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Tag: network functions virtualization

  • Laying the Foundation for a Successful Digital Future

    Laying the Foundation for a Successful Digital Future

    Digital infrastructure is under mounting pressure from a variety of powerful technology trends. Whether that pressure stems from DevOps, the cloud, AI, mobile or big data, almost every organization is looking to the future with an eye on modernizing their mission-critical IT systems.

    Unfortunately, the challenge of future-proofing IT infrastructure is often exacerbated by the widespread reliance on legacy technology. Add to that the growing data connectivity complexities across the entire technology landscape, and you face the difficult task of balancing your networking strategy with your other—sometimes competing—technology priorities.

    In particular, legacy networks often lack the performance, control and flexibility today’s digital business models rely on. And they’re increasingly vulnerable to security risks. If that wasn’t enough to give you pause about your network, older technologies often consume a disproportionate amount of your IT budget that you could otherwise invest in modernizing your underlying IT infrastructure.

    That fundamental disconnect leaves little room for maneuvering when current thinking shows that agility is so closely linked to success—and where having a purpose-built network infrastructure is key to successful digital transformation. Just as a new house needs a solid foundation, your digital future requires the right digital infrastructure to meet your long-term challenges. 

    The Issues of Network Modernization Raise Some Big Questions

    Think for a moment about the key issues you face. Can you afford to be at the mercy of an outdated or inflexible network? Can you ignore the enormous potential of transformative technologies? Are you prepared to risk falling behind more agile competitors? Or, alternatively, can digital transformation give you a significant competitive advantage?

    Whatever your priorities are, the bottom line is digital transformation almost always requires advanced on-demand connectivity that can be deployed quickly and cost-effectively. To meet this need, many businesses are turning to software-defined wide area networks (SD-WANs) and network functions virtualization (NFV) to build agile networks designed to solve your data connectivity needs today and well into the future.

    Meeting the Challenge 1: SD-WANs

    SD-WANs are purpose-built solutions that deliver agile, secure and scalable connectivity by leveraging intelligent software. One of their main advantages is the centralized network orchestration, control and zero-touch provisioning that provides high-performance networking within a borderless infrastructure across highly distributed enterprises. 

    This high level of flexibility facilitates digital transformation, because SD-WANs can leverage all types of connectivity options (such as MPLS, broadband, 4G and 5G) while automating network functions. One big advantage is the ability to simplify the connection of people, devices and locations to the cloud, providing seamless access to the virtual functions and business services they need.

    SD-WANs also help abstract the complexity of the underlying network to create a virtual layer that simplifies a wide range of network operations. The major benefit here is that there’s no need to manage multiple layers of hardware (such as routers, firewalls and load balancers) that have historically complicated network management.

    This is particularly important for geographically distributed organizations that want to simplify branch or remote office networks, given that SD-WANs can connect new offices or branch locations to the corporate network in hours, rather than weeks or months. This provides a proven way to quickly deploy new apps and services while controlling, or even reducing, networking costs.

    Meeting the Challenge 2: NFV

    Combining SD-WANs with NFV can deliver even greater business benefits since NFV utilizes key network functions on an “as-a-service” basis, improving both network agility and efficiency. It achieves this by replacing legacy network hardware with software that runs in the cloud.

    This approach offers a cost-effective way to modernize diverse network functions ranging from intrusion detection to traffic prioritization and network performance optimization. In this way, you can easily reconfigure your networks to meet the data connectivity needs that lie at the heart of digital transformation. Best of all, you can do so without introducing unnecessary risk, complexity or cost.

    Modernizing Your Network for Digital Transformation

    Modernizing your network infrastructure can deliver the appropriate scale, security and performance needed for modern business. In particular, SD-WANs can help ensure your digital transformation goes hand-in-hand with an equivalent modernization of your network infrastructure. As a result, you can simplify your operations, improve security, respond more quickly to business demands and deliver a much more compelling customer experience.

