Solution set to reduce IP RAN Network OAM manpower cost by 30 percent

5 March 2015, Shenzhen, China – ZTE Corporation (0763.HK / 000063.SZ), a major international provider of telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions for the Mobile Internet, has launched its IP radio access network (RAN) operation and maintenance (OAM) system based on elastic software defined networking (SDN) technology at Mobile World Congress.

The SDN network enables the system to implement unified management on IP RAN via the SDN controller. 90 percent of routine OAM work can be performed with a one-touch operation on mobile terminals, which can save at-least 30 percent on manpower cost. The innovative solution of introducing SDN technology to an IP RAN network OAM to effectively reduce OAM cost has generated widespread attention among the operator community.

This is the first time ZTE’s IP RAN SDN technology has been demonstrated and talked about publicly. At the show, the solution attracted significant interest, specifically around the new OAM mode which includes zero configuration and plug-and-play functions of the equipment, one-touch service deployment and automatic service path protection.

The sharp increase of mobile data demand has resulted in global mobile operators working hard to deploy 4G networks to ease the ever increasing mobile data traffic on the network. The result is the IP RAN mobile bearer network facing significant management pressure. Consequently, the operators are focussed on how to cope with the impact of data traffic, effectively manage IP RAN and further reduce the high OAM costs. ZTE’s elastic IP RAN SDN solution effectively solves the problem by introducing SDN architecture and adopting virtualization technology, it performs unified management on access layer and aggregation layer equipment using an SDN controller. The plug-and-play capability of equipment and one-touch service deploymentenables 90 percent of the OAM work to be completed with one button, greatly reducing OAM workload and simplifying OAM complexity. The simultaneously released PC version, portable application description (PAD) version and mobile phone app enables users to perform network OAM out of the equipment room and complete 90 percent of routine OAM work using mobile terminals.

As a world-leading communications device and solution provider, ZTE has invested heavily in SDN research. The global optical network SDN intercommunication test organised by the Open Networking Foundation (ONF) and the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF), OpenFlow conformity certification and the trials in the operators' existing networks highlight the company's outstanding innovation in the SDN field. In the future, ZTE will provide innovation through the continued use of SDN in building new M-ICT communications networks, ensuring improved network experience.