Huawei, a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider, collaborated with China Mobile Research Institute on the proposal of the Control Plane and User Plane Separated Protocol (CUSP) requirements for broadband network gateway (BNG) interfaces at the 100th meeting of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). This marks a key step forward towards the standardization of CU-separated BNG architecture.
The standardization of interfaces between the control and user planes must be achieved before large-scale commercial deployment of cloud-based BNG architecture. The CUSP draft defines protocol requirements for information delivery, reliability, and security mechanisms needed for communication between the control and user planes in cloud-based BNG architecture with separated control and user planes. It is the industry's first dynamic control plane protocol proposed for BNGs. At the meeting, Huawei, together with China Mobile, presented the CUSP draft and information model for interaction between the control and user planes. The proposals were well received and inspired discussions on the dynamic control plane concept and methods to separate the control and user planes. Huawei and China Mobile will continue to promote the standardization of these proposals in the IETF Routing Area Working Group (RTGWG).
It is always necessary to pool together the efforts of industry chain partners to promote the formulation of standards. To address the challenges faced by legacy fixed broadband services, that is, low resource utilization, complex management and maintenance, and slow service provisioning, China Mobile and other operators have proposed the innovative CU-separated BNG architecture and are actively promoting its standardization through joint innovation.
Hu Shujun, an expert of China Mobile Research Institute, stated in his attendance, "The CU-separated BNG architecture allows network resource pooling to improve resource utilization and enables centralized virtual control plane to accelerate service efficiency and shorten new service provisioning time. These are the business values brought by the architecture. The standard proposal submitted at the meeting is well received by industry experts, and the interface protocol and information model for interaction between the control and user planes will drive the new architecture to mature and then become applicable. On the way to standardization of this architecture, we are open to new thoughts and welcome conversations with more industry experts to accelerate this process."
Huawei has also speeded up the development of the cloud-based BNG solution designed based on the CU-separated BNG architecture. In March 2017, Huawei worked with European Advanced Networking Test Center (EANTC), an internationally recognized independent test center, to complete the industry's first function and performance tests on broadband access for one million home subscribers. In June, Huawei and China Mobile Shaanxi successfully carried out the world's first commercial trial of the CU-separated BNG architecture on the live network.
Looking to the future, Huawei will work closely with operators around the world and continuously innovate in CU-separated BNG architecture standards to promote cloud standards formulation for all cloud transformation of metro networks, thereby unleashing metro network potential and ultimately helping carriers achieve digital transformation and business success.