Telefónica unveiled UNICA — it’s end-to-end vision for virtualized network infrastructure that will transform the company into a true Digital Telco.
At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, 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 is demonstrating 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 is showing UNICA’s capabilities and performance requirements.
In addition, Ericsson and Telefonica are launcing 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.
“We are living in an extremely dynamic and changing environment, and flexibility is the only approach to efficiently adapt our business to our customers’ needs. Network virtualization brings unique opportunities to address current and upcoming challenges while building a more sustainable network model. This collaboration with Ericsson will help us to advance this future network,” stated Enrique Blanco, Telefonica Global CTO.
http://saladeprensa.telefonica.com/
http://www.ericsson.com/news/1763979
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.
The Alcalá Data Centre uses a modular architecture with redundant energy supplies and communications for each hall. Telefónica expects an annual reliability of 99.995%. Each module will be independent, allowing new rooms to be activated without affecting the operation of the rest. Similarly, the 1,200 kW of IT power for each room can be multiplied up to fourfold without impacting the housed systems. A redundant fiber optic ring connects to the company’s Julián Camarillo Data Centre (Madrid), providing mutual back-up in case of faults.
