NEC and Netcracker Technology have announced their participation in a trial with NTT to support the NetroSphere Concept for developing future communication networks.
The NetroSphere Concept is designed to enable the construction of a flexible, cost-effective network with the ability to respond to the needs of both end customers and service providers. The trial with NEC and Netcracker, hosted by NTT, verified the network slicing technology that will be required for the implementation of the NetroSphere Concept.
Network slicing technology will allow service providers to efficiently utilise network resources on an on-demand basis when they are required, thereby enabling the delivery of a range of services at lower cost.
The NTT trial demonstrated coordinated traffic distribution to the most appropriate network according to the traffic status of each device. NEC and Netcracker contributed to the trial by providing a virtualised CPE (vCPE) solution, which serves to distribute the traffic sent from each device to the most suitable network, and an IoT Service Enabler, which is designed to dynamically change distribution rules based on the status of traffic.
NEC/Netcracker’s vCPE solution enables CPE functions to be provided through network functions virtualisation (NFV) as part of an overall network solution. In addition, NEC’s IoT Service Enabler cooperates with the vCPE solution and with other network equipment compatible with 3GPP standards to enable functions such as the accurate assessment of a network’s status and the control of network bandwidth.
NEC introduced its IoT Service Enabler platform, supporting automated network management and control and serving as the mobile edge computing (MEC) architecture for next-generation wireless infrastructure, in October 2016. The IoT Service Enabler incorporates application interfaces for services, network interfaces defined by 3GPP and interfaces for sensors and cameras defined by OneM2M for machine to machine communications and the Internet of Things (IoT).
