Telefónica is working with Red Hat and Intel to create a virtual infrastructure management (VIM) platform based on open source software running on standard Intel-based servers.
Telefónica said this collaboration will become part of its recently created Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) Reference Lab aimed at helping their ecosystem of partners and network equipment providers (NEPs) test and develop virtual network functions along with upper service orchestration layers.
Specifically, the NFV Reference Lab will be based on the following technologies:
- Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 V2
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux
- Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) hypervisor, well-regarded for industry-leading performance and configuration options;
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform, providing the tools needed to manage a large, dispersed pool of hypervisors and virtual machines, with a focus on automation and integration options; and
- OpenFlow-enabled switching equipment.
”For NFV we need to avoid closed and non-interoperable environments, which would hamper its widespread adoption. For that purpose, we have launched the Network Functions Virtualisation Reference Lab, where Telefónica, along with key players from the industry, is working to enhance baseline virtualisation technologies from the open source community and contributing them back to the upstream community, to avoid technological fragmentation,” stated Enrique Algaba, Global CTO and Network Innovation and Virtualisation Director, Telefónica I+D.
“By applying our experience of cloud technologies and business models along with our server and virtualization technology leadership to NFV applications, Intel aims to improve total cost of ownership and reduce time-to-market for applications for service providers, Through our work with Telefonica and Red Hat on this new lab, we will enable a broader ecosystem of developers that will accelerate the commercial availability of NFV solutions,” said Rose Schooler, vice president and general manager, Communications and Storage Infrastructure Group, Intel.
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- At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this year, Telefónica unveiled UNICA — it’s end-to-end vision for virtualized network infrastructure for transforming the company into a “Digital Telco.” Telefónica described UNICA as a paradigm shift in the way networks are designed, installed, provisioned and managed. Its first goal is to address the logical re-grouping of resources needed to deploy a new services via the new generation data centers it is building. The idea is to use extremely efficient data centers to deploy platforms and telecommunication services faster than ever before. Telefónica will pursue an “Open Telco” model with a global network infrastructure on which multi-vendor platforms, features and services can be developed in standardized form. Telefónica also said that it believes the redesign of its network should be gradual and seamless and foresees an implementation start date of sometime in June 2014. The company expects to have more than 30% of its new infrastructures managed in accordance with this model by 2016.
At #MWC14, Telefónica demonstrated a few UNICA use cases, including the idea of multi-tenancy (where the same basic solution works for multiple organisations) or NaaS (Network as a Service), using pre-installed templates to deploy virtualised equipment in real time and with integrated resource management.
In partnership with Huawei, Telefónica showed UNICA’s capabilities and performance requirements.
In addition, Ericsson and Telefonica launched a joint R&D program focused on NFV and service provider SDN. The companies will define a joint view on how the transformation of networks should take place, sharing a common outlook on the order in which network functions will be virtualized and which applications are likely to give the most benefit.
- In 2013, Telefónica inaugurated the first phase of its massive Alcalá Data Centre project outside of Madrid, which aims to be one of the largest Tier IV data centers in Europe and the world. The first phase, which is now operational, is a new building measuring 24,700 m2, with seven IT rooms covering an area of 682 m2 each. The complete project, which will progress gradually, will cover a total area of 65,700 m2 (over 700,000 square feet) and include a further 16 IT rooms, on a 78,400 m2 plot of land (the size of 8 football pitches). Telefónica said the new facility is key to transforming the company into one of the leading companies in the new digital world. The data center will be home for the whole range of ICT services, from housing, infrastructures and cloud computing to full outsourcing of customer applications. It will also operate as Telefónica’s cloud services base for Europe and will house platforms for customers in Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany and the Czech Republic.
