O’SHARE

O’SHARE (www.oshare.ie) is a 4-year project starting on November 2015. It aims at designing and demonstrating an SDN-based dynamic control and management platform for broadband access networks to enable efficient sharing of physical resources among multiple Network Operators and Service Providers.
The main issue behind the sluggish deployment of high-speed and ubiquitous fibre access infrastructure is the long payback period. Besides the high upfront cost, the issue is exacerbated by the fact that many operators are considering Fibre-to-the-Home as a residential-only solution, which can only generate a small amount of revenue. In O’SHARE we aim at developing an SDN- based access network control framework that will enable convergence of multiple operators and services over the same physical infrastructure, thus increasing the revenue generated by the access network.

This is achieved through two main innovations: open-access oriented interfaces, which will simplify network access by multiple network operators and service providers; and algorithms and techniques to virtualise Passive Optical Networks, leading to a more efficient exploitation of system resources.
The theoretical work carried out in O’SHARE will be first tested through simulations and then implemented into a hardware testbed, which will lead up to an international demonstrator showcasing industry-led networking scenarios.

O’SHARE will create the basis for an information-led society without digital divide.