Virtualized Security – The end of Big Irons
Virtualized, scalable and carrier grade performance/functionalities, a true game changer for CSP's.
How to maintain security while adopting SDN/NFV.
Erik Engström
Head of Telecom Sales
Most of the telecom industry agrees: SDN/NFV is the answer to optimized network efficiency, agility and to new revenue opportunities. The discussions now are not if but rather when and how SDN/NFV can replace the legacy systems.
As an example of the benefits gained by adopting SDN/NFV, Gartner highlights that some CSPs anticipates Opex reduction of 60% and Capex reduction of 40%*, providing virtualized network solutions. In addition to attractive cost reductions, CSPs can also capitalize on the new technologies by introducing new services such as Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN) and virtual CPEs (vCPEs).
One of the key concerns and success criteria of any SDN/NFV initiative is to find technologies and products that delivers on its promise.
Clavister Content
Increased data traffic and lower latency drives SDN/NFV adoption
Clavister trend analysis
Increasing number of mobile users with more data in both down-, and up-link, small-cell deployments and future connected IoT devices. We have all read about this many times and the ever increasing data throughput as a result. This may sound like a fantastic opportunity to some, while to others, mainly CSPs, it also creates a completely new market landscape where opportunities are equally matched by challenges and only the innovative and agile companies will succeed to lower the churn rate and improve profitability.
Big Irons – a dead end for CSP's
As NFV decouples network functions from their physical location CSP's will be able to deploy services based on the demand at a specific location and point in time. Given this, traditional legacy appliances will have to be replaced with virtualized and SDN/NFV ready products.
What most appliance-based solutions have in common is that they are expensive and lack the scalability needed in order to come out on the other side as an innovative winner that makes profit while also gaining market shares.
The transition to the more dynamic SDN/NFV environments has already started and the vast majority of CSPs are taking clear steps in this direction.
In fact, throughout 2018, to be competitive, more than 70% of communications service providers (CSPs) will have conducted proof of concept (POC)/pilot projects on network function virtualization (NFV) and software-defined networking (SDN), and over this period more than 50% among these will move toward implementation.
17 March 2016
The telecom industry is facing a huge technology transition. Software-defined network/network function virtualization will be very disruptive for CSPs' network-centric operations. CSPs' C-level decision-makers must ensure strategic service-centric, bimodal operations to exploit new related revenues.
Key Findings
- Communications service providers' (CSPs') C-level and business unit leaders have to work toward an intertwined technology and business strategy. This requires CTO, CIO and chief marketing officer (CMO) to collaboratively execute upon a common software-defined network (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV) corporate vision, by synchronizing operational processes, business models and corresponding skillsets across the organization.
- The role of the CIO will become more influential or may be merged with the CTO into a combined role – the chief technology and information officer (CTIO). The CMO will take a more technology-proficient role to define business requirements and build business cases to impel SDN and NFV technology investments.
- SDN/NFV will reach an inflection point once CSPs have transformed traditional network-centric to services-driven and software-orchestrated, multidomain operational infrastructures. CSPs will need to incubate, deliver and monetize revenue streams from SDN/NFV technology-enabled services and business models.