BT is the latest company to explore network functions virtualisation after signing a deal with network solutions company Ipanema Technologies.
Researchers at BT’s Adastral Park campus will work with counterparts at Ipanema to explore the potential of the latter’s IP engines. The two companies will test virtualised WAN optimisation and application performance functionality, which both companies said would omit the requirement for distributed network devices.
Among the areas of application performance management the companies are examining are connectivity, quality of service, acceleration and reporting.
Dr Tim Whitley, MD of Research & Innovation for BT said: “NFV has real potential as a technology, which is why we have a wider program in place to determine exactly which network functions can be virtualised. Effectively managing and controlling application performance remains absolutely critical to BT’s enterprise customers, so we welcome the opportunity to explore the future uses of virtual ip|engines from Ipanema.”
Paul Cobos, Vice President Global Partners, Ipanema Technologies commented: “We appreciate that the nature of networks and the methods of computing are changing rapidly. Virtualising our technology has the potential to deliver numerous benefits to our customers, including: reduced expense, quicker deployment, reduced power consumption, hardware independence, and even greater scalability. We are delighted to be working with BT on this research project.”
The experiments build upon both companies’ commercial relationship, where Ipanema’s IP engine devices are deployed in BT’s customer branches and data centres.
NFV projects are growing in number among telcos, with Telekom Austria, Telefonica and Telecom Italia among the companies running trials or rolling out the technology.