Broadband Forum’ eases migration to cloud-based networks

New capabilities enable operators to leverage their existing network in cloud-based environment

Pro

Image: Stockfresh

11 March 2020

Broadband Forum is hoping to ease migration to interoperable cloud-based access networks with the publication of Release 3.0 of its Open Broadband – Broadband Access Abstraction (OB-BAA) open-source project.

Previous releases of the OB-BAA code distributions allowed operators to utilise traditional management systems in co-existence with software-defined networking (SDN) enabled management and control systems. Release 3.0 builds upon this in providing capabilities to manage simple network management protocol (SNMP) based access nodes via the vendor’s adapters, thus accelerating migration to SDN-based automation platforms.

The release adds service assurance capabilities for collecting performance monitoring (PM) data and translating the data into standardised YANG data models, including storage of the data into a common data lake.

Further, the BAA layer provides an IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX) data collector for use with Access Nodes that support Broadband Forum’s TR-383 standard for PM data collection, enabling operators to obtain and monitor data from Access Nodes.

The release enables operators to both monitor and improve network performance and modify information within the network to change device behaviour, which the company said will unleash new possibilities for enhanced service assurance.

The company added that notification capabilities are also improved, which allows for subscriptions for notifications, enabling operators to effectively monitor network events such as failures or alarms.

“Release 3.0 of OB-BAA is a major step that enables monitoring of both legacy and new networks from a single centralised SDN platform,” said Francisco De Carvalho, senior specialist of comms provider interconnectivity at BT.

“By taking operators’ SNMP access nodes and putting them into a standardised, common YANG format, operators have the flexibility to leverage their existing SDN management and control systems in a cloud-based environment to open up new, enhanced service assurance capabilities. Not only does this further facilitate migration to next-generation networks for an increased number of operators, it provides them with the means to provide service assurance capabilities without overhauling their existing infrastructure.”

Broadband Forum members directly involved in developing the Release 3.0 specifications included Altice Labs, BT, DZS, Nokia, and TIM.

TechCentral Reporters