This WWT-guided lab demonstrates several aspects of Cisco's Crossword Network Controller (CNC) in conjunction with Cisco NSO, including path control with Cisco SR-PCE (Path Computational Engine). CNC is a Segment Routing SDN Controller for transport networks. CNC allows an operator to create and manage VPN and Transport services with diverse SLAs, such as disjointness, bandwidth awareness, or low latency. It provides for creating engineered transport paths using SR-TE parameters and provisioning and linking VPN services to these paths. CNC performs real-time network optimization based on current network conditions utilizing the Crosswork Optimization Engine in conjunction with Cisco's IOS-XR-based Segment Routing Path Computation Element or SR-PCE. Cisco NSO is also included and tightly coupled to CNC as the Provisioning engine.

As modern networks have grown in complexity and scale, they require more stringent tolerances and demanding services, which has spawned the need for a more straightforward and optimized method of transmitting data. And as 5G becomes more widely adopted, such latency standards will only become more desirable. Moving to a next-generation Network Transport based on Segment Routing enables organizational agility and unprecedented control over network path optimization and end-to-end Service Level Agreements (SLA). This briefing is intended to be used for architecture validation, proofs of concepts (POCs), demonstrations, and functional and interoperability testing.