Open Networking & Edge Executive Forum 2021

### Overview Day three of the Open Networking & Edge Executive Forum (ONEEF / ONIF) 2021, hosted by Arpit Joshipura under the Linux Foundation, focuses on the maturation of open networking, edge computing, broadcast convergence, automated life cycle orchestration, and end-to-end open Software-Defined Networking (SDN) solutions. Industry leaders share updates on community-driven edge reports, the transition of broadcast television to IP networks, multi-cloud automated orchestration platforms, and the commercial delivery shift from proof-of-concept (PoC) to production scale.

### Key Topics - **2021 State of the Edge Report:** Jacob Smith and Matt Trifiro introduce the LF Edge community-led report, highlighting an updated forecast of $800 billion in cumulative edge IT and data center infrastructure spend, accelerated by COVID-19 automation demands. - **Convergence in Television Broadcasting (ATSC 3.0):** Madeleine Noland presents ATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV) as an IP-based, one-to-many wireless data delivery platform integrating with 5G, cellular offload, and core network architectures. - **Unified 5G & Edge Orchestration:** Amar Kapadia of Aarna Networks examines the operational complexity of managing thousands of edge clusters and applications, presenting open-source orchestration solutions and the End-to-End 5G Super Blueprint. - **Continuous Integration and Network as an Experience:** Manish Mangal discusses Tech Mahindra's continuous integrator model, multi-tier edge architectures, and the role of automated platforms (nettops.ai and AInoops) in hybrid cloud migrations. - **Delivering Open End-to-End SDN:** Chris Rice of STL Access Solutions addresses the industry's shift from innovation and PoCs to commercial scale and end-to-end solution synthesis across 5G, access, and fiber networks.

### Technical Details - **Edge Infrastructure & Interconnection:** Matt Trifiro and Jacob Smith detail the flattening of internet network topology, moving interconnection points beyond traditional Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) into tier-two and tier-three cities via micro data centers (ranging from 20 kW cabinets to 200 kW deployments). High-availability container orchestration (e.g., Kubernetes) provides software-based failover resilience, reducing the need for duplicate mechanical data center redundancies. - **ATSC 3.0 Broadcast Core & Data Casting:** Madeleine Noland explains that ATSC 3.0 replaces MPEG-2 transport streams with native IP transport, operating near the Shannon limit for one-to-many distribution. ATSC's newly formed technical working group (TG3S43) is standardizing a broadcast core network utilizing virtual network functions (VNFs), SIM-cardless reception, and 3GPP-aligned broadcast modes (such as EMBMS/FEMBMS) to support cellular traffic offloading, firmware updates, and automotive map updates. - **End-to-End 5G Super Blueprint:** Amar Kapadia outlines the three-phase roadmap for combining production-ready open source: Phase 1 (Q2) pairs ONAP and Intel OpenNESS on Kubernetes (via the Anuket project) with the Magma 5G core and Akraino edge applications; Phase 2 (Q3) incorporates commercial gNodeB and end-to-end network slicing; Phase 3 (Q4) integrates the O-RAN Software Community (O-RAN SC) components (RU, DU, CU, near-real-time RIC) with ONAP acting as the Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) layer over O1 and A1 interfaces. - **Automation Architectures:** Tech Mahindra’s framework outlines a three-tier topology spanning device edge, enterprise edge, and centralized cloud. Platforms nettops.ai and AInoops provide unified multi-domain orchestration and AI-driven closed-loop assurance across containerized, virtualized (OpenStack, VMware), and physical network elements, reducing network planning cycles by up to 70%.

### Takeaways - Telecommunications providers are shifting requirements in RFIs and RFPs toward open, cloud-native, and SDN architectures, but their buying model still demands single-entity, end-to-end integration and SLA accountability. - Disaggregated open-source projects across the Linux Foundation (LFN, LF Edge, CNCF, Anuket, Magma, Akraino) are undergoing synthesis into unified reference solutions rather than isolated PoCs. - Edge computing is heavily reliant on access ownership, where low latency depends on fiber backhaul, routing to cell sites, and coordinated edge interconnection points.