How ACL Digital Engineered a Future-Ready SDN Platform for a Global Telecom Leader
Overview
A global telecommunications technology provider set out to modernize its core networking infrastructure by transitioning from rigid, hardware-dependent data centers to programmable, software-defined environments. ACL Digital was engaged as a strategic engineering partner to help design, build, and scale a carrier-grade Software-Defined Networking (SDN) controller. Leveraging deep expertise in the OpenDaylight (ODL) open-source ecosystem, ACL Digital’s engineering team became one of the platform’s earliest and most significant external contributors, taking full ownership of the controller’s architecture, development, and lifecycle management.
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Challenges
Vendor lock-in and rigidity
Operators worldwide were constrained by proprietary hardware switches and routers, leading to high operational costs and limited flexibility
Manual, error-prone configuration
Legacy data centers relied on manual network configuration, slowing down innovation and increasing operational risk
Protocol complexity
Diverse hardware and southbound protocols needed to be abstracted into a unified, centralized control plane without compromising performance
Lack of scalable, open architecture
An open-source, vendor-neutral SDN controller capable of managing large-scale data center applications did not yet exist at the required maturity level
Solution
ACL Digital assumed full end-to-end ownership of the SDN controller’s architecture, development, testing, and test automation, delivering the following key capabilities:
- MD-SAL architecture: Engineered the Model-Driven Service Abstraction Layer, the spine of the OpenDaylight controller, abstracting physical network layers and Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) to remove hardware-level protocol complexity.
- Southbound integration: Built and optimized plug-ins to communicate with hardware elements using industry-standard southbound protocols such as OpenFlow and Netconf.
- Northbound REST APIs: Exposed clean, simple REST APIs that enabled developers to build agile applications on top of the network layer.
- Core networking applications: Developed foundational functionality from the ground up, including L2 Gateway capability, Network Address Translation (NAT) for data center internet routing, and ELAN management.
- Traffic engineering and QoS: Introduced advanced traffic engineering use cases, including automated Quality of Service (QoS) policy enforcement, dynamic traffic routing, and rate-limiting.
Outcomes
- Massive global scale: The SDN solution was successfully productized and deployed across approximately 144 global sites, serving 138+ operators worldwide
- Co-owned intellectual property: The depth of ACL Digital's technical innovation contributed to a jointly filed patent in the SDN domain
- Sustained, scaled partnership: The dedicated Offshore Development Center (ODC) has operated for over 10 years and scaled to a team of 55+ engineers
- Reduced vendor lock-in: A centralized, programmable control plane gave the client greater flexibility and lowered dependency on proprietary hardware
- Foundation for future innovation: The programmable, automated network layer established by ACL Digital now serves as the foundation for advanced Autonomous Networks, enabling AI and GenAI-driven capabilities such as predictive fault management, automated failover, and dynamic traffic switching
