Total cost of ownership associated with telecom operators moving toward virtualized platforms continues to be debated, with various models showing savings on the capital expense side, operating expense side, both or neither.
A new report from ACG Research comes down on the opex side of potential savings from moving toward software-defined networking and network functions virtualization, with the firm noting gains from service innovations that SDN and NFV support.
“A major advantage of SDN/NFV is in its opex, which gives the operators the ability to rapidly provision new services,” explained Robert Haim, principal analyst at ACG Research. “Service roll-out is reduced by an order of magnitude of months to days. Moreover, with fast service roll out, a new service can be tested with a limited set of customers first, and then upon favorable feedback it can be introduced to the entire target market. This can save a lot of headache (and money) later if the service turns out to be not as well received as it was expected.”
Haim added that on the capex side, savings will be muted as most hardware already installed into networks are likely to stay operational for years to come, most often past the date they are fully depreciated.
“Therefore, while migration to function virtualization is moving forward, operators will face a period of a ‘double opex’ cost factor,” Haim said. “This is not lost on anyone, and it can become a factor in delaying the decision to virtualization.”
A recent report from IHS predicted the migration to NFV “won’t happen any time soon,” citing “the bulk of LTE networks are brand new and, therefore, mobile operators are not ready to undertake migration that soon.”
The firm did predict the global market for NFV hardware, software and services is set to surge from $2.3 billion this year to $11.6 billion in 2019, but claimed service providers are still “early” in their transformation toward virtualized network platforms, which it said is a 10- to 15-year process.
Adtran adopts NFV, SDN
Adtran said it is bolstering its network solutions portfolio with the inclusion of SDN and NFV open architectures. The move is said to be the final components of its “Future Network State” initiative.
The move would expand the capabilities of its broadband, enterprise and Wi-Fi access portfolios “by supporting cloud-controlled network programmability and self-activated cloud-delivery,” the company said. The integration is set to enable network agility and automation.
The company also rolled out its virtual network function solution suite, targeting telecom and cable service providers with a platform designed to seamlessly transition from embedded customer premises equipment to virtualized, software-based networks. Adtran said the suite is built on its existing networking application software, with enhancements that it claims are able to improve the efficiency, performance and costs of a typical NFV deployment by eliminating the overhead of multiple virtual machines and guest operating systems.
“Most NFV implementation strategies utilize cloud-based VNF components sourced from various vendors to allow best-in-breed networking functions,” the company said. “Adtran virtualizes the most valuable CPE functions – such as routers, firewalls, enterprise session border controllers and voice quality monitoring – and uniquely gives service providers the option to bundle them into a single VNF.”
CENX scores funds
Service orchestration solutions provider CENX said it closed on $12.5 million in new equity investments that it plans to use to accelerate worldwide marketing expansion.
The company claims that new investors in the Series D round include BDC Capital, Mistral Venture Partners and VMware. All current investors also participated, including Highland Capital Partners, Mesirow Financial Private Equity, Verizon Ventures, Ericsson, DCM Ventures and Cross Creek Advisors.
CENX claims its Cortx Service Orchestrator can help leverage big data analytics for “dynamic provisioning, visualization and assurance of data services across heterogeneous physical and virtualized networks.”
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