complemented by single
screen automation to reduce operational costs.
The Intelligent Transport Network architecture allows network scale that not only supplies a more
efficient transport layer but also leverages convergence and intelligence to make the IP/MPLS
layer and thus the network as a whole more efficient by reducing the number of router resources
needed to deliver a certain set of service demands.

EVOLVING TO THE TERABIT ERA

10G 100G

100G 500G Terabit

Vision
An Infinite Pool
of Intelligent
Bandwidth

DIGITAL OPTICAL
NETWORK

INTELLIGENT
TRANSPORT NETWORK
Automation

Open Software Control

Convergence

PIC

Multi-layer Switching
DTN

ATN

DTN-X

Photonic
Integrated
Circuit (PIC)
An industry first

Converged OTN Switching

and WDM
Without compromise

2003

2007

Scalability

Super-channel Transmission

2013

FIGURE 1: ITN Architecture Diagram

Page 2

2020

Intelligent Transport Network Evolution

This architecture has seen wide adoption across the globe and is now evolving to extend
the highly regarded ease of use of the Intelligent Transport Network into a dynamically
reconfigurable flexible grid optical layer. Three key enhancements have been added:
Infineras third generation, 500G super-channel line cards have been introduced to
support flexible grid operation. The scalable optical layer has now evolved from fixed grid
to flexible grid to reflect the latest developments in the ITU-T DWDM standards.
A super-channel colorless, directionless, contentionless (CDC) FlexROADM has been
incorporated to create a uniquely powerful multi-layer switching capability as an
enhancement to, and working in concert with, Infineras existing non-blocking OTN
switching capability.
The resulting flexible multi-layer digital and optical network is automated with a unified,
carrier-grade control plane that represents the first production implementation of the
Spectrum Switched Optical Network (SSON) extensions to GMPLS.
This ongoing evolution has always been a part of Infineras vision for Intelligent Transport; and
it benefits from the ability to work from a clean slate designdelivering a solution without
compromises (no retrofits) in terms of scale, converged multi-layer switching, and end-to-end
automation.
While the flexible grid super-channel layer delivers vital additional capacity, this paper will
focus on two specific capabilities of this architecture: converged multi-layer switching and
unified automation.

Converged Switching: Phase 1

Chronologically, the first phase of this convergence was the introduction of a high-capacity (multiterabit), non-blocking OTN switch with the ability to switch up to 10 Tb/s in a single bay and 240
Tb/s in a multi-bay configuration. There were two major factors that enabled Infinera to deliver
this convergence without compromise:
Large scale photonic integrated circuits (PICs) provide massive amounts of DWDM
capacity in a small power and space envelope as well as the headroom to integrate the
electronic switching functionality.
A system was designed from the ground up for this convergence (using custom-designed
ASICs) versus a retrofit approach, seen with many other solutions on the market.
This timing of this first phase was vital because the switch was purpose-built to groom large
numbers of lower data rate services, such as 1 GbE and 10GbE, into coherent DWDM superchannels of 500 Gb/s and beyond. A key aspect of network planning is that there is no point in
optically switching 100G or 500G super-channels if they are not efficiently filled.

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This means that each slot must be capable of providing 500 Gb/s access to the switch fabric. In
fact, Infinera has designed the system with a backplane capacity that supports over 1 Tb/s per
slot to support terabit+ super-channels in the future, potentially delivering long term investment
protection.
In addition, service providers can use advanced OTN switching functionality to leverage Infineras
Fast Shared Mesh Protection (FastSMP) to provide per-service granularity for sub-50ms
service protection with excellent levels of bandwidth efficiency. FastSMP, featuring the FastSMP
Processor, is the industrys only hardware accelerated shared mesh protection solution.

Converged Switching: Phase 2

Once the long-haul, coherent super-channels are efficiently filled via OTN switching and
grooming, service providers need a way to manage this bulk capacity at the lowest possible
cost, and to be able to shift it around the network as demand dictates. This is where Infineras
up to nine degree super-channel CDC FlexROADM shines as a complementary tool. The OTN
function fills the super-channels, and then, when needed, the ROADM can optically express these
filled super-channels to lower network costs or to reroute the super-channels to meet changing
network demands.
ROADM technology is not new, but until recently ROADMs were based on fixed grid technology
that cannot support flexible multi-carrier super-channel capacity. A FlexROADM is designed to
operate on the new ITU-T G.694.1 Flexible Grid, using a building block granularity of 12.5GHz
which is ideal for the efficient support of coherent super-channels. Infineras super-channel CDC
FlexROADM is available in a modular format that can be used to construct any configuration of
basic, C, CD, and CDC FlexROADMs with up to nine degrees.

OTN SWITCHING
Point and click ODU0/flex
switching granularity

MULTI-LAYER
SWITCHING

Digital grooming maximizes

WDM fill->CapEx savings

Comprehensive tool Kit

Sub- switching & FastSMP

protection -> OpEx savings

Fill super-channels with OTN

mux/switching
Route optically to reduce
regens & planning

OPTICAL
Wavelength & super-channel
granularity
Optical express of filled
super-channels -> CapEx savings

All remotely configured with

point-click GMPLS/SSON
control plan
Maximum efficiency AND
flexibility to remotely
redeploy BW & new services

Reconfigurable super-channel
switching -> OpEx Savings

Figure 2: DTN-X Multi-Layer Switch Diagram

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Unified
Control
Plane

A CDC ROADM is designed to dramatically reduce the need for rigorous offline planning
because it can be reconfigured at any time without any blocking conditions while allowing
wavelength or super-channel switching operations to take place in a highly deterministic fashion.
The end result is that service providers can make changes to the fundamental optical routing of
traffic in the network remotely, and avoid expensive truck rolls.