    — Michael Cabra

  • DevOps: Embracing the Telco Cloud

    DevOps: Embracing the Telco Cloud

    Ongoing developments in technology have led businesses to look to the cloud for greater flexibility, scalability and processing power. The telecoms industry is no different. Under growing pressure to meet the demands of the internet of things (IoT) and 5G, service providers are increasingly adopting cloud and virtualization technologies such as network functions virtualization (NFV) and software-defined networking (SDN) to provide them with the capacity they need to manage the explosion in data traffic.

    In an environment in which traditional telco revenue has been eroded by OTT (over-the-top, or IP-delivered) players, the commercial advantages offered by a telco cloud have never been more important. It’s hardly surprising then, that the global market is expected to grow at CAGR of 20 percent, reaching $29 billion within the next two years.

    Don’t Believe the Hype

    Despite the messages of benefits, however, operators have reservations, with many expressing concern that the hype around the promise of NFV and SDN is just that—hype.

    During a panel discussion at the MPLS, SDN and NFV World Congress 2018 in Paris, representatives of Orange and Nokia, among others, raised questions over the current level of investment in the technology. SDN was described as “not really a new concept” and NFV as being a “bubble.”

    It was additionally suggested that the benefits of virtualization weren’t particularly economical. Operators are becoming increasingly aware that the cost savings that NFV promises often are offset by the need to deploy entire racks of compute resources to handle processes that previously would have been supported by a single appliance. When you factor in the CPU and server requirements, along with the necessary power and physical rack space, the cost of delivering the same performance as a dedicated solution can be at least as expensive as a custom-designed alternative.

    Performance and Power

    Given the fundamental role that both SDN and NFV play in underpinning telco cloud, opinions such as those expressed in Paris are concerning—particularly when publicly voiced and apparently widely held. It’s clear then, that if they’re not already doing so, operators need to address these issues to realize the potential of telco cloud in the most cost-effective and efficient way possible. Indeed, time is of the essence, as the performance and scaling problems that operators face with generic NFV infrastructure are only set to get worse once 5G networks are fully implemented. The sheer volume and speed of data traffic through a 5G network, for example, will bring entirely new requirements in terms of scalability and performance.

    Encouragingly, though, steps are being taken to tackle technical challenges around performance and power consumption, particularly with regard to generic hardware. By distributing workloads between x86 general purpose processors and software-reconfigurable, FPGA-based SMARTNICs that are optimized for virtualized environments or VNF re-architecture, operators are turning to hardware acceleration as a means of improving performance both now and in the future.

    Look into the Cloud

    The analyst forecast mentioned at the beginning of this article illustrates that, while discussions continue around the relative economic benefits of virtualization, there’s no denying that cloud-based network infrastructure is beginning to take root across the telecoms industry.

    Increasingly we are seeing operators moving workloads on to virtualized or containerized infrastructure, for example, as they look to improve performance, reduce costs and hyperscale as required by their various network functions, applications and services.

    What’s more, inspired by other sectors that have successfully leveraged cloud-native functionality, operators are embracing Agile and DevOps development practices. Telco cloud provides operators with the development agility they need to combine and re-combine existing functions that, when tested and proven for scale, can deliver entirely new network capabilities. With the ability to quickly bring innovative new ideas to market, operators now have a new avenue of revenue to explore.

    The benefits extend into the wider ecosystem, too. Not only will an open multi-vendor platform running on open source software improve operational and cost efficiency, but by allowing software from multiple vendors to be more quickly integrated, it will enable the creation of innovative new network services and IT functions that, in turn, could led to new revenue streams.

    And, of course, the new paradigm shift will improve the customer experience. Shortly after last year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC), for example, Verizon and Colt carried out the first demonstration of two-way, inter-carrier SDN orchestration, making near real-time bandwidth changes in each other’s production networks. The implications of this are significant, offering enterprise customers in particular flexibility on demand.

    The 5G networks and the new generation of handsets, including foldable devices, dominated this year’s MWC. One look at the show’s agenda, however, shows just how important the cloud has become. And in meeting the demands of 5G and all it entails, its importance will only grow. It’s time, then, for operators to take a serious look into the telco cloud.

    — Naveen Kumar