AT&T and Orange signed a deal to tackle NFV and SDN open source and standards issues that continue to plague the telecom industry
AT&T signed a deal with European operator Orange to work on open source and standardization initiatives linked to the carrier’s push toward increasing control of its network resources using software-defined networking and network functions virtualization technology.
The agreement calls for both operators to align on “a strategic vision to move intelligence from customer hardware to the network” in a move designed to trim costs and complexity. The firms said they will work with “appropriate” forums for standardization discussions, which they claim can eventually lead to shorter deployment cycles and a faster pace of development.
Specific areas of focus named include the creation of common specifications for premise-based devices to work in different network service provider environments and network function software providers; work designed to streamline the onboarding process for virtual network functions; and the development of standardized APIs in support of interoperable SDN architectures.
“Building SDN and NFV technologies on common, open and interoperable standards will help solve today’s challenges by delivering highly secure, intelligent, application-aware networking,” the carriers claimed in a statement connected with the announcement. “This benefits both NSPs and business customers by enabling them to deploy services faster, customize their infrastructures in near real-time, and innovate more easily within an ecosystem of interoperable service and equipment providers.”
AT&T earlier this year said it is looking to push its network into software from 5.7% reached at the end of 2015, to 30% by the end of 2016. This push is set to continue to its previously stated goal of hitting 75% control by 2020.
Those efforts are said to have already allowed AT&T to reduce the capital expense and operating expense needed to run its operations.
“When you put something in our network as we’re moving forward on it, we’re virtualizing it, but we’re significantly reducing the opex and the capex that it takes to run that network,” explained AT&T Business Solutions CEO Ralph de la Vega, at an investor conference. “But the beautiful thing about it, from a marketing point of view, is the services that ride on top of this new architecture. Not only do they cost less capex and less opex, but they generate more revenue. Because now the software cycles to turn up the services are almost instantaneous.”
However, analysts have noted challenges remain in terms of NFV and SDN standards, with Technology Business Research recently claiming some early adopter telecom operators were moving forward with limited commercial launches of network functions virtualization and software-defined networking technologies despite continuing questions around standards.
According to TBR’s “NFV/SDN Telecom Market Landscape” report for the first quarter, these early launches are “leveraging a mix of vendor solutions and internal resources ahead of industry adopted standards,” with cost reduction and service agility seen as key drivers for initial deployments. TBR noted for carriers like AT&T, NFV and SDN are viewed as “critical for long-term survival.”
“Early adopters pursue differing approaches to build NFV and SDN solutions,” the report notes. “One approach is to build an end-to-end NFV stack leveraging products from several vendors. These deployments require tested, interoperable components to ensure carrier-grade delivery. Adding further complexity, operators must decide which vendor, if any, integrates the stack.”
Bored? Why not follow me on Twitter
