Verizon announces Session Border Controller-as-a-Service
Verizon announced it is expanding its SDN solution suite with the launch of Virtual Network Services – Session Border Controller-as-a-Service (SBCaaS).
Verizon introduced Virtual Network Services as part of its SDN and NFV strategy. Based on a pay-as-you go pricing model, Verizon’s Virtual Network Services allows users to launch multiple network services on a single universal customer premises equipment (uCPE) appliance, a virtual CPE (vCPE) from Verizon Cloud or a mix of both.
Virtual Network Services – SBCaaS builds upon these services with the enablement of geo-diverse session border controller (SBC) deployments. A SBC is a network function frequently deployed to secure Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) networks and control signaling. It serves as a router between a company and carrier service, determining which sessions, otherwise known as phone calls, can go through the connection point.
“Geo-Diversity provides protection against system and network wide failures. Enterprise customers can chose to build a primary (e.g. in Atlanta) and secondary (e.g. in Seattle) SBC hosted on different VNS Data Center (HNS) locations for business continuity and disaster recovery,” Rakendu Devhdar, product manager for Verizon’s Virtual Network Services portfolio, told RCR Wireless News. “Should the primary site experience an outage (weather, power, connectivity issues, etc) customer PBXs can be configured to roll over to the secondary location to ensure uninterrupted service to end users.”
Developed with Ribbon Communications, Virtual Network Services – SBCaaS is available in the U.S. and other countries across the globe. It can be deployed as a stand-alone option or service chained with other virtualized network functions (VNFs).
“In a rapidly evolving technology landscape, enterprises need to innovate without the wait. Verizon’s Virtual Network Services – SBCaaS provides enterprises with a fast, safe path to the future that has already been vetted and validated by a partner they trust,” said Kevin Riley, CTO and Advanced R&D at Ribbon. “SBCaaS with Ribbon combines strong security with a cloud-based consumption model to enable enterprises to protect their networks and maintain high-quality real-time communications with confidence whether they have ten users or ten thousand.”
Like the whole Verizon VNS portfolio, Virtual Network Services – SBCaaS provides predictable operating expense model pricing and other service feature, capacity and delivery options. These elements are intended to simplify budgetary planning and improve utilization of network resources. It can also help deflect toll fraud and Telephony Denial of Service (TDoS) attacks.
Verizon expects to release additional options, such as Verizon universal CPE (uCPE), hybrid network deployment, expanded VNF service chain and capacity selections, throughout the year.
