FIGURE 3: Evolution of OSI to Layers T and C enable large scale task automation,
streamline operations, eliminate human error, and reduce operating costs whether
between end users and data centers or among multiple data centers.
44 I ICT TODAY
FIGURE 4: Super-channels optimize DWDM capacity and reach; scale bandwidth
without scaling operational procedures; and support next-generation high-speed
services (e.g., 100 and 400 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE).
REDEFINING
THE OSI MODEL AND
THE OPTIMIZATION
OF DWDM IN COGNITIVE
NETWORKING
Interesting new models
and architectures that ICT designers
and professionals should be aware
of are already circulating and
helping to bridge the dialogue gap
between ICT and IT. Fady Masoud,
product and technology marketing
principal at Infinera, defines
cognitive networks as those that “use
advanced analytics, machine
learning, and artificial intelligence
techniques to help build selfoptimized,
self-healing and highly
autonomous transport networks,
setting new benchmarks in
scalability, agility and automation.”
It is the result of seamless and highly
dynamic interaction between
software and hardware assets across
network layers for optimal
optical networking.
In his article, Building the
Foundation for Cognitive Networking,12
Masoud contends that since content
and data must be accessible
anywhere, anytime and on any
device with the highest level of
quality, the 1980s seven-layer Open
Systems Interconnection (OSI)
model, familiar to most Layer-1
physical infrastructure ICT
professionals, has reached its
usefulness and relevancy. Ridding
the original OSI model from its
proprietary protocols, rigid
networking capabilities, and high
operational costs, a simpler, agile
and more efficient architectural
model is considered (see Figure 3).
Masoud goes on to explain that
DWDM technology, which enables
multiple optical carriers to travel
in parallel on an optical fiber
and in the past increased capacity
and maximization of fiber
utilization, cannot keep up with
the current growth in internet
traffic and enterprise migration to
the cloud that now demands a new
level of scalability. Taking DWDM
to new heights in capacity and
optical performance is the “Super-
Channel” innovation (see Figure 4)
in which each of the carriers can be
independently and automatically
tuned across the C-band and
optimally modulated—thereby
increasing spectrum efficiency
and network capacity by reducing