Service providers around the world are turning to routed optical networking to operate their infrastructure more simply and cost-effectively, fast-track new service offerings, and add more capacity to meet growing customer demand. This is a game changer that completely redefines the economics of networking by lowering TCO by up to 45% and dramatically simplifying operations. I sat down with Marc-André Gilbert, Senior Manager of Transportation Planning at Bell Canada, to hear about the company’s network transformation journey using Routed Optical Networking and how it has enabled Bell Canada to become Canada’s leading network while significantly reducing costs.
We are starting to deploy routed optical networking across our infrastructure. Please tell us what is driving this change.
We want to be the best network in Canada. It is our strategic imperative to provide the best service and experience to our customers. However, using legacy infrastructure is easier said than done. We want to modernize our network and make it more efficient. This gives you the agility to grow your business through differentiated services while managing key industry-wide challenges such as declining margins and ARPU. We have a very healthy business, with our dividend growing 5% over the past 16 years. However, these network innovations through routed optical networking will help us further strengthen our financial health and create more value for our shareholders. We calculated that this would reduce CapEx by approximately 27% over the next 10 years, saving C$125 million. Using direct routed optical networking over dark fiber more than doubles CapEx savings.
How exactly does Routed Optical Networking support the strategic imperative to become Canada’s leading network? How can this help you provide the best service at the lowest price and make your company more competitive?
Bandwidth requirements for residential and business customers continue to grow, and applications such as IoT are creating new demands for low-latency connections. Routed optical networking will give us the flexibility to meet these requirements with a more scalable infrastructure that can more cost-effectively deliver new fixed and wireless services. By replacing large, power-hungry transponders with small, pluggable optics and integrated IP and optical layers, you can rethink the economics of networking and advance to 400G and beyond much faster than your competitors.
Ultimately, routed optical networking is the foundation that enables the monetization of service overlays. Still, it wasn’t easy to convince everyone at Bell Canada that a network transformation of this scale was the right thing to do. How did you manage it?
Nearly 150 years have passed since Alexander Graham Bell patented the first practical telephone. This is Bell Canada’s foundational legacy, and routed optical networking is transforming the very foundation of our business. But it’s not innovation for innovation’s sake. It’s about building on a legacy of innovation and future-proofing your business.
But change is never easy. Routed optical networking is about IP and optical convergence, so it was important to get buy-in from both the IP and optical teams. Although their missions are different, they both want what’s best for their customers and the business. So we looked at the capacities of different routers together and compared them to what we deployed in the optical sector. The difference in capacity is huge: terabytes versus megabits. We then looked at ZR pluggable coherent optical technology and how it can deliver 400G throughput instead of relying on dedicated line cards or transceivers, as well as the integration capabilities, cost-effectiveness, and low power consumption of optical transceiver modules. The IP team thought convergence would be a routing nightmare, but testing in our lab with the Cisco team also convinced us of the benefits of routed optical networking. In fact, both teams are now its biggest advocates.
After getting buy-in from senior management and the technology team, we are now deploying the technology. Please tell us about this and how you will operate this new infrastructure.
We plan to roll out routed optical networking across our entire infrastructure over three years, starting with a deployment program for next-generation edge sites this year. We are building hop-by-hop over our legacy fixed infrastructure, and routed optical networking will make the operation of this infrastructure much simpler. To put this in perspective, we have an IP planner, a transport planner, and an access planner who look at field deployments and multiple network operations centers. For example, imagine the complexity of outage management with primary and secondary dedicated lines, transponders, wavelengths, and thousands of kilometers between them and the aggregation router. When a fiber break occurs, pinpointing exactly which line system has been affected can be incredibly difficult and time consuming. Once everything is integrated using routed optical networking, you can immediately troubleshoot the issue and easily fix all affected optical fibers while diverting traffic using alternate paths to minimize the impact on the end-user experience.
This goes back to what you said earlier about having the best network in Canada and creating shareholder value. A provider’s reputation and profits depend on a flawless end-user experience, as downtime can easily lead to customer churn. Routed optical networking makes infrastructure more sustainable through power and space savings and supports the journey toward zero carbon emissions.
entirely! We estimate that this will reduce network space and power consumption by as much as 76%. Simplicity, scalability, cost savings and sustainability – routed optical networking will have a far-reaching positive impact on our business. That’s why I encourage my colleagues at other CSPs to explore infrastructure transformation in this way as well. Demonstrate this with your technical team and senior management. It will pay off.
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