ADVA expanded its zero-touch provisioning efforts to network edge devices to lower deployment costs, reduce deployment errors, and increase security.

The company’s programmable Carrier Ethernet and IP demarcation products can now be deployed using zero-touch provisioning. The FSP 150 product is a network interface device (NID) that serves as the demarcation point between a carrier’s network and the customer’s own Ethernet network.

Deployment requires a customer to connect the edge device to the network. This involves physically installing the device, plugging in the appropriate network connection, and turning the device on. The automation procedure takes care of authentication; establishing a secure connection to a server holding the firmware and configuration data; having that data downloaded and installed; and then the device being instantiated.

The platform uses cryptographic methods for security to authenticate devices and ensure the integrity of software and configuration data.

The zero-touch capabilities come from ADVA’s Ensemble Connector product, which is its network function virtualization infrastructure (NFVI) software platform.

Ulrich Kohn, director of technical marketing at ADVA, said the FSP 150 product line is using the authentication server from the Ensemble product line for device verification. The Ensemble Connection is providing the provisioning to common off-the-shelf (COTS) servers and the ADVA edge compute nodes. This creates a common user experience across ADVA’s demarcation and edge computing products.

ADVA gained the Ensemble platform from its acquisition of Overture Networks in early 2016. ADVA last year scored a significant win with Verizon to install its NFVI technology within the operator’s white box universal customer premises equipment (uCPE).

ADVA’s latest zero-touch provisioning efforts are aligned with the Internet Engineering Task Force Zero Touch Provisioning and Call Home specifications.

ETSI late last year launched a zero-touch group to tackle network automation, which was initially tied to 5G network deployments. That group is looking at automating all operational processes and tasks.

Kohn did note that while the news release focused on the IETF and Call Home specifications, ADVA is also involved with broader standards work.

“We are referencing the work of the ETSI ISG in our secure zero-touch provisioning brochure as this group is defining objectives for automated, intelligent management in NFV- and SDN-centric networks,” Kohn explained, adding the IETF and Call Home are “relevant for seamless implementation in present networks.”