NEC and Netcracker Technology this week announced that they have successfully conducted a trial, in collaboration with Japanese operator K-Opticom, for a system combining Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and 10G-Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON) technologies.
The trial verified for the first time ever that virtualized Customer Premises Equipment (vCPE) can be successfully applied to 10Gbps Internet connections.
K-Opticom operates the "mineo" as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) mobile service, and "eo denki," an electric power retailing service for household use.
vCPE provides CPE and other top-layer functions, such as Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) and Network Address Translation (NAT), from data centers via the Internet. vCPE also enables the improvement of home-based communications environments, making it possible to simplify home gateways, and to achieve the following:
By virtually establishing conventional CPE functions on the K-Opticom network side, vCPE enables the constant provision of a secure communications environment. It also makes it possible to provide new services such as Video on Demand (VoD), cloud storage and parental control easily and quickly.vCPE makes it possible to monitor the conditions of communications on devices such as computers, smartphones and tablets remotely at the request of the service user; facilitating the improvement of communications environments, and enabling prompt identification and resolution of faults.
Based on the results of this trial, further trials are being planned in preparation for the full-scale application of vCPE to 10Gpbs Internet services.
Takamitsu Fukunaga, SVP, K-Opticom
Communications traffic volumes for home-use connections are increasing year by year, and K-Opticom estimates that these traffic volumes will continue to grow. As a result, we are considering the provision of a 10Gbps service.
Shigeru Okuya, SVP, NEC
NEC and Netcracker are honored to have carried out this trial, the first of its kind, to validate that vCPE can be applied to 10G-EPON—together with K-Opticom.
