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For service providers (SPs), keeping up with this rapid technological evolution is challenging – especially for those SPs relying on incumbent monolithic chassis, which slow down innovation and enforce vendor lock-in for optics. Selecting interface rates and compatible optics often feels like fortune-telling.
As a result, more SPs are turning to disaggregation as their preferred infrastructure strategy. By separating software and hardware, disaggregation accelerates innovation, enables vendor diversity, and supports emerging technologies.
Supporting next-generation high-speed services
AT&T was among the first SPs to recognize the limitations of hardware-centric networks. In 2013, it proposed a new network model to address emerging market demands. This vision became a reality in 2020 with its deployment of an open, disaggregated routing network – initially in its core – powered by DriveNets Network Cloud software. Since then, AT&T has expanded disaggregation into additional network domains as part of its journey toward a fully open and flexible network architecture.
Since DriveNets’ first deployment at AT&T in 2020, the company’s disaggregated approach and vendor diversity have enabled AT&T to adopt cutting-edge solutions faster. The SP has recently announced the successful transmission of a single 1.6Tb/s wavelength across AT&T’s production long-distance fiber network. AT&T has once again demonstrated how cloud-native, software-driven networking can support next-generation high-speed services – making 1.6Tb/s transport a reality on AT&T’s live network.
Test Topology
In this proof of concept (PoC), AT&T transmitted a 1.6Tb/s single-carrier wavelength over a 296km live fiber network between Newark and Philadelphia. The test checked white-box routers with DriveNets software, Ciena’s WL6e transponder for optical multiplexing, and Coherent Inc.’s pluggable optics, validating end-to-end performance with Keysight’s AresONE 800GbE test equipment.
DriveNets proven track record in service provider routing
DriveNets Network Cloud has a strong track record of enabling Tier-1 SPs across Europe, India, North America, and Japan to build modern, converged, software-based networks. As the leading partner for large-scale network transformation, DriveNets continues to invest in advanced software capabilities to meet future requirements. In this latest PoC, DriveNets demonstrated 800GbE routing and traffic management, and enabled seamless integration of best-of-breed optical components while collapsing the transponder layer into the router.
Network Disaggregation – the gift that keeps on giving
AT&T’s early adoption of disaggregation continues to provide it with a competitive edge. Instead of being constrained by legacy monolithic systems, AT&T can:
- introduce new technologies before competitors
- scale rapidly to meet growing bandwidth demands
- break vendor lock-in and select the best optical components from any vendor
While some SPs continue to throw more resources at legacy networking and manage thousands of routers – each with different roles, scales, software and hardware – AT&T has embraced a different path. The results speak for themselves.
The future of networking is software-driven, disaggregated, and built-for-agility. The question isn’t whether disaggregation is the right move – it’s how quickly SPs will adapt and follow industry leaders like AT&T, Comcast, KDDI, Orange, Telefónica, and others that already are embracing disaggregation. Time will tell…
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