Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1081695
44 I ICT TODAY FIGURE 4: Super-channels optimize DWDM capacity and reach; scale bandwidth without scaling operational procedures; and support next-generation high-speed services (e.g., 100 and 400 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE). FIGURE 3: Evolution of OSI to Layers T and C enable large scale task automation, streamline operations, eliminate human error, and reduce operating costs whether between end users and data centers or among multiple data centers. REDEFINING THE OSI MODEL AND THE OPTIMIZATION OF DWDM IN COGNITIVE NETWORKING Interesting new models and architectures that ICT designers and professionals should be aware of are already circulating and helping to bridge the dialogue gap between ICT and IT. Fady Masoud, product and technology marketing principal at Infinera, defines cognitive networks as those that "use advanced analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence techniques to help build self- optimized, self-healing and highly autonomous transport networks, setting new benchmarks in scalability, agility and automation." It is the result of seamless and highly dynamic interaction between software and hardware assets across network layers for optimal optical networking. In his article, Building the Foundation for Cognitive Networking, 12 Masoud contends that since content and data must be accessible anywhere, anytime and on any device with the highest level of quality, the 1980s seven-layer Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model, familiar to most Layer-1 physical infrastructure ICT professionals, has reached its usefulness and relevancy. Ridding the original OSI model from its proprietary protocols, rigid networking capabilities, and high operational costs, a simpler, agile and more efficient architectural model is considered (see Figure 3). Masoud goes on to explain that DWDM technology, which enables multiple optical carriers to travel in parallel on an optical fiber and in the past increased capacity and maximization of fiber utilization, cannot keep up with the current growth in internet traffic and enterprise migration to the cloud that now demands a new level of scalability. Taking DWDM to new heights in capacity and optical performance is the "Super- Channel" innovation (see Figure 4) in which each of the carriers can be independently and automatically tuned across the C-band and optimally modulated—thereby increasing spectrum efficiency and network capacity by reducing