Juniper Networks, Sumitomo Electric, Arrcus join Open XR forum
Open XR Forum has announced that Juniper Networks, Sumitomo Electric and Arrcus, have joined the industry initiative to advance the deployment of software-configurable point-to-point and point-to-multipoint coherent optical networks utilising XR optics pluggable transceiver technology.
According to Open XR, these new members bring essential expertise and world-class experience in routing, access/edge networks and software to the Open XR ecosystem.
"Their contributions and participation in the forum will help drive multi-vendor, interoperable solutions to enable high bandwidth, software-configurable, coherent optics from the core to the edge of the network," the company says.
Juniper is a leading supplier of routing and switching solutions, network security, artificial intelligence-enabled enterprise networking operations and software-defined networking technologies.
"Juniper is pleased to work with the Open XR Forum members, to advance the development of intelligent coherent pluggables," says Brendan Gibbs, SVP product management, Juniper Networks.
"We are excited to be part of the Open XR vision of transforming network architecture to deliver major advances in performance, cost and network agility to meet the rapidly expanding capacity requirements for cloud, datacenter and 5G traffic," he says.
Sumitomo Electric Industries is a leading global provider of advanced optical communications and radio frequency solutions with a proven track record supplying access network equipment to telecommunications carriers and CATV operators.
Arrcus provides virtualised routing solutions with best-in-class software for data centres, 5G/Access networks and cloud networking.
Dave Welch, Infinera co-founder, says, "Building a robust multi-vendor ecosystem is essential to enable network operators to achieve the substantial savings and increased network capabilities provided by XR optics technology.
"As critical members of the value chain, these new members mark a significant step forward in the realisation of the XR optics network vision," Welch says.
Open XR Forum is an MSA consortium bringing together network operators, equipment vendors, and component suppliers committed to building the foundation for a new generation of coherent optical solutions that will cost-effectively meet demand for greater network scalability and flexibility. XR optics is the industry's first coherent optical solution to solve the access and aggregation challenges faced by network operators caused by the misalignment between network traffic patterns and the technology used to transport that traffic.
Open XR Forum membership is expanding rapidly to cover a wide range of industry participants which currently includes AT-T, BT, Colt, Crown Castle, Infinera, Liberty Global, Lumen Technologies, Telefnica, Verizon, Windstream and ZAYO.
Open XR Forum was founded to foster collaboration between its members to facilitate the adoption and accelerate the growth of network architectures leveraging intelligent point-to-point and point-to-multipoint coherent pluggable transceivers.
Members will work to ensure the products and services developed align with existing standards and operational models by driving the standardisation of network interfaces and electro-mechanical hardware interfaces, demonstrating interoperability, establishing multi-sourcing potential, and developing and publishing new specifications as needed. This will accelerate the wide adoption and deployment of XR optics innovative technology by a broad spectrum of network operators in a wide variety of applications. Open XR Forum membership is intended for network operators, network equipment vendors, and component suppliers.
