{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,9]],"date-time":"2026-04-09T07:05:19Z","timestamp":1775718319842,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,22]],"date-time":"2023-05-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1684713600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Huawei Technologies Canada Research Center"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JSAN"],"abstract":"<jats:p>As next-generation networks begin to take shape, the necessity of Optical Transport Networks (OTNs) in helping achieve the performance requirements of future networks is evident. Future networks are characterized as being data-centric and are expected to have ubiquitous artificial intelligence integration and deployment. To this end, the efficient and timely transportation of fresh data from producer to consumer is critical. The work presented in this paper outlines the role of OTNs in future networking generations. Furthermore, key emerging OTN technologies are discussed. Additionally, the role intelligence will play in the Management and Orchestration (MANO) of next-generation OTNs is discussed. Moreover, a set of challenges and opportunities for innovation to guide the development of future OTNs is considered. Finally, a use case illustrating the impact of network dynamicity and demand uncertainty on OTN MANO decisions is presented.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jsan12030043","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,22]],"date-time":"2023-05-22T02:00:27Z","timestamp":1684720827000},"page":"43","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":13,"title":["The Role of Optical Transport Networks in 6G and Beyond: A Vision and Call to Action"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4390-3093","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dimitrios Michael","family":"Manias","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Western University, 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON N6A 3K7, Canada"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Abbas","family":"Javadtalab","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Huawei Technologies Canada Research Center, 303 Terry Fox Drive, Kanata, ON K2K 3J1, Canada"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4908-225X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Joe","family":"Naoum-Sawaya","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ivey Business School, Western University, 1255 Western Rd., London, ON N6G 0N1, Canada"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2887-0350","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Abdallah","family":"Shami","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Western University, 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON N6A 3K7, Canada"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"28","DOI":"10.1109\/MVT.2019.2921208","article-title":"6G wireless networks: Vision, requirements, architecture, and key technologies","volume":"14","author":"Zhang","year":"2019","journal-title":"IEEE Veh. 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