Mavenir delivers virtualized Media Breakout Controller (vMBC)
Software company Mavenir recently premiered its virtualized Media Breakout Controller (vMBC), which enables operators to host virtual routing, firewall and user plane data offload with white box routing.
Networks currently are under pressure to meet consumer demands for more bandwidth and less latency. Multi-access edge computing (MEC) has been heralded as a way to address these needs by processing tasks closer to the end user; although, much traffic processing still takes place in the core. According to Mavenir, the vMBC is able to break out local traffic and direct traffic from the network edge instead of moving it through the core.
“All operators are challenged to remain profitable while facing the dilemma of investing in network capacity. When considering that most of the user traffic is over the top encrypted video, for the carrier supplying the network, this has zero revenue associated with it,” said President and CEO of Mavenir Pardeep Kohli. “Mavenir’s vMBC, through a small architectural change, allows this traffic to be offloaded to the cloud as soon as physically possible.”
Last year, Mavenir purchased Brocade’s virtual evolved packet core (vEPC) product line, the technology that serves as the basis of its vMBC, as part of the company’s MEC and IoT initiative. Mavenir said it would use Brocade’s vEPC technology to improve next-generation core network services, providing a path toward 5G and edge computing.
A subset of Mavenir’s Access Product portfolio, the vMBC can be launched anywhere at the network edge, such as cell sites, local data centers and at enterprises. The company said the solution was designed to be the same physical dimensions as exiting cell cite routers to make it easier to adopt.
“Given that nearly 80 percent of user data is currently video (and the vast majority is encrypted), providing breakout solutions allows for the redeployment of network assets from both Control and User plane. iGR estimates that approximately 40 percent of video content could also be cached at the edge,” said president and founder of iGR Iain Gillott. “The trick is to be able to benefit from the feature and operational cost benefits without having to upgrade to 5G architectures – this is now possible with a white box platform at the edge of the network.”
