With the explosion of digital traffic and the ever-growing array of bandwidth-hungry applications, Optical Transport Network (OTN) evolves from point-to-point DWDM remedies to scalable and robust optical networking applications that cater to a wide variety of client signals with equally-varied service requirements. Carriers are also placing a particular emphasis on OTN in the Metro area, where it is shifted rapidly from SONET/SDH to Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM). With the goal of boosting bandwidth and increasing network functionality, OTN provides a way to support different traffic types in a more cost-effective manner than by using SONET/SDH networks.

What Is OTN Network？

Defined by the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T), OTN is a digital wrapper technology that provides an efficient and globally accepted way to multiplex different services onto optical light paths. The OTN technology or digital wrapper technology provides a network-wide framework that adds SONET/SDH-like features to WDM equipment. It creates a transparent, hierarchical network designed for use on both WDM and TDM devices. (More information about WDM and TDM systems is available in Optical Wavelength Bands Evolution.)

OTN integrates functions of transporting, multiplexing, routing, management, and supervision, and builds OTN client (e.g. SONET/SDH, IP, ATM) connections in the Metro and Core networks. Nowadays, it is widely deployed in the metro, regional, and long-haul DWDM packet-optical transport networks.