AT&T ECOMP platform now counts Bell Canada and Orange as collaborators working towards carrier-grade SDN deployments, future 5G support.
AT&T continues to garner carrier interest for its software-focused enhanced control, orchestration, management and policy platform, with Bell Canada now on board to use the tool for the creation and management of software-defined networks.
Bell, which is one of Canada’s three dominate telecom operators along with Telus and Rogers Communications, is set to join France’s Orange in collaborating with AT&T on its ECOMP platform.
“Bell Canada is committed to leading broadband network and service innovation in Canada,” said Petri Lyytikainen, VP of network strategy, services and management at Bell Canada, in a statement. “We believe software-defined networks will advance the future of both wireless and wireline connectivity by adapting to customer needs quickly, and enabling a seamless user experience. We are pleased to collaborate with AT&T and other leading communications companies to evaluate the promising capabilities of the open source ECOMP platform.”
AT&T unveiled the ECOMP initiative earlier this year, which it said was designed to automate network services and infrastructure running in a cloud environment. The carrier said it had been working on ECOMP for nearly two years, tackling the project due to a lack of guidance for network functions virtualization and software-defined networking deployments in a wide area network environment.
ECOMP is said to provide automation support for service delivery, service assurance, performance management, fault management and SDN tasks. The platform is also designed to work with OpenStack, though the carrier noted it was extensible to other cloud and compute environments.
In touting work with fellow telecom operators, AT&T said the ECOMP platform is expected to be a key component in meeting the growing demand for data services as well as bolstering “5G” network deployments
AT&T also again reiterated plans to release the ECOMP platform into the open source software community through the Linux Foundation, stating those efforts remain on track for the first quarter of next year. The carrier had initially made the commitment in July.
“It’s exciting to see the communications industry coalescing around ECOMP,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director at the Linux Foundation. “ECOMP is the most comprehensive and complete architecture for [virtual network functions/SDN automation we have seen. AT&T has had this platform in production for over two years now. This technology is unique in that it’s both disruptive and battle tested. We can’t wait to host it at the Linux Foundation and open it up to the broader developer community.”
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