Telecom Lead Asia: IBM announced its Cloud strategies for supporting virtualization of telecom infrastructure.
The technology giant is betting on two solutions — prepared by its business partners — IBM PureFlex platform and Connectem VCM architecture to lower network latency even during periods of peak network activity.
IBM says Australian mobile service provider Optus recently tested a new mobile network capacity solution from Connectem — its business partner — running on IBM PureFlex.
Optus is looking at the new technology to explore opportunities that cloud services can enable in delivering better customer experience.
“We are exploring ideas such as flexible network infrastructure and how that can fit into our long-term network strategy to deliver even more benefits to our customers,” said Gunther Ottendorfer, managing director of Networks at Optus.
The IBM PureFlex platform is suited to enable virtualization of network functions that are implemented as software applications running on elastic, on-demand infrastructure in 3G, 4G or Wi-Fi wireless networks.
IBM says a virtualized solution can rapidly switch computing resources to deliver incremental capacity on-demand. As a result, customers experience lower network latency even during periods of peak network activity.
Meanwhile, Connectem VCM architecture and software will meet the strict service requirements expected of the mobile broadband carriers. This new software architecture, combined with high-performance virtualization built into the PureFlex platform, will enable quick adoption of new services and business models which are critical for mobile carriers.
Recently, Nav Chander, research manager, Telecom Services and Network Infrastructure, IDC, said: “IDC believes that the rapid global growth of data and video traffic across all networks, the increasing use of public and private cloud services, and the desire from consumers and enterprises for faster, more agile service and application delivery are driving the telecom markets toward an inevitable era of network virtualization. SDN and large-scale network virtualization will become a game shifter, providing important building blocks for delivering future enterprise and hybrid, private, and public cloud services.”
InfotechLead.com reported that IBM will offer business partners one-year free access to cloud-based IBM Digital Analytics technology, targeting small to midsize enterprises in emerging markets such as India and Africa. IBM says its new projects would assist its global business partners to utilize cloud, mobile and big data analytics technologies to generate new revenue streams.
According to Radisys, cloud technology and network virtualization will be the biggest disruptors, and paramount investment priorities, in the telecoms sector over the next five years.
But technology immaturity is delaying telecom cloud deployment decisions. In the meantime, carrier investment is directed toward network traffic optimization and service monetization to deal with the pressing issues of increasing mobile data traffic and cannibalization of operator service revenues.
IBM, which announced its strong support for the virtualization of network infrastructure, says separating network functions from purpose-built hardware can speed the deployment of new services while reducing the economic burden on clients, a key goal of IBM’s Smarter Communications initiative.
“The IBM PureFlex platform is suited to enable virtualization of network functions that are implemented as software applications running on elastic, on-demand infrastructure in 3G, 4G or Wi-Fi wireless networks,” said Jacqueline Woods, global vice president of Systems Software & Growth Initiatives, IBM Systems & Technology Group.
Virtual Core for Mobile software solution has the potential to deliver higher network performance during peak usage periods, where millions of customers could be accessing a mobile network via smartphones or tablets.