Deutsche Telekom Selects Tail-f as Provider of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) in TeraStream Project

STOCKHOLM, April 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Tail-f Systems, a leading provider of network service programmability solutions for traditional and software-defined networks (SDN), today announced that Deutsche Telekom has chosen Tail-f Systems to deliver the key software components of its software-defined network in its TeraStream project.

As the face of networking is changing, TeraStream's goal is to create an all-IP transformation to cope with exponential traffic growth while streamlining the delivery of network services in real time. With Tail-f's NCS (Network Control System) TeraStream is able to deliver this new networking model through a network-wide and service-aware unified application programming interface (API).

"We believe carriers can no longer afford to hard-code services into the OSS if they want to get to market quickly with new services," said Axel Clauberg, Vice President, Aggregation, Transport, IP and Fixed Access, Deutsche Telekom AG. "The Tail-f NCS solution, with both services and the network modeled in a standardized high-level language, shortens time to market, increases vendor independence and dramatically improves the cost structure. This SDN solution is a key component in TeraStream's real-time OSS."

"As a multi-vendor SDN solution provider, we are excited to partner with Deutsche Telekom to change the way network operations are being done," said Hakan Millroth, CTO of Tail-f Systems. "Tail-f has been driving standardization of network service programmability for a long time to reduce key pain points such as vendor dependence, lack of service innovation and high operating costs. The adoption of these standards by TeraStream and its network equipment providers will fundamentally change the networking industry."

Tail-f Network Control System (NCS) Details:

Tail-f NCS provides a new foundation for delivering a unified interface to all network devices and services. NCS leverages YANG (RFC 6020) and NETCONF (RFC 6241) – two powerful standards that address service and device modeling and fail-safe mechanisms – to change network configurations.

Key Features:

Model-driven: Network services and devices are modeled in YANG, and their configuration states are centrally stored in NCS. Model changes are easy to adapt. NCS automatically renders the device interface from the vendor's device models. NCS also renders the complete service management functionality from the service models that are specified by the service provider. 

Service-Aware: NCS provides a declarative way to specify how a network service shall be applied to the network infrastructure. This greatly facilitates the mapping of service configuration changes to device configuration commands. The entire service life-cycle is supported including creating, modifying and deleting service instances.

Programmability: NCS provides a rich set of transaction-safe and model-driven APIs, including publish-subscribe APIs, so that other systems can be kept in sync in real time.

Transactions: NCS applies all service changes towards the network as an atomic change set. This ensures that the network is always in a consistent state and can automatically recover from failed configuration changes.

Consistent State: NCS represents the true current state of the network and network services. The mappings between service state and network state are expressed using high-level templates.

About Tail-f Systems

Tail-f Systems is a leading provider of network service programmability solutions for traditional and software-defined networks (SDN). Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Tail-f is a Red Herring Top 100 company, a Stratecast Global OSS/BSS 10 to Watch Company, and a Pipeline Network Innovations Award Finalist. www.tail-f.com.