Telekom Austria Group’s Serbian subsidiary, Vip mobile, has demonstrated a fully virtualised stack in a commercial network. The showcase demonstration included virtualised Evolved Packet Core (EPC) by Connectem, Metaswitch´s Project Clearwater, an open-source IP Mulitmeida Subsystem (IMS) core, and virtualised VoLTE application server by OpenCloud.
After having conducted a series of successful trials 2014 in Bulgaria, Croatia, the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia showing vEPC, vIMS and vVOLTE solutions, the Group claims it is the first communications service provider worldwide to demonstrate a fully virtualised stack in a live network.
In previous trials, Telekom Austria Group looked in detail at virtualised network functions individually, however with this trial it has chosen to virtualise the entire core network production chain of a voice over LTE (VoLTE) service.
Instead of being received and processed by dedicated hardware equipment with dedicated software running on it, the data will now terminate in a general purpose IT data centre running Intel x86 hardware and virtualisation services. On top of the virtualisation services, software will be deployed that provides the necessary processing for the delivery of VoLTE in a virtualised environment.
Mobility and data session control are being handled by a virtualised Evolved Packet Core (EPC) solution provided by the start-up company, Connectem Inc. This guarantees that a subscriber is being served by a mobile network and keeps its service up and running while being on the move.
A call control for setting up calls, negotiating media formats and terminating calls is handled by a virtualised IMS based on the Clearwater solution from Metaswitch. The desired features of a phone system are provided by the virtualised VoLTE application server from OpenCloud. Both together ensure that customers can call one another and exchange information on a variety of media.
Guenther Ottendorfer, the chief technology officer of Telekom Austria Group, said: “One of the major topics that will be wildly discussed at Mobile World Congress is network functions virtualisation. Having already contributed a great deal of perspectives and developments regarding this trend, the Telekom Austria Group is amongst the first movers in the industry with our successful trials. NFV is a paradigm shift for the global telecoms industry but also shows that the game the industry is playing is only about to begin, with numerous innovations on the horizon which will further enhance the customer´s experience. NFV has signaled a new optimism within the industry, with the potential of offering huge opportunities to reengineer and optimise network infrastructure and deliver better service for our customers”.
Dejan Kastelic, the chief technology officer of Vip mobile, added: “We are more than proud that Vip mobile achieved another successful NFV deployment. Being the youngest mobile operator and challenger in the market, we always seek new opportunities to reshape the innovation landscape both in the local and regional markets. In this way we are directly improving our customers’ experience and expectation by introducing more efficient, cost-effective and energy saving solutions that enable faster time to market and flexible services delivery. Our dedication is to be the leader in providing new solutions to customers, vendors and local expert in the community by setting more advanced standards that will bring us closer to advanced European and world markets.”
NFV will take a significant part of the spotlight at Mobile World Congress, thus Telekom Austria Group is proud to be a leader in this conversation. NFV allows for more efficient operating processes at lower carrier costs, as well as the ability to bring services to the market faster and thus to the customer. There will be a wide range of discussions and solutions around this trend which is a global paradigm shift of the whole industry.
For the showcase Telekom Austria Group has decided on Silicon Valley startup Connectem, and has also been working with UK based companies Metaswitch and OpenCloud.
“We are delighted to work with Telekom Austria Group and Vip Mobile to set the new benchmark for virtualised VoLTE deployment,” said Phillip Stubbs, the chief technology officer at OpenCloud. “Open, virtualised service layers provide a platform for sustainable and competitive innovation. Using cloud-based VoLTE gives operators the advantages of reduced cost and agility to deliver new services that are unique to them and valued by their customers.”
