Comptel partners with Telefónica, Orange on NFV, virtualization for TM Forum Live catalysts
NICE, France – Competition from over-the-top players leveraging massive cloud operations to quickly bring services to market is forcing telcos to look to virtualization, automation and new business models to maintain competitiveness. This trend is highlighted by catalyst projects put on during the TM Forum Live event.
Finnish telecom software vendor Comptel worked with two major European carriers on proofs-of-concept to showcase a path to webscale agility. Working with Telefónica, Comptel developed an open source network functions virtualization management and orchestration stack based on an European Telecommunications Standards Institute Open Source MANO initiative. The catalyst addresses cloud interconnection and digital services lifecycle management.
Steve Hateley, Comptel senior director of industry and partner marketing, said NFV deployments are creating compatibility challenges for service providers, particularly “within hybrid network environments. Through our role in this catalyst, and our work with its other participants, Comptel aims to accelerate the development of OSM and encourage the industry to recognize the value of evolved and dynamic [operating support systems] in open source implementations of NFV.”
Moving to sponsored data, Hately gave the example of a new film. Instead of a mobile user tapping their data bucket to watch a trailer, the production company or other stakeholder could allow access to a preview via a sponsored data arrangement.
Working with Orange, Comptel presented a second catalyst designed to create bespoke data offerings.
“Even with the mobile device now being the primary means of engagement by most customers, there is still some inhibition to use it for interaction with service providers because of personal data costs,” Hateley said. “Customers are demanding that we make their lives easier, and if service providers want to boost their standards for customer engagement, they must be able to interact with customers whenever, wherever, on any mobile device – on the customer’s terms.”
