in association with

NFV deploymeNts oN briNk oF rapid acceleratioNTelecom service providers and mobile operators have identified

potential benefits but need guidance on execution strategies

Survey conducted by IDG Connect on behalf of Intel

in association with

2. Summary of reSearch

Core infrastructure elements considered ripe for virtualisation are IMS and BRAS, suggesting NFV platforms will be deployed initially in support of voice/video/messaging/collaboration over fixed IP networks and business and residential broadband services.

Core Infrastructure Areas for NFV

Multiple potential benefits are currently associated with NFV, foremost of which are simplified network and data centre infrastructure management, configuration and control.

Anticipated Benefits

Simplify management, configuration and control

Speed up application and service provisioning

Enable hardware consolidation

Lower infrastructure TCO

Avoid vendor lock-in/utilise open source software

Enable customer self-service portals

Shift billing from capex to opex model

IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)

Broadband Remote Access Server (BRAS)

Evolved Packet Core (EPC)

Deep Packet Inspection (DPI)

98 percent of telecom service providers and mobile operators in Australia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea expect to have started Network Function Virtualisation (NFV) deployments within the next two years.

Approach to NFV today and in two years’ time

No plans for implementation

Currently implementing

Will implement within 12 months

Will implement at a later point

Already implemented in network/data centre

57%

0%

31%

55%

10%

0%

2%

2%

0%

43%

67% 65% 53% 47%

Today In two years

47%

45%

43%

41%

39%

37%

35%

in association with

3. INTroDucTIoNNetwork function virtualisation (NFV) promises a new approach to application and service delivery and infrastructure management for telecom service providers and mobile operators, having expanded the concept of network virtualisation beyond enterprise focussed software defined networking (SDN) into an architectural approach more finely tuned to the telecommunications industry specifically.

The technology has introduced the concept of the virtual network function (VNF) - a virtualised software instance or application that replaces dedicated hardware in data centres, fixed and mobile network infrastructure, or at the customer premises which can be quickly and simply configured and provisioned from a centralised management console without input from a network engineer.

Early NFV framework designs and standardisation initiatives have been driven by both the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and various other consortiums of telecom service providers and telecommunications equipment suppliers, all of which are still striving to perfect and demonstrate appropriate use cases at various levels.

Whilst these remain in the early stages of development, telecom service providers and mobile operators across the world are actively engaged in trialling NFV. The ETSI NFV Industry Specification Group (ISG) now boasts 100 members and participants – including Korea Telecom (KT), NTT, SingTel Optus, SK Telecom, Softbank Telecom and Telstra for example – and has completed 35 Proof of Concept (PoC) deployments with three more currently ongoing.

IDG Connect interviewed 51 senior staff working for telecom service providers and mobile operators across the Asia Pacific region to document their plans for NFV deployment and identify the problems they currently face in network service delivery.

Roughly equal numbers of those surveyed were drawn from Australia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea, with a slight majority (59%) working for companies employing up to 999 people.

Respondents held a variety of job roles, with C-Level executives (chief information officers, chief technology officers and chief security officers) representing almost half (45%) of the survey. Similar numbers worked either as vice presidents (18%), or directors (16%), with executive and senior vice presidents (12%), and managers (10%) making up the remainder.

All of those surveyed reported that they maintained some element of responsibility for both fixed telecoms and mobile networks within their organisation. Almost three quarters (73%) are involved in customer facing cloud/hosting services on fixed networks, with 58% engaged in service management systems across both fixed and mobile infrastructure. Just over half (55%) also help to provision or manage enterprise network services in fixed telecom networks.

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4. areaS of reSpoNSIbIlITy

The respondents taking part in the IDG Connect survey are employed in roles which hold responsibility for multiple aspects of fixed and mobile telecommunications networks. However slightly more appear to be involved in core network and business focussed service areas than they are for wireless infrastructure or home broadband services.

A majority (59%) on aggregate work on core mobile networks that interconnect, and route traffic to and from, various sub-networks for example, though this was an area of responsibility for a larger proportion (75%) of those working for organisations in Australia specifically.

A similar number of respondents in South Korea and Singapore are involved in service management systems which integrate customer facing telephony/data/hosting services with the underlying infrastructure such as customer relationship management or billing platforms (a figure that was higher - 71% - for respondents from Japan, and particularly low for respondents from Australia – 25%).

