Access 4.0: A valuable lesson in network transformation

The Access 4.0 broadband deployment by Deutsche Telekom has deepened its understanding of the intricacies of network transformation. The Access 4.0 team discusses what it has learnt and reflects on the issues a mass deployment raises.

Deutsche Telekom’s Access 4.0 platform has been delivering broadband services for nearly half a year.

But the operator has deliberately limited the deployment of the next-generation fibre-to-the-x platform to one central office in Stuttgart.

Robert SoukupThe system is fully functional, says Robert Soukup, senior program manager at Deutsche Telekom, but the operator wants to understand the processes involved so they can be automated before it starts the widescale deployment.

“Now we can see where the gaps are and what we need to adapt internally,” says Hans-Jörg Kolbe, chief engineer and head of SuperSquad Access 4.0 at Deutsche Telekom.

This will take the rest of the year. Only if this final check is successful will the Access 4.0 platform be rolled out across the operator’s 1,000 central offices in Germany.

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Deutsche Telekom's Access 4.0 transforms the network edge

Deutsche Telekom has a working software platform for its Access 4.0 architecture that will start delivering passive optical network (PON) services to German customers later this year. The architecture will also serve as a blueprint for future edge services. 

Hans-Jörg Kolbe

Access 4.0 is a disaggregated design comprising open-source software and platforms that use merchant chips - ‘white-boxes’ - to deliver fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) and fibre-to-the-building (FTTB) services. 

“One year ago we had it all as prototypes plugged together to see if it works,” says Hans-Jörg Kolbe, chief engineer and head of SuperSquad Access 4.0. “Since the end of 2019, our target software platform – a first end-to-end system - is up and running.”  

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