Software: Oracle, Cisco tout NFV, SDN progress

Software is becoming an increasingly important part of telecommunication networks and deployments as both wired and wireless carriers look to add functionality to operations while increasing simplicity and reducing costs. RCR Wireless News is keeping an eye on recent developments through its weekly “Software” wrap up.
—Oracle this week launched a new version of its Communications Core Session Manager, which the company said was designed to help telecommunication providers deploy network function virtualization technology.
Oracle explained that the new, 3GPP-compliant version supports secure network services like voice over LTE and rich communications suite due to an “enhanced core session control functionality – such as IMS roaming and interworking – to register subscribers for new services; coordinate signaling between applications, subscriber databases and policy servers; as well as route signaling between network access and edge elements.” Oracle also updated that solutions scalability to better align with NFV capabilities.
—Cisco recently added its WAN Automation Engine to its Evolved Services Platform in a move the company said bolsters its focus on network function virtualization and software-defined networking. Cisco said the offering will provide telecom operators with tools to analyze, visualize and control functions across multi-vendor, wide-area networks, which are common across most network deployments.
Specifically, the WAE platform automates bandwidth scheduling and calendaring, bypassing network congestion to provide what Cisco termed “bandwidth on demand.” This automation is claimed to deliver a more than 90% return on investment in the first year and a 45% drop in total cost of ownership.
–A new report from Maravedis-Rethink has linked the slower than expected roll out of large-scale small cell deployments to the need for more “mature” self-organizing network tools that will allow wireless carriers to tie in the various network radios into a single operation.
“Mobile operators hope SON will make their mobile broadband investments commercially viable,” the report explained. “By automating many planning and management tasks, it can speed time to market and save on the operating costs of manual processes. This is especially critical when carriers start deploying large numbers of small cells, in order to ensure they deliver targeted capacity, rather than radio chaos, and in challenging cost and time parameters.”
The report states that while many believe SON has been widely deployed, the technology in fact is still in its “infancy,” with the only real activity coming in some 3G deployments that it was not initially designed to work with. Despite claims by carriers of their interest in small cells deployment, Maravedis-Rethink predicts the roll out of wide-scale deployments in support of “4G” technologies will likely begin in 2015.
As for SON implementation, the report notes such deployments work best when tied closely with other network enhancement tools, such as OSS/BSS sources that allow for a more “responsive, accurate and targeted” platform.
Make sure to check out the latest in telecom related software news at RCR Wireless News’ dedicated software page. Also, if you have telecom software news to share, please send it along to: dmeyer@rcrwireless.com.
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