Software defined enterprise passive optical network

Abstract

In the last few years, changing infrastructure and business requirements are forcing enterprises to rethink their networks. Enterprises look to passive optical networks (PON) for increased network efficiency, flexibility, and cost reduction. At the same time, the emergence of Cloud and mobile in enterprise networks calls for dynamic network control and management following a centralized and software-defined paradigm. In this context, we propose a software-defined edge network (SDEN) design that operates on top of PON. SDEN leverages PON benefits while overcoming its lack of dynamic control. This paper is a work-in-progress focusing on enabling key flow control functions over PON: dynamic traffic steering, service dimensioning and realtime re-dimensioning. We also discuss how SDEN edge network can integrate with core SDN solutions to achieve end-to-end manageability. Through case experiment studies conducted on a live PON testbed deployment, we show the practical benefits and potentials that SDEN can offer to enterprise networks redesign.