Polish communications service provider (CSP), Orange Polska, and Amdocs have embarked on ta project to trial the ECOMP (Enhanced Control, Orchestration, Management & Policy) software platform.
The objective is to assess ECOMP, initially for virtual services in Poland, and then globally across the Orange group footprint of 236 million customers in 28 countries. ECOMP has been developed in response to the skyrocketing demand for network capacity and the subsequent need to transform current infrastructures to models based on cloud computing and network function virtualisation (NFV) and to progress towards 5G.
ECOMP offers service providers the ability to design and operate software-centric networks running on virtual machines rather than on traditional, physical network architectures. Such networks provide improved scalability and extensive automation, and can adapt faster to customer needs with the quick addition and removal of features. By deploying ECOMP, Amdocs says CSPs will gain more control of their network services, drive down operational costs and allow developers to more easily innovate with new network services. Ultimately, it says, consumers will benefit because the network will be able to better adapt and scale to meet their needs, as well as predict how to make their connected experiences seamless.
AT&T has committed to release ECOMP as open source software, in conjunction with the Linux Foundation. As such, ECOMP has a chance to become a leading standard for the industry.
“Virtualisation of the network is an inevitable process,” said Piotr Muszyński, the vice president in charge of strategy and transformation at Orange Polska. “By testing ECOMP at Orange Polska, we are preparing ourselves to become a software-driven company. In the future, these cutting-edge technologies will give customers completely new possibilities, such as the ability to self-activate and deactivate services, or to enjoy flexible rating, based on the time they consumed the service. The operator, on the other hand, will receive tools that allow real-time adaptation to meet the customer needs.”
Orange Polska is conducting several tests with Amdocs to support the preparation and creation of a set of virtual customer premises equipment (vCPE) services for residential customers. A significant part of the vCPE features will be moved to a cloud environment and managed by the ECOMP platform. The tests will validate the capabilities and potential benefits of an ECOMP deployment within the Orange network.
“Amdocs brings unique expertise to early day ECOMP projects like ours because of their early involvement and commitment to AT&T’s ECOMP project: They participated in the development of the platform and they have a deep understanding of how to onboard network services and functions with ECOMP,” added Alain Maloberti, the senior vice president in charge of Orange Labs Networks.
Amdocs’ support is an opportunity for Orange to gain experience in building and integrating next-generation solutions using ECOMP. Orange will use this project to capture the impact on jobs and processes, and understand how ECOMP can facilitate activities of network designers, engineers and CSPs. Moreover, this project will help Orange understand how ECOMP can reduce the time it takes to introduce new NFV technologies and services.
