Software

Overview

The software implementation of the Access Zone provides the required functional capabilities for broadband service delivery. The architecture supports multiple deployment models including:

  • Open Standards-Based - Using open source and standards-based components (OB-BAA, OpenBNG)

  • Vendor-Integrated - Leveraging vendor platforms that expose standardized APIs

  • Hybrid - Combining vendor solutions with open abstraction layers

Regardless of the implementation approach, the software must run within the compute fabric of the A-POD and distribute workloads across multiple A-PODs within the same network domain. Integration with other broadband utility zones (Market, Community) and emerging technologies (vRAN, edge AI) is required.

Functional Requirements

The software stack must provide:

  1. Broadband Access Abstraction

  2. Broadband Network Gateway (BNG)

  3. Software Defined Networking

  4. Enterprise Provider Edge

  5. Edge Computing Fabric

  6. Hardware Offloading

  7. Operations & Telemetry

These functions deliver standardized interfaces to other zones and enable the required service levels under the Access Zone.

Broadband Access Abstraction

Architecture Options

The Access Abstraction layer can be implemented using:

Option 1: Open Broadband BAA (OB-BAA)

The OB-BAA architecture provides standardized northbound interfaces for management (Minf_xxx) and control (Mfc_xxx). This approach enables:

  • Vendor-neutral device management

  • Standard YANG models for configuration

  • Multi-vendor OLT and ONU support

  • Adapter framework for vendor-specific extensions

Option 2: Vendor Platform with Standard APIs

Commercial platforms from vendors such as Nokia, Ciena, Calix, or Adtran may be used provided they expose:

  • Standard NETCONF/YANG management interfaces

  • RESTful APIs for service provisioning

  • gNMI telemetry streaming

  • Integration points for OSS/BSS systems

Option 3: Hybrid Architecture

A hybrid approach where vendor equipment operates behind an abstraction layer that normalizes interfaces:

  • Vendor OLT with standard TR-385 interfaces

  • Abstraction layer (OB-BAA or equivalent) for uniform NBI

  • Per-vendor adapters for device-specific features

ONU Management (vOMCI)

For deployments using the vOMCI architecture:

  • vOLTMF - Virtual OLT Management Function for ONU lifecycle management

  • vOMCI Function - Translates configurations to ITU G.988 OMCI messages

  • vOMCI Proxy - Aggregation point between OLT and vOMCI functions

Vendor platforms may provide equivalent functionality through proprietary or standard interfaces.

Broadband Network Gateway

The BNG function is critical for subscriber management and service delivery. Implementations must comply with:

Standards Compliance (2026)

  • TR-101 Issue 2 - Ethernet-based broadband aggregation

  • TR-092 - BRAS requirements

  • TR-146 - Subscriber sessions

  • OpenBNG 2.0 - TIP OpenBNG requirements (where applicable)

  • 3GPP Release 18 - 5G fixed-wireless integration

Vendor Options

Compliant BNG solutions include:

  • Open Source - FD.io VPP-based, DANOS, SONiC with BNG extensions

  • Commercial - Nokia 7750 SR, Juniper MX, Cisco ASR, Casa Systems, Harmonic

  • Cloud-Native - Containerized BNG solutions (DriveNets, RtBrick)

All solutions must support:

  • IEEE 802.1Q and 802.1ad (QinQ) encapsulation

  • Subscriber authentication (RADIUS, Diameter)

  • IP address assignment (static, DHCP, AAA-based pools)

  • QoS policy enforcement per subscriber

  • High availability (dual-homing, BFD, VRRP)

Software Defined Networking

Control Plane Options

Open SDN Controllers:

  • OpenDaylight with Broadband extensions

  • ONOS for carrier-grade deployments

  • StarlingX for edge orchestration

Commercial SDN:

  • Ciena Blue Planet

  • Nokia NSP (Network Services Platform)

  • Cisco Crosswork

  • Juniper Apstra

Requirements

Regardless of implementation, the SDN layer must support:

  • TR-384 - Cloud Central Office architecture

  • TR-411 - CloudCO functional module interfaces

  • NETCONF/YANG configuration

  • gNMI/gNOI for telemetry and operations

  • Intent-based networking APIs (2026 requirement)

Enterprise Provider Edge

For enterprise and tower services, the A-POD implements MEF-compliant interfaces:

  • LSO Adagio - Intra-provider service orchestration

  • LSO Presto - Network resource provisioning via T-API (MEF 66)

  • MEF 59 - Network Resource Management Information Model

  • MEF 4.0 LSO APIs - Latest 2026 specifications

Vendor solutions must expose Presto API compatibility for orchestration by Community Zone systems.

Edge Computing Fabric

Container Platform Options

Open Source:

  • Kubernetes (upstream or OpenShift)

  • LF Edge Akraino Provider Access Edge blueprint

  • StarlingX for distributed cloud

Commercial:

  • VMware Tanzu Edge

  • Red Hat OpenShift with edge extensions

  • Wind River Studio

Requirements

The edge fabric must support:

  • Containerized and VM workloads (KubeVirt)

  • Multi-network support (Multus, SR-IOV, DPDK)

  • Real-time workload isolation

  • GPU/NPU acceleration for AI inference

  • Secure multi-tenancy

Hardware Offloading

For performance-critical functions, hardware acceleration options include:

SmartNIC/DPU Platforms:

  • NVIDIA BlueField (ConnectX)

  • Intel IPU (Mount Evans)

  • AMD Pensando

  • Marvell OCTEON

Programming Models:

  • P4 Runtime with Portable NIC Architecture (PNA)

  • eBPF/XDP for programmable packet processing

  • DPDK for high-performance userspace networking

The abstraction layer must support multiple acceleration backends while presenting a uniform API.

Operations & Telemetry

Measurement Standards (2026)

  • TR-471 - Maximum IP-layer capacity metrics

  • ITU-T Y.1540 - IP packet transfer parameters

  • RFC 9097 - One-way IP capacity metrics

  • MEF 67 - Service activation testing

Telemetry Requirements

  • gNMI streaming telemetry

  • OpenTelemetry for distributed tracing

  • Prometheus/Grafana compatible metrics export

  • AIOps integration for predictive analytics

Implementation Options

Open Source:

  • OB-UDPST for speed testing

  • Prometheus + Grafana stack

  • Apache Kafka for event streaming

Commercial:

  • Vendor-integrated OSS platforms

  • Third-party assurance tools (VIAVI, Accedian, SevOne)

Vendor Selection Criteria

When evaluating software components, consider:

  1. Standards Compliance - Must meet specified TR/MEF requirements

  2. API Exposure - Standard northbound interfaces (NETCONF, REST, gRPC)

  3. Multi-vendor Integration - Ability to work with diverse hardware

  4. Lifecycle Support - Vendor commitment to updates and security patches

  5. Operational Efficiency - Automation capabilities, ZTP support

  6. Total Cost of Ownership - License model, operational complexity