CSPs can dynamically direct network traffic using ACE
Core-to-edge infrastructure specialist Arrcus has announced that its Arrcus Connected Edge (ACE) 2.0 platform now supports VMware’s Telco Cloud Platform. ACE can help Communication Service Providers (CSPs) dynamically direct network traffic to the compute environment that best meets workload requirements, Arrcus said.
“We are seeing a convergence of networking and compute transformation driven by the emergence of modern apps,” said Sreekanth Kannan, vice president of product management and marketing at Arrcus. Kannan added that the solution can help CSPs deliver new services more efficiently.
VMware Telco Cloud Platform manages all Containerized Network Functions (CNFs) and Virtual Network Functions (VNFs). Arrcus ACE 2.0 provides discrete route optimization functionality, the company explained, to route specific data from source to destination. The company gives an example of routing hyperscaler-specific traffic, to help CSPs improve performance, scale, and efficiency of data plane communication.
Arrcus announced that it has achieved VMware’s “Ready for Telco Cloud” certification. This certification indicates that ACE 2.0’s network functions interoperate with VMware Telco Cloud Platform for 5G deployments.
Arrcus announced the release of ACE 2.0 in late February. The company called it an “agile, open systems, policy-driven, software-centric, virtualized approach to networking that enables massive scale and ultra-fast convergence.”
Use cases supported by the platform include spanning spine-leaf and TOR switching, multi-cloud networking, 5G edge and cell-site routing, as well as core virtual distributed routing.
New features in the new release include incremental improvements to the network operating system (NOS), ArcOS, improvements to multi-cloud networking, virtual distributed routing and route refection, and enhancements to analytics.
VMware’s background at Barcelona
VMware isn’t using MWC Barcelona this week to make any major announcements, but the Arrcus news comes on the heels of other VMware-related partnerships and news announcements. DISH Network announced plans to trial VMware’s Telco Cloud Platform RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC), for example. It was last November VMware announced its development. VMware is on track to release its RIC sometime this year.
VMware also announced a cloud modernization effort with Latin America service provider Millicom (operating under its Tigo brand). To pivot to emerging 5G services, Millicon needed to unify IT, Telco and B2B functions. Tigo selected VMware Cloud as the common private cloud infrastructure across its operations and business units to help get that under control.
“Since implementing VMware Cloud, Tigo has become more agile and efficient by eliminating the disparate silos, reducing the time to market for deploying existing services and increased flexibility in introducing new services, and the team is gaining the cloud skills it needs to embrace new features in the future,” said VMware.
