Microsoft, Affirmed and Metaswitch: What does it mean for telecoms?
Our in-depth analysis of Microsoft’s play in the telecoms market, why it acquired Affirmed Networks and Metaswitch, and what telcos should do about it.
Tag: Virtualisation
AI is starting to pay: Time to scale adoption
AI, coupled with a data-centric approach and automation, looks like it is starting to pay back the operators who have led in this field. Where can industry leaders go next, and what are the key lessons for others on how to ‘jump the curve’?
Telco Cloud Europe update: Open RAN approaching tipping point
Telco cloud continues to be deployed worldwide. A wave of recent deployments has been driven by 5G launches, and multiple factors may soon drive large-scale open RAN deployments
Telco Cloud Deployment Tracker: Updated October 2020
The latest update of our database of commercial deployments of NFV and SDN by leading telcos worldwide.
NFV goes mainstream: How cloud-native is contributing to growth
The number of deployments of NFV and SDN continues to grow – but while some markets are moving on to the next phase, others are just getting going.
NFV Deployment Tracker: Asia-Pacific points to the future of NFV
Asia-Pacific is the leading region in the global NFV/SDN market: highest volume of deployments and consistent record of innovation. The region points the way ahead for the global market.
Predicting the future: Where next for SD-WAN?
We outline three possible pathways for SD-WAN evolution. Part 3 of a three-part mini-series exploring SD-WAN technology from an enterprise perspective.
Flavours of SD-WAN: What’s on offer and which work?
We outline existing flavours of SD-WAN available on the market. Part 2 of a three-part mini-series exploring SD-WAN technology from an enterprise perspective.
Enterprise networking challenges: How can SD-WAN help?
We highlight the main networking challenges that SD-WAN is designed to address. Part 1 of a three-part mini-series exploring SD-WAN technology from an enterprise perspective.
Three new telco business models: Soft-net, Cloud-net, Compute-net
Telcos must adapt to virtualisation and changing customer needs in the Coordination Age. Our three new telecoms business models offer a realistic agenda for telcos to build up the stack into the IT layer – either by themselves or through partnerships.
NFV Deployment Tracker: Global review and update
SDN and NFV deployment is growing deeper but not broader: the long tail lags behind the pioneers.
NFV Deployment Tracker: Asia takes the lead
This update to our ‘NFV Deployment Tracker’ series focuses on Asia-Pacific, alongside European and North American data to March 2018. Telcos in developed Asian markets have made a great start, and the region has outstripped Europe and North America in live SDN / NFV deployments – but can NFV scale to Asia as a whole?
NFV Deployment Tracker – North America: SD-WAN tail wags NFV dog
This update to our ‘NFV Deployment Tracker’ series focuses on North America, alongside additional European data. 2016/7 has seen the rise of SD-WAN, enabling smaller operators to compete in the WAN market with NFV leaders AT&T, Verizon, Masergy, CenturyLink, etc. By contrast, fewer consumer use cases for NFV have yet been established.
NFV Deployment Tracker: Europe (September 2017)
STL Partners has compiled a new quarterly-updated tracker service of commercial deployments of NFV and SDN by leading telcos worldwide, providing an Excel database accompanied by an analytical report. The first update, devoted to Europe, found operators and vendors focusing on core network virtualisation and SDN/SD-WAN have so far led the way, as timelines on more systematic transformation programmes have been extended.
How to build an open source telco – and why?
Building a telco based on ‘free’ open source software is theoretically highly attractive to telcos, particularly those looking to increase their control over innovation and differentiation, and/or where cost reduction is critical. This report looks at how to address the challenges, identifies practical options and choices, and how, when and why to go about open source transformation in the real world.
NFV and OSS: Virtualization meets reality
Changing telcos’ systems from a legacy to a virtualised model is a bit like building an autonomous car from a moving steam locomotive. In this report, we look at the relationship between NFV (Network Functions Virtualization) and OSS (Operations Support Systems), and the difficulties that operators and the developer community are facing in migrating from legacy OSS to NFV-based methods for delivering and managing communications services.
The Devil’s Advocate: SDN / NFV can never work, and here’s why!
The early high hopes for SDN and NFV have given way to the realization that the road to cloud-telco ‘heaven’ is strewn with ‘infernal’ rocks and pitfalls. We present the “devil’s advocate’s” (i.e. an extremely sceptical) view of NFV set out in eight indictments. We then examine the argument for the defence.
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