Understanding your networking world
Understanding how complex infrastructures evolve requires more than listing technologies. Analysing an organisation’s systems, tools and workflows against a common reference blueprint in order to clarify how capabilities interconnect, where automation is embedded and how services are delivered end-to-end provides a common reference point and the means for a cross-NREN comparative analysis of components and approaches. By aligning operational components to a shared model, such as the Open Digital Architecture of the TM Forum digital transformation becomes measurable, comparable and transparent.
Experiences from GARR and SWITCH
As part of the broader NREN mapping initiative within the GÉANT GN5-2 project, two new OAV architecture analyses have now been published for the Italian NREN GARR and the Swiss NREN SWITCH . These mappings contribute to the growing collection of NREN use cases available here and further strengthen the community effort towards shared architectural understanding and digital transformation.
GARR-T, the next-generation backbone of the Italian NREN, represents a significant technological evolution, scaling to 40 Tbps and introducing advanced capabilities such as spectrum sharing, optical path provisioning and quantum key distribution. The published mapping reveals how these innovations are supported by a coherent automation stack in which observability, programmability and orchestration operate in an integrated manner across domains. Manual processes are progressively replaced by event-driven reconciliation cycles that ensure the intended network state remains continuously aligned with real-time operational data. As one of Europe’s leading NRENs, GARR provides the wider GÉANT community not just documentation, but a practical benchmark and a replicable methodology for strengthening automation maturity.
The SWITCH OAV Architecture Analysis complements this perspective by presenting a detailed mapping of the Swiss NREN’s operational and service management ecosystem to the TM Forum ODA framework. The SWITCH mapping highlights the importance of modular service integration, operational consistency and the coordination of distributed components within a mature national infrastructure. The analysis demonstrates how the use of a common reference architecture allows complex operational environments to be decomposed into interoperable functional domains, making dependencies and automation gaps easier to identify and address.
Together, the GARR and SWITCH mappings illustrate how different NRENs can adopt distinct technological approaches while still aligning to a shared architectural model. This enables meaningful cross-NREN comparison, facilitates collaboration and interoperability, and helps organisations assess their own OAV maturity against community practices.
If your organisation would also like to analyse its architecture and map its operational components to the TM Forum ODA framework, the Network eAcademy team can support you throughout the process. For further information, please contact us at network-eacademy@lists.geant.org.
