SDN is focused today on networks at the IP and Ethernet layers, however service providers have large capital and operational investments in their transport network as well. Operators need to efficiently run multilayer, multivendor and even multi-domain networks. SDN has an opportunity to increase its impact by extending to include the emerging next-generation converged optical transport layer, where integrated switching adds substantial network value and has significant impact on overall network architecture, including what happens at higher layers.

Extending SDN to transport requires a hardware and software architecture that supports an ability to abstract optical wavelengths into pools of optical capacity and to be able to map any service from 1 GbE up to 100 GbE into those pools. Infinera's PIC-based super-channels create large, efficient pools of DWDM bandwidth that are combined with 5 Tb/s of OTN switching and an intelligent control plane to support Bandwidth Virtualization and provide this abstraction. Infinera is leading standards efforts to enhance this further with a construct called the Open Transport Switch which, when combined with an SDN controller, can deliver a Transport SDN solution that is programmable, open, and automated and that deliver key benefits to network operators:

• Scale Networks Quickly - deploy optical bandwidth quickly to support routers and other application demands
• Efficient resource utilization by optimizing the path taken through the network based on application requirements and with more deterministic protection to minimize overprovisioning
• Lower Opex by automating the network across layers, eliminating device-by-device configuration at the router layer and coordinating with the transport layer
• Speed to revenue by allowing the network and any changes to be simulated in software ahead of time and then once finalized, to have that configuration automatically pushed to the network