RtBrick's Consolidated BNG targets remote locations

This article was published in BTR (Broadband Technology Report) on March 30, 2021. You can read the original article here

The company's disaggregated IP routing software now runs on a wider range of open hardware.

RtBrick today announced that its IP routing software supports an expanded range of networking silicon and is now able to provide for a new Consolidated BNG [Broadband Network Gateway] platform. The company says its Consolidated BNG platform can run all of its software functions on a single compact switch, suitable for deployment in more remote locations.Up until now, RtBrick notes that its pioneering Open BNG software has been deployed in a SEBA [SDN Enabled Broadband Access] architecture that uses a spine and leaf topology. As further stated by RtBrick:

This is hugely scalable and has enabled a radical new approach to building broadband networks, such as that recently announced by Deutsche Telekom.

Now, RtBrick has added support for the Broadcom QAX chipset, which is used in smaller form-factor and hardened bare-metal switches, which are widely available from a choice of hardware vendors [including] switches such as EdgeCore’s AS7316-26XB, a 300Gbps throughput platform that is only 300mm deep.

QAX-based switches can now operate as a Consolidated BNG, collapsing both leaf and spine functions onto a single compact platform. They can also be deployed in hardened environments such as a street cabinet or cell-site.

“Spine and leaf architectures offer massive scale, but it’s important to be able to scale down as well as up,” commented Hannes Gredler, founder and chief technology officer at RtBrick. “Deploying a Consolidated BNG offers telcos all the benefits of cloud-native networks, but in more remote and smaller scale parts of their network.”