Tele2, Wednesday announced its decision to move its Network & IT functions to the cloud leveraging Network Functions Virtualization(NFV). This is expected to enable Tele2 to deliver a wider set of services to its customers within all segments including Business, Consumer and Internet of Things (IoT). Tele2 expects to have the first live application in the form of a virtual Evolved Packet Core (vEPC) in the cloud by the third quarter of this year.
According to Tele2, it is embracing open source as a way to speed service deployment and keep costs low by selecting OpenStack as the foundation for its private cloud. The operator will be leveraging Canonical to provide and manage OpenStack, while Canonical’s generic VNF manager, Juju, will be used for the onboarding of new services.
In terms of hardware, Huawei will be providing the rack mount servers, while Cisco is the chosen network vendor and will provide their ACI solution. The entire data center network will be built on a future proof spine/leaf network with modern 25Gb/100Gb connectivity, said Tele2.
Niklas Sonkin, EVP and COO, Tele2 AB
This is an important step for Tele2 in further strengthening our position as a technology frontrunner. We are strong believers in 5G and are actively contributing to the evolution of 5G as a member of NGMN. The 5G standard will be ready by 2020 and in the field one or two years later. Cloud and virtualization are important building blocks in the foundation of 5G technology.
