D ATA S H E E T

Manage, Control and Plan

Supercharge your Ciena network with
automated operations

End-customers want more from service providers—more bandwidth, Features and Benefits
more services, more quickly. However, service providers are encumbered • Gain centralized software control
of Ciena network assets and
with legacy, manual Network Management Systems (NMS) that are
deployed services, with a unified
built on old technology and do not support Application Programming view across multiple technology
Interfaces (APIs) to enable automation. With Ciena’s Manage, Control layers, driving operational
efficiency
and Plan (MCP) domain controller, providers can automate the full
lifecycle of network and service operations across Ciena infrastructure, • Improve time-to-market of
customer services through MCP’s
gaining operational efficiency, service agility, and speed. MCP’s integrated lifecycle operations
cloud-native architecture brings flexibility and scalability, easily • Leverage open APIs to integrate
integrating with end-to-end Operational Support Systems (OSS), and easily with OSS and automate end-
supercharging the journey to the Adaptive Network™. to-end workflows, reducing OPEX
• Utilize advanced Liquid
MCP, Ciena’s domain controller, unifies network and service management, and Spectrum™ applications to
online planning, across multiple technology layers, through Software-Defined optimize Ciena network utilization
Networking (SDN) control. With MCP’s centralized, accurate view of Ciena packet- • E xpedite troubleshooting,
optical networks infrastructure, service identify network performance
providers can quickly fulfill and assure issues and impacted services
with real-time monitoring
customer services across multi-layer
capabilities, such as OTDR
MCP infrastructure, most efficiently. Whether
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through the intuitive user interface,

