CenturyLink announced that as part of a program to transform its central offices using next-generation virtual functionality designed to speed the delivery of broadband services to customers, it has become the first carrier to use its own virtualised broadband network gateway (vBNG) to support broadband services based on the Central Office Re-architected as a Datacenter (CORD) design.
The implementation marks a key step in CenturyLink’s efforts to virtualise its infrastructure within the central office, which comprises part of the company’s wider program to establish full virtualisation across its global IP core network by the end of 2019.
Through adopting CORD, CenturyLink is using software-defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualisation (NFV) with the aim of bringing data centre economics and cloud agility to its central offices and to enable faster and more efficient delivery of new services to its residential and business customers. The deployment features CenturyLink’s SDN access controller, an OpenDaylight-based controller stack that integrates its legacy OSS and latest orchestration platforms.
CenturyLink noted that in addition to virtualising its infrastructure, it is to developing and implementing virtualised services, including a virtual firewall, data centre interconnection and software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) for enterprise customers. Through these virtualisation initiatives, CenturyLink is seeking to enhance the customer experience by providing greater control of their services.
In June 2016, CenturyLink announced it had acquired certain assets of the company formerly known as Active Broadband Networks, a provider of software-based broadband networking solutions. The operator stated that the assets would help accelerate its efforts to automate its network, transition network functions into the cloud and deliver SDN and NFV services.
The company formerly known as Active Broadband Networks uses SDN and NFV technologies to provide broadband edge solutions to service providers designed to enable a cloud-based service infrastructure. The company specifically developed the Software-Defined Broadband Network Gateway (SD-BNG), designed to offer a cost-effective alternative for xDSL providers deploying G.fast. The SD-BNG solution was a software platform for deployment virtually or as part of a cloud infrastructure.
