EKINOPS a supplier of telecommunications solutions for telecom operators and enterprises, provides evidence of a virtualisation business model for service providers. Ekinops has been developing for network functions virtualisation (NFV) solution called OneOS6-LIM (local infrastructure manager), which aims to provide virtualisation-based network services and associated design, creation, validation, and deployment operations.
This solution creates a virtualised compute environment to run multiple virtualised network functions (VNFs) on a uCPE (universal customer premise equipment). The main counterargument of uCPE solutions so far, due to a higher hardware price vs. a traditional CPE (customer premise equipment). This has been the economics of the hardware investment can be challenging if it is not delivered with equivalent feature set of a CPE (such as advanced routing capabilities).
Ekinops’ answer is to leverage the hardware to its full extent, by optimising the footprint and performance to the level that superior services can be provided on a more cost-optimised hardware platform. OneOS6-LIM comes with an embedded ONEe600 router which includes all OneOS6 feature set such as QoS (quality of service), zone-based firewall, encryption, and tunneling mechanisms. The goal of ONEe600 router is to offer all standard networking services at the lowest footprint possible and to save processing resources for vendors VNFs running on the same device.
Ekinops commissioned EANTC AG, an European Advanced Networking Test Centre, internationally recognised objective test centre, to perform tests and evaluate its embedded router performance. EANTC, which provides vendor-neutral network performance test facilities for manufacturers, service providers and enterprise customers, executed in total fifteen test runs for three test scenarios of the Ekinops virtualisation and embedded router e600 on an entry level uCPE hardware platform based on Intel’s C3xxx Atom Denverton CPU (central processing unit).
Overall, the ONEe600 demonstrated solid performance and versatility, making it a valid option for small to medium sized offices looking for a routing solution. Ekinops has demonstrated its virtualisation solution made it possible for service providers to maximise compute cycle and monetise Edge.
Sylvain Quartier, VP marketing and product strategy for access at Ekinops says, “Not so long ago, NFV was pronounced dead, and we say no way. Ekinops has a long history of providing network access solutions to Service providers. By working with them in close partnership, we acknowledge the huge opportunities, but also the challenges associated with virtualisation, especially in terms of return on investment.”
“By using our experience as a carrier-grade software connectivity solutions, we succeeded in combining routing and VPN technology with virtualisation, in such a way that not only a fast time to market, but also a quick return on investment can be achieved. In the past two years, we have signed a significant number of telcos for virtualisation, and we have more projects lined-up. We have also noted a strong interest from enterprises and our partners eco-system is constantly growing. NVF is not only “alive” but definitively kicking and healthy for the foreseeable future.” says Quartier.
Full EANTC test report is available here.
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