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• Choose the MCP deployment

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L3
or programmatic APIs, operations option best suited for business
L2 teams can execute all the essential goals—on-premises, in the
tasks that keep the network running public cloud, or turnkey Hosted
L1 smoothly, to provide high service MCP Service
quality. Furthermore, by leveraging • Accelerate MCP installation,
L0
MCP’s integrated, online capacity operationalization, and adoption
planning, driven by real-time network with the expertise of MCP
Services offerings
data collection, operators can ensure
Pla n
the network can satisfy customers’
Figure 1. MCP provides centralized bandwidth and quality demands
software control of lifecycle network
and service operations, across in the future.
multiple technology layers
Everything you need to deliver services to market,
quickly and easily
Innovations in infrastructure technology continue to deliver
staggering improvements in network capacity, bandwidth,
reliability, and performance. However, a different way of
operating the network is needed to capitalize on those network
infrastructure investments, and satisfy market demands
for on-demand connectivity and innovative services. Fault,
Configuration, Accounting, Performance, and Security (FCAPS)
operations are simply not enough to deliver the needed
business agility. The answer is SDN control, which enables
automation of lifecycle operations.
The essential core of SDN control is an accurate, centralized
view of the network and its resources, as-deployed and as-
planned. MCP interfaces with the Ciena network elements
under management, to discover and maintain a comprehensive
network information model. Data is collected from the network
dynamically, so MCP always has the real-time view of the
network and service topology, without operators needing to
manually reconcile multiple tools and correlate with static
spreadsheets. MCP continuously collects and aggregates key
performance indicators and alarms, which greatly facilitates
network monitoring and troubleshooting. The real-time capacity,
utilization, and performance metrics are leveraged by MCP’s
integrated planning capabilities to eliminate the guesswork
from service and network expansions. Operators can efficiently
plan network buildouts, schedule commissioning of requisite
equipment, and schedule future service activations, thus
reducing the overall planning time horizon.
Users can manage the full service lifecycle in conjunction
with network resources, through MCP’s rich, intuitive GUI
visualization, or through MCP’s open APIs that allow for
Figure 2. MCP’s dashboard provides a comprehensive,
real-time view of the state of network and services
seamless, automated operations between OSS. End-
customers’ services can be provisioned in record time, across
Ciena’s optical, packet, and IP layers, all within MCP’s unified
interface. A broad set of parameters and constraints are able
to be specified at the time of service provisioning, and MCP’s
embedded path computation engine delivers all viable routes
that satisfy the specified values, so that optimal operational
decisions can be made. Provisioning of protection routes for
service reliability is also built in.
MCP enables multi-layer synchronization so that resources
are used optimally to provide superior customer experience.
It has a consistent view across all technology layers: L0
photonic, L1 OTN, L2 Ethernet and G.8032, and L3 VPN
using MPLS or Segment Routing. This means that, with
MCP, providers can deploy more consumer services, more
quickly, and keep them up and running more reliably over a
multi-layer network.
Figure 3. MCP’s end-to-end service topology visualization
MCP’s integrated test and monitoring capabilities expedite
troubleshooting and service assurance, so operators can
take proactive measures to maintain a high level of service
quality. MCP’s PinPoint application uses Optical Time
Domain Reflectometer (OTDR) traces to localize physical
fiber degradation and faults and simplify service turn-up and
repair. MCP users can run, view, and compare OTDR traces to
identify fiber performance issues, reduce the risk of outages,
and accelerate repair times. Additionally, Liquid Spectrum
advanced software applications are built on the MCP platform,
allowing operations personnel to easily optimize utilization
of Ciena’s market-leading coherent optical WaveLogic
infrastructure at every stage of the photonic network lifecycle:
planning, delivery, operations, and optimization.
Learn more about
Ciena’s Liquid Spectrum
2
Evolve network operations with
cloud-native architecture
The phenomenal rise of video, mobility, cloud, and IoT services
demands massive scale and elasticity from the network, but
many operational systems are not up to the challenge. Unlike
legacy NMS built on monolithic software architectures, MCP
is built on a cloud-native, micro-services architecture that can
scale dynamically as the network grows. The MCP platform
aligns with service providers’ strategies to transform legacy
Network Operations Centers (NOC) to IT-based operations.
MCP software can be installed on a NOC’s premises on COTS
servers, or deployed in the public cloud, or operated as a
turnkey Ciena-hosted solution.
MCP offers open interfaces, including REST, Websocket,
TAPI, allowing for ease of integration with adjacent OSS and
orchestration systems. DevOps teams can leverage MCP’s
integrated Swagger and Postman capabilities to exercise
APIs and develop software to specific business requirements.
MCP software is readily accessible to customers, third-party
developers, and partners via Ciena’s Emulation Cloud ™, which
supports a simulated Ciena network environment. This means
operators can easily test MCP’s REST APIs to third-party
software from anywhere and anytime, accelerating solution
integration. Customers and partners can also leverage
Ciena’s community’s expertise, advancing their own
DevOps skills development.
Ciena’s Emulation Cloud
Sign Up Now
OSS / BSS
Open APIs
Inventory, Orchestration,
Assurance and Analytics,
Route Optimization
MCP
MCP Liquid Spectrum
MCP Third Party
Ciena Domain Controller Domain Controller
Ciena Packet/Optical Third Party
Network Domain
Figure 4. MCP’s open and extensible architecture
MCP brings centralized software control and automation
to Ciena network operations, and through its open and
extensible architecture, it lays the foundation for even further
modernization. Operators seeking to bring programmability to
their extensive networks, across multiple technical domains,
composed of multi-vendor physical and virtual network
elements, can evolve to Blue Planet Intelligent Automation for
end-to-end software control.
Simplifying and accelerating your MCP journey
The benefits and efficiencies of Ciena’s MCP are significant.
As soon as MCP is deployed, users start to realize its
potential. And Ciena can help with that.
Enter Ciena’s MCP Services. It’s a suite of services―including
Learn, Deploy, Migrate, Customize, Adopt, and Operate―
designed to add momentum to your MCP journey. They can be
used in full, in part, or mixed and matched. The flexible structure
allows you to support and extend in-house expertise, with the
time-critical services you need, at the speed you expect. And
each offering is individually structured to be flexible and remain
focused on what matters most: driving maximum value quickly,
efficiently, and effectively.
Learn more about
Ciena’s MCP Services
Technical specifications
Supported Operating Environments
Server
• Red Hat Enterprise (RHEL) 7.x, Oracle Linux 7.x, CentOS 7.x
• Clustering for high availability and geographically redundant
configurations available
• Deployment on bare metal and virtualized/cloud
infrastructure (such as OpenStack, VMWare)
• Deployment in the cloud (leased VMs and VPN) for small
networks of up to 50 Network Element Units (NEUs)
• Specific hardware or VM requirements will vary based
upon network size, complexity, and supported network
element types
Client
• HTML 5 web client using Chrome or Firefox Web browsers
Supported Ciena Network Elements
Converged Packet Optical: 6500 family, 6500 Reconfigurable
Line System, Waveserver ®
Packet Networking: 3000 family, 5000 family, 8180 Coherent
Networking Platform, 8700 Packetwave® Platform
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 The Adaptive Network
The Adaptive Network is Ciena’s vision of a new target end-state
for network providers. Utilizing automation guided by analytics
and intent-based policies, the Adaptive Network rapidly scales,
self-configures, and self-optimizes by constantly assessing
network pressures and demands. The Adaptive Network is built
upon four foundational elements: Programmable Infrastructure,
Analytics & Intelligence, Software Control & Automation, and
Services. Ciena’s MCP is instrumental in Software Control &
Automation of the Ciena domain.

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and do not imply a partnership between Ciena and any other company. Copyright © 2020 Ciena® Corporation. All rights reserved. DS347 5.2020