China Mobile and ZTE jointly complete cross-vendor SDH phase out and commercial deployment of monitoring passthrough

25 October 2022, Shenzhen, China - ZTE Corporation (0763.HK / 000063.SZ), a global leading provider of information and communication technology solutions, together with the Shanwei branch of China Mobile, has been the first to carry out cross-vendor SDH phase out and turn SDH equipment monitoring passthrough (DCC, Data Communication Channels) pilot into commercial deployment, so that other vendors’ SDH equipment management data can pass through in the VC-OTN network. It can implement cross-vendor SDH equipment monitoring after SDH network phase out. This project helps China Mobile achieve smooth introduction of VC-OTN into SDH networks and integration of VC-OTN with access-layer SDH equipment, effectively reducing the operation OPEX of the enterprise private lines. It greatly improves the user experiences, advances the digital transformation and lays a solid foundation for cross-vendor SDH phase out in the industry.

The Shanwei branch of China Mobile has completed the deployment of VC-OTN equipment at the backbone and aggregation layers in its local network. However, the equipment at the access layer is being moved slowly and cannot be replaced in a short time. In addition, the VC-OTN and SDH equipment in the local network are provided by different vendors. The operator is in urgent need to solve the problem that SDH management data cannot be transmitted in the VC-OTN network and to implement unified management of access-layer SDH equipment.

The Shanwei branch of China Mobile and ZTE piloted DCC for cross-vendor SDH phase out in 4Q21, completed the service cutover and turned it into commercial deployment recently. In this project, ZTE proposes that the VC-OTN equipment extracts the SDH equipment management data, namely, correlative DCC bytes, on the node interconnecting the VC-OTN and SDH equipment. Then the data is passed through to the VC-OTN equipment at the network management center via intelligent OTN. Subsequently, the VC-OTN equipment is interconnected with the third-party SDH equipment and the management data is transmitted. Finally, the SDH equipment resolves the management data and transmits it to the network management system, thus completing the transmission of the access-layer SDH equipment management data.

The project can effectively save the traditional DCN channel resource, save the equipment room footprint, implement multiple functions with only one device, and reduce carbon emissions.

The pilot shows that the DCC for cross-vendor SDH phase out can achieve isolated transmission of service data and management data on the VC-OTN, and can complete the management data passthrough without awareness of the DCN (Data Communication Network) protocol type, thereby implementing monitoring of SDH equipment. In addition, it is applicable to interconnection with any vendor’s access-layer SDH equipment, laying a solid foundation for speeding up SDH network phase out.

Moving forward, ZTE will continue in-depth research and exploration on optical networks, and work with global operators to build digital and intelligent optical networks to boost the development of digital economy.