Deutsche Telekom selects Adtran for access 4.0 OLT network

Adtran®, Inc., (NASDAQ: ADTN), the leading provider of next-generation multi-gigabit fiber access and fiber extension solutions, today announced that Deutsche Telekom (DT) has selected Adtran’s SDX OLT solutions for deployment as part of its new and innovative Access 4.0 network. Adtran’s SDX OLT will also be deployed in DT’s existing architectures along with Adtran’s industry-leading SDN-enabled management system, Mosaic Cloud Platform. The goal of DT’s Access 4.0 program is to create an open, programmable, easily extensible and highly-scalable access platform to cost-effectively and rapidly deliver gigabit services as a first edge-cloud use case. As part of this partnership, DT and Adtran have aligned joint developments for the Access 4.0 project, based on principles defined by the Open Networking Foundation’s SDN-Enabled Broadband Access (SEBA) reference architecture.

“The Access 4.0 program constitutes a true paradigm shift in terms of technology, ecosystem, collaboration and agility, and also through its ability to break vendor lock-in and reduce time-to-market,” said Robert Soukup, senior program manager at Deutsche Telekom. “A key to our success will be Adtran’s domain experience, their history of working with DT on its large-scale access initiatives and their commitment to delivering an open, scalable and disaggregated solution.”

Access 4.0 is integrating software-defined networking (SDN), disaggregated hardware components and network functions virtualization (NFV) technologies in an open ecosystem to gain flexibility while lowering overall deployment costs. In the first phase, Access 4.0 will focus on DT’s fiber access network that can scale to support a mix of residential, enterprise and backhaul services. Adtran’s SDX OLT solutions integrate into Access 4.0’s SEBA-based architecture to provide carrier-grade GPON and XGS-PON service delivery in an open ecosystem. DT values Adtran’s FTTH and SD-Access leadership, especially as related to its commitment to build deployable solutions based on the Open Networking Foundation’s VOLTHA hardware abstraction, which enables the operator to rapidly pivot as the market evolves.

“DT’s Access 4.0 network is changing the way access networks and services will be designed, developed and deployed for the next several decades,” said Dr. Eduard Scheiterer, SVP, research and development at Adtran. “Adtran shares DT’s vision for creating more advanced fiber access architectures that provide the network economies of data centers and the service agility of cloud providers. We believe this is how networks should be built and look forward to helping DT achieve its network and market goals today, as well as support future planned network expansion.”