Demystifying SDN for Optical Transport Networks: Real-World Deployments and Insights

We present our observations deploying SDN-enabled solutions in operational Tier-1 carrier networks. This includes technical and operational issues that are of prime importance to service providers. Specifically, we focus on two archetypal customer use cases that we have observed from the point of view of optical transport applications. In addition, other key aspects such as the role of embedded control plane in SDN are discussed. Development models used by service providers and how this plays a crucial/symbiotic role between the vendor (enhancing platform data a control plane features) and the service provider (rolling out SDN-enabled services) are considered. We conclude with a synopsis on the state-of-affairs, and the role of standardization in the SDN ecosystem.