Carrier SDN/NFV in 2016 – Italtel & Current Analysis webinar
Operators must bite the bullet and act swiftly on virtualization to gain a business advantage, according to Italtel’s Senior Technical Marketing Engineers Giuseppe Monteleone and Stefano Boero.
Monteleone and Boero – who specialize in NFV and SDN respectively – discussed operator solution requirements and their impact on networks in the near-term on the latest Business Review webinar, as well as how solutions providers such as Italtel are addressing these issues in their offerings.
Featuring contributions from Service Provider Infrastructure analyst Jason Marcheck, of Current Analysis, “Keys to Standing Out in a Crowded Field” looked at the current state of commercial SDN and NFV offerings and explored the key technology issues that still need to be overcome to stimulate deployments.
After Marcheck set the scene of the current market picture – including a live poll highlighting current deployment hurdles such as network integration issues, operational changes and the general immaturity of the solution at present – Monteleone introduced the NFV element of the webinar, talking about the role of virtualization in both propelling existing services and making disruptive impacts within new markets.
Referencing the case of Vodafone Germany – where Italtel moved six Softswitches onto three data centers with no disruption to the service to three minion residential customers – Monteleone spoke of how it is not only possible, but advisable to make a move on virtualization early and not wait for a full standardized picture to emerge.
“You must start with an analysis of the customer base and develop market impact from use cases, but it is possible to take the first move towards the virtualized network without necessarily having a full solution completed,” said Monteleone. “This positions the vendor to not just take advantage of improved existing services but look towards more disruptive sectors.”
Monteleone went on to highlight how while service providers’ and vendors’ current focus is on decreasing costs of existing applications, virtualized services can introduce them to new vertical market segments and business models.
“NFV and SDN are here to stay,” said Monteleone. “The time is now to apply the necessary organizational changes and look forward to pursuing game-changing, disruptive innovation that will impact all areas of your business.”
Following on from the NFV section of the webinar, Boero went on to describe how while SDN was not driven by virtualization from its inception, its spread across the IT infrastructure – especially in the enterprise market for service providers – has provided a new way of delivering services from a data center model.
After a further poll suggested that SD-WAN is key part of businesses’ go-to-market plans when it came to SDN, Boero reiterated the earlier points about the flexibility of the virtualized network.
“It is ineffective to wait for full standardization before looking towards virtualization,” said Boero. “New services can be added on the existing network simply and effectively, so there are great possibilities of using SDN without having to wait.”
“The drivers of SDN and NFV are complementary – service providers need efficient and flexible solutions and enterprises need to decrease OPEX on new services,” continued Boero. “All of this can be provided on the flexible networks provided by both SDN and NFV.”
In conclusion, both Monteleone and Boero took questions from the audience, touching on the ROI prospects of virtualized solutions and the need for trust between vendors and service providers. Marcheck added that a high level of trust is very important, saying “Strategies often have to be formed as they go, so the plan needs to start small and develop complexity.”
The implementation of NFV and SDN is a long journey and many obstacles shall still be removed.
Anyway, a call to action is opportune and decision makers shall be brave.
“The first step is always a big one, but technology today moves at a much quicker pace these days so it is possible to start today,” he said. “It’s time to shake the tree as soon as possible.”
Click HERE to watch the webinar.
