Telekom Austria Group's Serbian subsidiary, Vip mobile, claims that it has successfully demonstrated the first fully virtualized LTE stack in a live network delivering data, voice and IMS services, using Connectem's virtual Evolved Packet Core (vEPC). Telekom Austria Group claims that it becomes the first operator worldwide to implement virtualization of the entire core network production chain for mobile broadband service in a live environment.
The Vip mobile showcase follows a series of successful trials of individual virtualized functions in 2014, including the deployment of Connectem's Virtual Core for Mobile (VCM) solution in the Group's Croatian subsidiary, Vipnet. Connectem has partnered with VMware to bring VMware vSphere to the VCM solution. Connectem said that the Telekom Austria Group undertook numerous tests to experience the resilience of Connectem VCM across VMware vSphere to understand the long-term implications of running a vEPC in a virtualized infrastructure.
In addition, within the Connectem VCM, essential DPI functionality enabling application detection and content optimization is provided by Procera's NAVL DPI engine. Connectem also collaborates with Red Hat to use its Enterprise Linux, including the Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) hypervisor, and Connectem's Virtual Core for Mobile (VCM) to create an NFV environment providing a high-performance, cost-effective OpenStack managed NFV implementation. The live demonstration also includes virtualized Clearwater IMS Solution by Metaswitch and virtualized VoLTE AS by OpenCloud.
Guenther Ottendorfer, CTO, Telekom Austria Group
NFV is a paradigm shift for the global Telecom industry but also shows that there are many innovations on the horizon which will further enhance the customer's experience and the operator's ability to meet the customer's changing expectations. NFV signals a new optimism within our industry, with the potential of offering huge opportunities to reengineer and optimize network infrastructure and deliver better service for our customers.
Nishi Kant, CEO, Connectem
Integration and cooperation between our three companies was extremely smooth, and the results provide an excellent example of the operational efficiency and productivity that NFV can create for mobile operators. We congratulate Telekom Austria Group on its vision and tenacity, not only in running multiple trials leading up to this event, but also in its commitment to understanding the implication of using different hypervisor technologies, hardware platforms and software approaches to understand the long-term implications of running a vEPC in virtualized infrastructure. We are very proud of the performance we have been able to achieve in supporting not only data but latency-sensitive VoLTE calls.
