ZTE and Industry Partners Complete TAPI Standard Initiation, Propelling AI All-Optical Networks into a New Era

• The initiation of the TAPI standard addresses the interoperability challenges of multi-vendor devices at the SDN controller layer
• The TAPI standard has gained widespread recognition in the industry and is the interface standard with the most interoperability tests
• ZTE has completed TAPI northbound interface tests with China Unicom's SD-OTN orchestrator and deployed it in a live network

Shenzhen, China, December 15, 2025 - ZTE Corporation (0763.HK / 000063.SZ), a global leading provider of integrated information and communication technology solutions, in collaboration with several operators and industry organizations, proposed the Transport Application Programming Interface (TAPI) standard, which has been successfully approved and initiated at a meeting of Question 12 under ITU-T Study Group 15 (ITU-T SG15) to introduce a unified interface specification. This standard is designed to address interoperability challenges among multi-vendor equipment at the Software Defined Network (SDN) controller layer, laying a solid foundation for operators to build open and decoupled SDN networks.

G.7702 is a key recommendation for the SDN control architecture of transport networks, developed by ITU-T. It is designed to provide a common architecture and functional requirements for transport network SDN controllers, aiming to uniformly management and control multi-vendor devices at the controller layer.

As a northbound interface standard, TAPI is used to connect SDN controllers with upper-layer applications, enabling programmability and automated control of transport networks. By separating control functions from transport functions, it allows for logically centralized control over transport network resources and status, building a flexible, open, and intelligent transport network architecture oriented towards service applications. The TAPI standard has gained widespread recognition in the industry and is the interface standard with the most interoperability tests. ONF and OIF have repeatedly organized interoperability tests, with participants including major global operators and equipment manufacturers. In China, ZTE has completed TAPI northbound interface tests with China Unicom's SD-OTN orchestrator and deployed it in a live network. This deployment leverages the orchestrator to achieve rapid service configuration, provisioning, and management in multi-control domain scenarios.

Based on continuous technical contributions and industry collaboration, the TAPI standard has garnered joint support from numerous partners, leading to its successful project initiation under G.7702. This initiative will incorporate mapping relationships between SDN and TAPI across key concepts, architecture, and functions, ensuring their effective alignment. Furthermore, it will provide practical guidance for SDN interfaces, enabling interoperability among multi-vendor equipment at the SDN controller layer, thereby significantly enhancing network operational efficiency and service quality.

Moving forward, ZTE will continue to empower all-optical networks with AI. Through standard innovation, ZTE will deepen technical collaboration with global partners, further enrich TAPI interface applications, and actively explore its innovative uses in cutting-edge fields. This will accelerate the establishment of a new paradigm for "AI All-Optical Networks",  assisting global operators in building a more open, intelligent, and optimal next-generation all-optical network system.