NEC develops tech capable of integrating different networks in support of using SDN

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NEC Corp says it has developed software technology capable of efficiently configuring wide area networks through the integration and management of multiple different types of networks, including optical and wireless, with the aim of enabling service providers and telecommunications carriers to use Software-Defined Networking (SDN).

This newly developed technology uses standard expressions to define network configuration information, including the means of connecting network equipment and communication pathways between different types of networks. As this enables networks to be combined using standard operations, it will make it easy to configure, operate and manage networks. This in turn will enable service providers to effortlessly configure their own individual networks with the various networks provided by telecommunications carriers. At the same time, it will make it easier and quicker for telecommunications carriers to provide virtual networks combining optical, packet, wireless and other technologies.

With the emergence of new telecommunications services and the development of networked social infrastructure services, there is a growing need for secure, reliable and stable mechanisms to operate and manage networks.

As the wide area networks that underpin services such as these are made up of multiple different types of networks, including optical and wireless, it has become a key priority to operate networks flexibly and manage them efficiently in response to network configurations and changes when new communication services are released.

This technology manages optical, wireless and other types of networks by setting out standard definitions, including essential configuration information for shared equipment and communications status information, and storing them into a database. Restricting the operations required for basic network configuration to just three – aggregation, connection and segmentation – will enable the creation of virtual networks that incorporate multiple different types of networks, through a combination of these operations.

By applying the aforementioned software technology to optical, wireless and other such networks, it will be possible to integrate a means of connection between equipment (topology information) and communication pathways (path information), and confirm connections across both networks.

“In the future, we anticipate that SDN control software based on this technology will enable service providers to easily configure their own essential networks on the web,” commented Akio Yamada, General Manager of Knowledge Discovery Research Laboratories, NEC Corporation. “Telecommunications carriers meanwhile will be able to flexibly combine a range of network devices in line with the needs of service providers, and provide virtual networks while also keeping down configuration costs.”