Is virtualized VoLTE the answer to fighting OTT challengers?
It’s quite clear that mobile telecommunication operators are being redefined by LTE and the transition to all-IP communications. The transition of telephony services from circuit-switched legacy to voice over LTE now seems a certainty. However, Ovum has revealed that of all the LTE networks operating today, only 4% have launched VoLTE services so far. This hesitation was due to the perceived costs associated with rolling-out VoLTE and the IP multimedia subsystem infrastructure it depends on. There is now a solution that is enabling carriers to mitigate this obstacle. The introduction of a virtualized, cloud-based service layer allows carriers to deploy VoLTE in a commercially competitive fashion, while enabling them to become more agile, innovative businesses.
Internet companies and over-the-top service providers are renowned for their innovative tendencies, rolling out new services designed by their IT engineering teams at a lightning-fast pace and then continually improving them with a constant flow of innovation. Conversely for telecom carriers, service innovation has been taken as an intermittent series of ponderous steps. This is due, to a large extent, to the fact that it was traditionally implemented through the physical addition of new hardware to the network and the dependency on the equipment vendor to add innovative new features. This means that carriers are comparatively unreactive, and are being left behind by the Skypes and WhatsApps of this world, which are able to innovate at a much faster pace.
When inspected through the lens of slow and expensive change it seems no wonder that, to date, deployment of IMS and VoLTE has happened at the traditional telecoms’ glacial speed. For many carriers, the barrier to deploy IMS and VoLTE is understood to be the difficulty in balancing the large upfront investment against a believable but unproven cost benefit. Uncertainty of how quickly they can migrate their subscriber base to LTE, fuelled by questions over the availability of VoLTE-enabled handsets, raises further questions over the actual timeframe for seeing any return.
Virtualization dramatically improves this balance. For a start, deployment of a cloud-based VoLTE service-layer and a virtualized IMS removes the need to deploy physical network equipment. There’s an obvious saving from working with software when compared to physically handling equipment, and further savings from the use of commodity server infrastructure compared with bespoke hardware. Scalability is also key – where once system capacity requirements would have to be forecast six to 12 months ahead of time, the ease of software deployment means that virtualized systems can start small and grow exactly as needed. Investment need only happen just before it starts making a return.
Virtualization of the network service layer also enables carriers to enjoy a sustainable program of innovation, and for VoLTE that’s important. Initial VoLTE deployments will all be based around the standard set of features, offering little differentiation among competing networks. Further return from investing in VoLTE will follow if it is seen as an opportunity to innovate – to attract and retain a greater market share.
Cloud-based VoLTE helps by accelerating the process of bringing new innovation to market. Historically, before new functionality reaches the live network it has been necessary to first deploy it into the test network. However, the test network being built of a replica collection of equipment has been a costly resource with limited capacity. Each change needs to have time scheduled in for testing before it can proceed to live deployment. This bottleneck creates delay and means that some innovation gets de-prioritized or cancelled altogether. Virtualization eradicates that barrier, meaning it now takes mere minutes for network developers to set up a miniature virtualized test network to run new services through, and it can be done at very low cost so each development team can have their own – testing can occur in parallel, without delay.
This is an exciting prospect for both carriers and consumers as both parties could see a wider range of real communication service enhancements on a far more regular basis.
In order for this to really fly, a final barrier must be removed. The network elements themselves must enable the creation of innovation by a wider group that should include the network operator themselves, their regular systems integrators, trusted third parties and so on. Traditional equipment prevents this because only the equipment vendors can modify their hardware products, greatly reducing the breadth of innovation.
With open, virtualized service-layer products, new ideas can be implemented freely and the development teams can spin-up and deploy into their own test network for approval before deploying to the operational network. It’s the development and operations principle that the IT industry has enjoyed for years.
The telecom industry is fast coming to the realization that those who embrace open products and virtualization evolve at a faster pace. In turn, it allows carriers to be truly reactionary to shifts in market demand, maintaining quality of service while seeking to innovate their core services. VoLTE is no exception. Those who simply follow the standard route will find themselves left behind by competitors old and new. By introducing an open, cloud-based service layer, carriers can de-risk and speed-up the launch of VoLTE and carve out an innovative path for network evolution that is truly sustainable.
Phillip Stubbs has 15 years’ experience in mobile telecommunications work developing solutions for leading network operators. Stubbs joined Vodafone in 1997 where he spent 10 years increasing senior roles in network design, IN development, prepay evolution and messaging architecture. Prior to joining OpenCloud in 2012, Stubbs spent five years with Airwide Solutions as chief architect to evolve the product architecture and lead global solutions development.
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