Japanese carrier KDDI is formally rolling out a new type of backbone router across its home nation's network.

Instead of traditional chassis-based routers that are large proprietary boxes locked together, KDDI is rolling out distributed disaggregated backbone router (DDBR) technology, a series of smaller, off-the-shelf devices that work together as one logical router.

Deployed as part of core network capacity expansions, the carrier contends that its DDBR cluster can reduce network equipment deployment costs by approximately 50 percent while allowing for enhanced flexibility in vendor selection and network design.

The concept is open by design, owing to KDDI’s long-running open architectural approach, such as its open radio access network (RAN) efforts. The carrier contends that by going open with DDBR, it can add capacity gradually as traffic grows while avoiding lock-in with a single supplier. In addition, it makes use of the open source OpenConfig project to create vendor-neutral means to configure network devices, further ensuring the concept’s multivendor design.

KDDI said its DDBR architecture “fundamentally redefines how backbone networks are built and scaled, shifting from monolithic systems to distributed, software-driven infrastructure.”

“This architecture enables fine-grained, on-demand capacity expansion aligned with traffic demand, eliminates dependency on proprietary vendor-specific systems, and significantly enhances flexibility in vendor selection and network design,” the carrier said in a statement.

KDDI has been working on DDBR for some time, commencing development of open, disaggregated routing around 2020. In 2023, it completed initial commercial deployments of disaggregated routers as Internet gateway peering routers, and in 2025 completed technical validation of the proposed cluster – enlisting DriveNets, whose software runs alongside UfiSpace hardware at major backbone sites, to accelerate deployments.

The carrier said full nationwide rollout of DDBR is expected to be completed by the end of fiscal year 2027.

KDDI pledged to use operational learnings from its DDBR rollout to “further accelerate network openness,” with a view to “fostering a multivendor ecosystem while strengthening next-generation network infrastructure to support the rapid expansion of AI-driven workloads and data-intensive services across industries.”