MTN has moved a step closer to offering a meaningful streaming video service on its network after a successful live trial of a Transport Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and 2.4Tbps wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) system.<\/p>\n
This trial, in conjunction with\u00a0Huawei, is currently the fastest and most intelligent optical network to date in the industry, setting the standard for the evolution of optical transport.<\/p>\n
The ultra-fast single-channel 2.4Tbps field trial took place on MTN\u2019s national fibre backbone network in South Africa.<\/p>\n
In the first scenario, 2.4Tbps with 16QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) was achieved over a transmission distance exceeding 300km.<\/p>\n
In the second scenario, 2Tbps with QPSK was achieved over a transmission distance of 1,031 km.<\/p>\n
The success of this trial demonstrates the advanced optical transport system, with bandwidth capacities far beyond the existing 100G technology, MTN said.<\/p>\n
In addition to the large system capacity, the \u201cworld\u2019s first\u201d transport SDN\u2019s new features were also tested.<\/p>\n
Huawei Transport SDN solutions, using physical network modelling and resource abstraction, have realised transmission pipe virtualization.<\/p>\n
These advances allow traditional communication technology networks to be \u201cIT-like\u201d, the group said.<\/p>\n
The trial successfully demonstrated SDN features such as Bandwidth on Demand (BoD), Virtual Transport Service (VTS), and Automatic O&M functions.<\/p>\n
MTN recently said that it hopes to offer a meaningful streaming video service on its network in South Africa before the end of the year.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the group\u2019s results presentation on 7 August 2014, MTN group president and CEO, Sifiso Dabengwa, told BusinessTech: \u201cWe\u2019ve been working on it\u2026it\u2019s and area in which we are learning a lot. We have looked at a number of opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think that we can conclude something definitely in Q3, and hopefully, we should have something in the market before the end of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bloomberg recently reported that MTN is in discussions with a company based in Asia to provide a streaming service on its network.<\/p>\n
Navi Naidoo, group technology officer, MTN, said: “With this successful field trial, we have demonstrated our commitment to digital innovation.”<\/p>\n
“We believe that networks such as cloud computing, streaming media and mobile broadband must be scalable, intelligent and flexible. To this end, Huawei’s next generation optical evolution concept ‘SDN-based flex optical network’ properly fits our requirements.”<\/p>\n
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