Telefónica unveils UNICA, a pioneering initiative that will provide the framework for the company’s global end-to-end virtualisation deployment and expansion plans for its network infrastructure at the Mobile World Congress. The operator who described this as a paradigm shift in the way networks are designed and installed, plans to have 30 per cent of new infrastructures to be on this model by 2016. Telefonica's virtualization strategy also extends to home CPEs with virtual CPE that can be provisioned virtually, simplifiying provisioning of access services for the end user.
In this way, Telefónica moves towards becoming an open Telco model with a global network infrastructure on which multi-vendor platforms, features and services can be developed in standardised form. Telefónica believes the redesign of its network should be gradual and seamless and foresees an implementation start date of sometime in June 2014 to this end; the objective being to have more than . UNICA promises to offer real and permanent change for Telefónica’s network transforming the company into a true Digital Telco.
All this will reduce the time to market and accelerate the deployment of a new generation of services in the coming years, characterised by an overwhelmingly improved level of quality and personalisation given that critical mass will no longer be necessary for implementation.
Among the many capabilities offered by UNICA and on show at MWC is the idea of multi-tenancy (where the same basic solution works for multiple organisations) or NaaS (Network as a Service), using pre-installed templates to deploy virtualised equipment in real time and with integrated resource management.
Source - Telefonica
