HUNTSVILLE, Ala.—Adtran painted a new picture of its Mosaic platform with two press releases Thursday.
Adtran's Mosaic is a software-defined access solution that provides vendors and service providers alike with modular, component-based architectures that are open and programmable. Mosaic uses open APIs and a plug-in framework to enable service providers and vendors to connect into a multivendor orchestration platform.
"The goal is to build a platform, and by platform what I mean is we're creating a mechanism in which we can connect consumers of information with providers of information, and that's exactly what we aim to do with Mosaic," said Mosaic Portfolio Director Chris Thompson on Tuesday during the Adtran Connect conference. "What we've done over the past year is really start to exercise a lot of the capabilities of the platform by opening it up to other vendors."
Adtran's Mosaic Cloud Platform provides a bridge for service providers who are migrating to new network architecture while still serving customers on their legacy systems. Thompson said the Mosaic Cloud works with Adtran's software-defined networking controller as well as controllers from ONOS and OpenDaylight.
With Mosaic Cloud, carriers can take a modular approach to deploying services such as Gfast and EPON. Thompson said Adtran has worked with four of the world's top-five vendors on integration with Mosaic.
"You use the Mosaic Cloud Platform to let it interpret that disaggregated architecture into a language that they can be understand, both from an operations perspective but also so they don't have to go back and re-work all their IT systems, re-train all of their people, re-organize the entire company," Thompson said. "You can allow them to go ahead and transition to this open, disaggregated architecture today, gradually, without having to change everything about the company and everything about the network."
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Adtran and its vendor partners can use standard data models, including NETCONF, YANG and CLI, to deliver edge core software on white boxes at the edge of networks.
In an interview with FierceTelecom on Wednesday, Thompson said Mosaic Cloud serves as a stop-gap OSS bridge-for-service providers who want to eventually deploy Open Network Automation Platform (ONAP). As an example of a service provider deployment, Thompson said Adtran has integrated Mosaic Cloud with AT&T's Gfast service and is also working with several other Tier 1 operators.
In Adtran's other release today, the company said its Mosaic Subscriber Experience tools were being trialled or deployed by over 50 service providers in North America.
Mosaic Subscriber Experience tools support a user-driven service model using microservices with open APIs and operational logic to provide advanced analytics, software-centric operations and virtualized service delivery.
One of the tools that was developed for Mosaic Subscriber Experience is the Mosaic Device Manager, which is a remote management tool for managing the hardware that's installed in customers' homes.
"This will allow service providers, from their central office, from their network operation centers, to reach into the home and get visibility of that residential gateway, of that anchor point for their service, and help the customer remotely without rolling a truck," said Adtran's Greg Luhman, business development manager. "The hardware is automatically data-based and immediately accessible in this device manager tool when it's deployed. It's a support enabler. It's actually a conversation changer."
Thompson said Cisco, Nokia and Ciena competed with elements of Mosaic.
"Ciena, with its Blue Planet, and Nokia are probably the most direct competitors we have globally," Thompson said. "For the Mosaic platform, it's really the fact that its at the nexus of so many avenues within the network that's going to draw network elements, open source components, service providers, network apps, and subscribers all to this platform. We sit at a great location within the network to take advantage of all the consumers and providers that are flowing into it. It's this ability for Mosaic to recognize where there's an opportunity to connect up network elements and devices and software together."