Telefónica pairs with Alcatel-Lucent for NFV

Telefónica and Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) have agreed to jointly test network functions virtualization (NFV) technologies. The signed memorandum of understanding builds on an earlier agreement that saw the international carrier use Alcatel-Lucent's CloudBand platform to advance NFV implementation and the successful testing of Alcatel-Lucent's Virtualized Service Router in Telefónica's NFV Reference Lab using the OpenMANO NFV orchestration stack.

The new agreement will focus mainly on the application of NFV principles to mobile networks. Alcatel-Lucent previously participated in Telefónica demonstration of a virtualized network at Mobile World Congress than included virtualized evolved packet core (vEPC), IP Multimedia Subsystem (vIMS), Content Delivery Network (vCDN) and service routing (VSR), and radio access network (vRAN).

The two parties will further test Alcatel-Lucent's Virtualized Service Router technology in a production environment (see "Alcatel-Lucent offers virtualized IP edge router functions via Intel servers"). They also will test other elements of Alcatel-Lucent's NFV portfolio, including the vEPC, virtualized session border controller, and the virtualized CPE.

"We are pleased to continue our work with Alcatel-Lucent on the use of NFV technologies to transform future networks," said Enrique Blanco, global CTO, Telefónica. "We have already seen an outstanding performance in the testing of Alcatel-Lucent's VSR, showing that it delivers comparable performance to hardware-based routers. Use of these technologies will open up new opportunities as we continue innovating to exceed our customer's expectations."

Telefónica has aggressively investigated software-defined networking (SDN) and NFV with a variety of technology providers, including Brocade, Cisco, Huawei, and Infinera.

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