The Best of Both Worlds

As Figure 2 shows, by combining a high capacity, non-blocking OTN switch with a super-channel
CDC FlexROADM, service providers can have the best of both worlds. Table 1 summarizes the
individual use cases for one technology or the other, but the fact that both of these functions are
co-located in the DTN-X node means that the network designer has the best of both worlds.

Requirement

OTN Switching

Optical Switching

Bandwidth granularity

Point and click provisioning

and ODU0/flex switching
granularity

Wavelength and superchannel granularity for bulk

traffic management

CapEx saving

CapEx saving achieved by

sub-super-channel service
grooming for efficient fill

CapEx saving achieved by

optical express of already
efficiently filled superchannels

Restoration strategy

FastSMP sub-50ms protection

at service level granularity

Optical restoration (several

seconds) at the wavelength,
super-channel or fiber level

Table 1: Service Requirements vs. Switching Architecture

A Unified Layer GMPLS/SSON Control Plane

So, to realize the full value of the flexible digital and optical switching functions (data plane) its
essential to develop a unified control plane so that these no-compromise switching tools can
help automate day-to-day network operations. Generalized MPLS was designed to be able to
control practically any underlying data planeincluding packet, frame, TDM and wavelength
technologies. Infineras existing and highly successful GMPLS control plane has been widely
deployed for OTN operation in accordance with the GMPLS Framework. The SSON extensions
allow GMPLS to extend its capabilities to a flexible grid super-channel data plane, thus creating
an industry-leading unified control plane.

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DIGITAL
DOMAIN

PHOTONIC
DOMAIN

ADAPT

Automatic adjustment & monitoring of

WDM parameters
Hands-free link turn-up & optimization

Hello

Hello

AUTO-DISCOVERY

Topology Discovery
Inventory and Configuration
Management

NEW

GMPLS/SSON

Route Computation
Point and Click Provisioning

NEW

Network Failure

RESTORATION

Auto-Restored
Trafic

<50ms Digital FastSMP protection

Multi-second Optical GMPLS
restoration

NEW

Figure 3: Elements of Infineras Unified Control Plane

Figure 3 shows the elements of Infineras unified control plane, and how this has been extended
from the digital switched domain to encompass the new flexible optical layer:
ADAPT is Infineras amplifier automation protocol. Combined with coherent superchannels, ADAPT allows hands-free turn-up of super-channel capacity.
GMPLS technology provides a unique topology discovery and automated inventory
management capability, which can now be extended into the flexible optically switched
domain.
In the Internet Engineering Task Force, Infinera is helping to drive the architecture and
protocol extensions to GMPLS that allow Spectrum Switched Optical Networks to operate
in concert with the digital switching domain.
In terms of restoration strategies we can augment the sub-50ms FastSMP protection
capability in the digital domain with GMPLS/SSON-driven optical restoration.
This final point is very much at the leading edge of control plane technology. Flexible spectrum
super-channel networksor Switched Spectrum Optical Networks (SSON), as they are known
have not historically been covered by the GMPLS framework. The Common Control and
Management Protocol (CCAMP) Working Group within the Internet Engineering Task Force
has proposed to extend the GMPLS Framework (followed by protocol extensions to OSPF-TE

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and RSVP-TE) so that super-channels, and FlexROADM technology, can be managed under the
GMPLS/SSON umbrella.
This unified control plane is designed to use every wavelength efficiently, provide the ability
to remotely route super-channels on demand, and provide a powerful set of tools to maximize
network efficiency and flexibility to lower both CapEx and OpEx while simultaneously scaling
the network.

Summary
Infineras Intelligent Transport Network has been designed from a clean slate to deliver scale,
convergence and automation without compromise. The combination of coherent long haul
super-channels, non-blocking OTN switching, and a GMPLS control plane is already leading the
industry in terms of delivering highly automated transport network capacity for service providers
around the world. This important enhancement to the Intelligent Transport Network architecture
to support flexible grid operations, and to extend network flexibility into the optical domain
with full automation, will ultimately allow service providers to address their key challenges of
maximizing network capacity and rapidly deploying new services while reducing capital and
operational costs.

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Infinera Corporation
140 Caspian Court
Sunnyvale, CA 94089 USA
Telephone: +1 408 572 5200
Fax: +1 408 572 5454
www.infinera.com

Have a question about Infineras products or services?

Please contact us via the email addresses below.
Americas:
Asia & Pacific Rim:
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and Africa:
General E-Mail:

sales-am@infinera.com
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info@infinera.com

www.infinera.com
Specifications subject to change without notice.
Document Number: WP-AE-3-2014
Copyright 2014 Infinera Corporation. All rights reserved.
Infinera, Infinera DTN, IQ, Bandwidth Virtualization, Digital Virtual Concatenation and
Infinera Digital Optical Network are trademarks of Infinera Corporation