IP-over-DWDM in French showrooms
NGON & 5G Transport promotes itself as the only optics-focused event in the industry, bringing together the entire supply chain to show the perspective of every market player. In fact, in my opinion, at no other telecommunications conference there is such a density of optical network specialists per square meter. And although the number of participants here is rather in the hundreds than in thousands, the chance for really interesting conversations and successful businesses is considerable.
Three very intense days of NGON & 5G (30 May — 1 June at Center Expo Congress Mandelieu-La Napoule) were filled with workshops, lectures and discussion panels. The organizer also organized discussions in the form of “round tables”, where operators and representatives of solution providers could talk behind closed doors.
I had the opportunity to attend a meeting on IP-over-DWDM technology. An interesting conclusion that is suggested after this discussion is the fact that no one today denies technology and its benefits, and the conversations focused on specific use cases, the issue of management and automation.
The first day, the so-called Pre-Conference, was devoted to a slightly more distant future, namely the topics that organizations such as OIF (Optical Internetworking Forum) or ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) are working on today. There was talk of standardization of 800G and SDN transport for transport networks.
Much attention has also been paid to network building F5G (Fifth Generation Fixed Network)and in particular its aspects related to energy efficiency. A new generation of fixed network is essential to support the growing 5G wireless network and support an increasing number of cloud services that require high bandwidth and/or minimal latency.
The second and third days of the conference are already a little closer in perspective. We are talking about technologies that will be implemented in a year or two. Topics can be divided into areas of the network where they are to be installed. Thus, within the access network, two technologies were mainly considered: QSFP28 Coherent Optics, allowing to build cost-effective 100Gbps connections and coherent technology with bandwidth sharing.
In the case of aggregation networks and subways, applications using IP-over-DWDM have been widely discussed, considering various aspects, starting from the technology itself and its capabilities, through the places where it can be implemented, and on ways to manage and automate the network, ending.
Another element is the connections for very long distances. Each of the vendors boasted some unique technology that allowed them to send even further, even larger portions of data. There were also topics addressing the legislative issue and their impact on the dynamics of network construction.
From the perspective of Salumanus NGON & 5G Transport is a place where we meet operators not only from abroad, but also those from our local market. The opportunity to talk face to face in this narrow group and discuss current challenges is invaluable to this conference.