Future access architecture: Software-defined accesss networking

In the cloud era, booming broadband access, and the new services that it facilitates, is posing a greater demand on access technologies. Legacy access technologies are facing lots of challenges: Complexity for multi-point access management; Scalability and energy efficiency in remote nodes; Painfulness of choosing a technology; Difficulty of access network wholesale. To address these challenges, this paper discusses Software-defined Access Networks (SDAN) as the next-gen architecture for access networking. With its simplified access nodes, flexible and programmable line technologies, and cloud home gateway & services, SDAN helps operators construct a simple, agile, elastic, and value-added access network.