Telco over Cloud, SDN and NFV solution

Telco over Cloud, Network Function Virtualization and Software Defined Networking are changing the telecommunications industry landscape, more specifically the Telco Service Providers network infrastructure and systems, by introducing cloud computing, virtualization paradigms and software approaches already in use and mature in traditional IT environments.

More specifically, Telco over Cloud foresees the creation of a common virtualized infrastructure to deploy and operate different network applications, provided by multiple network vendors. Each application becomes a virtual application performing a particular network function, leveraging all the capabilities brought by the cloud computing, in terms of elasticity, high availability and manageability. Evolution of traditional network applications towards a virtualized approach also fosters the competition among Telco vendors and enables new players to enter in the telecommunications market. The common underlying infrastructure can be built with COTS datacenter equipment, thus achieving benefits, both on the initial capital investments and on the infrastructure operational costs.

Reply knowledge of SDN (Software Defined Networking) and NFV (Network Function Virtualization) orchestration solutions allow to manage, orchestrate, visualize and automate next generation multi-vendor networks. Reply works side-by-side with Telco Service Providers supporting the evolution of their network infrastructures and platforms toward the software-defined cloud, and building strategic partnerships with key Telco Cloud & SDN market player is able to provide a comprehensive full-fledged solution portfolio.

NFV is a new network architectural approach proposed and fostered by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), which enhances the concepts of the Telco over Cloud by describing the virtualization of entire classes of network nodes, defining basic functional block, the virtual network functions, which can be then chained together to provide complex communication services.

SDN is a new, revolutionary approach to design and operate a telecommunication network. SDN aims to simplify the traditional way in which IP and Ethernet networks are operated, by evolving from an inherently distributed control logic, to a centralized one. SDN foresee the decoupling of the network control plane from the user plane, removing the former from the network devices and centralizing it. Network devices retain the forwarding functions and can be properly programmed from a central network controller, using common languages and APIs. The network controller, known as SDN controller, also exposes a northbound API to be programmed by different applications, based on their communication needs. This software-driven approach brings simplification in the networking devices, which can be realized with common, low cost hardware equipment and, at the same time, provides greater network flexibility and ease of management.