Nokia is trialling how its Virtualised Services Router (VSR) can simplify and speed up delivery of residential broadband services to China Unicom subscribers.
The trial involves more than 5,000 subscribers in the Shandong province and will ultimately be expanded to other parts of China during the next two years.
China Unicom is turning to software defined networking and network functions virtualisation as it looks to increase efficiency, agility and scaling through a cloud-ready network. It said the technology would help it create and deliver new services quicker.
Nokia’s VSR is used as a virtualised broadband network gateway, which the Finland-based vendor said is able to deliver subscriber management functions and advanced service capabilities from the edge.
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Sri Reddy, Head of IP Routing and Packet Core business at Nokia, said: “We are proud to be a part of China Unicom’s initiative to evolve its metro edge to a cloud-centric architecture. The Nokia VSR provides delivery of broad and rich virtualised IP edge applications with superior performance and enhanced scalability. Upon completion of this network transformation project, China Unicom will ensure increased operational efficiency and deliver a superior customer experience for its subscribers.”
Last week, VEON signed a global agreement with ZTE to work on NFV technology and virtual evolved packet core.
The operator is looking to deploy large-scale NFV and vEPC networks in several of its markets, including its native Russia.Â
In March, TIM delivered an NFV project for Poste Italiane, delivering voice over IP services to more than 13,000 post offices.