Huawei releases software-defined networking algorithm, Flow Engine 2.0

Huawei has released a new Software-defined Networking (SDN) algorithm, Flow Engine 2.0, at the Open Networking Summit 2015 held in California.

The solution is built into SDN controllers to support tens of thousands of nodes and also help carriers improve IP+Optical resource efficiency by 40% when compared to conventional methods.

The recent increase in new services and difficultly forecasting spikes in data traffic has resulted in legacy carrier networks struggling to meet dynamic service requirements. In order to meet these challenges, many carriers are progressing their networks towards an SDN architecture. Last year, Huawei released the Flow Engine 1.0, which helped carriers achieve global optimization through an IP monolayer algorithm. Testing the newly launched Flow Engine 2.0, Huawei achieved a number of performance breakthroughs in IP+Optical synergy, such as batch service provision and global optimization, helping carriers navigate service and traffic management challenges.

Flow Engine 2.0 significantly improves network resource efficiency which is similar to vehicle scheduling efficiency, such as GPS navigation. In vehicle scheduling the GPS system has to simultaneously analyze a number of aspects, including traffic and road maintenance in order to direct the driver along the most appropriate route. Although the idea is simple, when combining tens of thousands of nodes and millions of routes, it is hard to determine if the real-time calculation is the most optimal. Using a real-time algorithm improves the output.

Flow Engine 2.0 seamlessly integrates innovative graph theories, programming decomposition, matrix compression, and other algorithm technologies which navigate IP+Optical layers to allocate resources efficiently across all elements of the solution. When compared to conventional IP+Optical networking, the Flow Engine 2.0 resource efficiency is improved by over 40%, and in some scenarios by up to 100%. The solution also uses parallel processing, multi-subnet cutting, and a range of other technologies to support carriers with super large networks (over ten thousand nodes) with practicality challenges.

Huawei has achieved a number of algorithm innovation breakthroughs in IP+Optical cross-domain reliability (SRLG Disjoint), simplified IP+Optical interaction (unified topology, simplification of the information scale of the Optical layer), and network throughput (rapid calculation of near optimal solutions), meeting the network needs of operators and enhancing the commercial pace of the SDN industry.