ADTRAN unveils Mosaic - industry’s first open software defined access services architecture

Mosaic spans cloud edge to subscriber edge to accelerate self-directed service delivery

Huntsville, Ala. - Business Wire, Jul. 27, 2016 ADTRAN^® , Inc., (NASDAQ:ADTN), a leading provider of next-generation open networking solutions, today announced the release of the market’s only open Software Defined Access (SD-Access) architecture capable of supporting rapid service creation and the delivery of business and residential broadband services at Web scale. The new SD-Access architecture, ADTRAN Mosaic^TM , combines modern Web scale technology with open source platforms to facilitate rapid innovation in multi-technology, multi-vendor environments. This architecture serves as the foundation for all of ADTRAN’s next generation platforms, including its NG-PON2 and G.fast solutions currently being trialed by leading Tier 1 carriers around the world. Mosaic is designed to expedite service providers’ transition to open, programmable and scalable networks. The key components of Mosaic include:

• Mosaic Cloud Platform™ – combines modular apps that have been developed in a microservices software architecture with open source control and orchestration platforms to create open, SDN-based network programmability;
• Mosaic OS™ – modular OS that has been optimized for SDN-programmability, virtualization, high availability and multi-vendor app integration; and
• Programmable Network Elements – multi-vendor networking solutions that integrate natively with open, SDN-controlled access networks.

In order to reduce operating expenses and improve customer experience, service providers need to transition towards user-driven networks that enable a subscriber self-service model. To realize this future network state, service providers are migrating to agile, software-centric networks that are built around an open networking ecosystem. Open source control and orchestration platforms are key components in this SD-Access network as they provide the development environment that will facilitate crowdsourcing of new features and functionality while also being inherently vendor neutral.

Mosaic simplifies and accelerates the deployment of these open networking platforms with a complete set of cloud-based applications and programmable network functions that are needed for carrier-grade deployment environments. For those service providers that need more time before undertaking OSS transformation initiatives but want to ensure that their underlying network is SDN-ready, ADTRAN’s Mosaic Cloud solution provides a set of translation applications that allow natively SDN-controlled access architecture to be deployed with the existing OSS. This approach allows service providers to fast forward their adoption of SDN without incurring significant changes to their existing systems. Mosaic OS complements Mosaic Cloud with an access technology and chipset agnostic OS that supports component-based, multi-vendor applications that can be deployed and upgraded on programmable access devices in a hitless, operationally-friendly model.

“SDN provides network operators the opportunity to move away from a hardware-centric view of deploying services,” said Scott Raynovich, VP of Research and Analysis, SDN Central. “Customers, both residential and business, have told us they want greater control and flexibility with the services they buy and the only way to deliver that is with an open, software defined services infrastructure.”

ADTRAN was an early adopter of the Agile development model, making it the basis of all of its R&D over the past five years. Modular software, with package-level test automation, is a prerequisite in order to realize the continuous delivery benefits that are offered with Agile development methods. The Mosaic architecture is the culmination of work done at ADTRAN, in partnership with its customers, to deliver an industry-leading SD-Access solution that is built on this long-running investment in modular, Web scale technology. The key market benefit to carriers is that they can now rapidly create, deploy and upgrade applications independently for increased operational efficiencies, regardless of what device, technology or service a carrier has deployed.

“Service providers today are tasked with delivering dynamic service portfolios, and ADTRAN is dedicated to supporting their needs for agile, open, software-based network solutions that enable them to swiftly keep pace with demands for cloud connectivity, the Internet of Things and bandwidth-rich services,” said Jay Wilson, senior vice president of technology and strategy, ADTRAN. “Mosaic will enable a fundamental transformation of the access network, streamlining service innovation, eliminating vendor lock-in, optimizing network programmability and creating the framework for user-defined service creation.”