But very few anywhere (6%) maintain any responsibility for the radio access network (RAN) involving cellular GSM, UTMS or LTE (4G) technology at the network edge.

On the fixed telecom network side, almost all are involved in the delivery of business, rather than residential, network and cloud services to customers. Close to three quarters (73%) on aggregate have responsibility for cloud service provision (and slightly more in South Korea and Japan) – an area where virtualisation can deliver benefits when deployed in hosting data centres and the network edge.

More than half (55%) are involved in enterprise network services (which may include managed firewalls, VPNs, security services or WANs for example), which represent other areas where NFV platforms either within the data centre or at the customer premises can make a difference.

Though just under a quarter (22%) identified corporate back end services that link business applications to fixed telecoms networks as an area of responsibility on aggregate, the number was much higher for those from Australia (50%), with the same pattern repeated for mobile networks.

Cloud hosting, service management and enterprise network services most common

Mobile network responsibilities

Service management system

Corporate back end service Radio access network (RAN) system

59% 57%

33%

6%

Hosting/cloud service to customers

Service management system Enterprise network service

Corporate backend service

Home access network

Mobile core network system

73%

59%55%

22%12%

Fixed telecom network responsibilities

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The research provides a clear indication of current early stage adoption for NFV which is anticipated to accelerate sharply over the next two years, with 98 percent of respondents across in all four countries predicting implementations are either underway or imminent.

Whereas 57% report no plans for an NFV implementation today, the number drops to zero in two years’ time’ – suggesting NFV adoption is seen as inevitable by everybody in the survey base, with only 2% estimating a timescale beyond the next two years.

And while none of those taking part in the survey indicated NFV has been implemented within either their organisation’s networks or data centres already, that number grows to 43% on aggregate in two years’ time. Those expectations are slightly more positive in Singapore and South Korea (55% and 57% respectively) with the remainder of those two countries forecasting implementations will still be ongoing.

As ever with emerging technology, the rate of adoption varies from one country and organisation to the next however. Just under a third on aggregate (31%) said NFV implementations were already underway, though organisations in South Korea (43%) seem to be the early adopters here.

The research suggests there may be a lack of visibility into NFV deployments at senior management level however. Or at least different perspectives on that rate of adoption compared with their colleagues across the business which may have significant repercussions around investment and agility.

Only 17 percent of C-Level executives believe NFV projects to have already commenced within their organisations compared to 43 percent of those working either in vice president or technology, infrastructure and operational management roles.

A higher proportion of CIOs, CTOs and CSOs (70%) also believe their companies to have no plans for implementation (the figure is 46% across the rest of the survey base). However, in both cases those numbers fall to zero in two years’ time suggesting the difference of opinion hinges on timing rather than intent. A quarter of C-Level respondents (26%) felt that NFV would have already been implemented within their organisation’s network or data centre in two years’ time compared to 57 percent for those working in vice president and technology, infrastructure or operational roles.

Approach to NFV today and in two years’ time

Rapid acceleration of NFV adoption expected over the next two years

No plans for implementation

Currently in the process of implementation

Will implement within the next 12 months

Will implement at a later point

Already implemented in network/data centre

5. NfV ImplemeNTaTIoN plaNS

57%

0%

31%

55%

10%

0%

2%

2%

0%

43%

Today In two years

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6. mobIle NeTwork SerVIce proVISIoNINg28 percent of mobile services provisioned in a month or less

Fast provisioning is key to satisfying customer requirements and maximising revenue potential for any telecommunications company involved in delivering services to businesses and consumers. But it is clear that mobile operators in particular struggle to keep set-up timeframes as short as they may like.

There appear to be significant differences in how long it takes for organisations to provision four distinct types of mobile service for example, with service management and mobile core network systems generally taking less time than others.

Almost a third of those polled on aggregate (29%) feel that they can provision service management systems in less than a week, and 43 percent less than a month. But a significant minority (16%) still take over three months.

Provisioning is generally slower for mobile core network systems, with only 6 percent completed in a week, although 41 percent take less than a month. However, a fifth of mobile core network systems (20%) still take between three and six months to provision.

Radio access network (RAN) systems and corporate backend services take more time again, with only 2 percent provisioned in less than one week and 24 percent and 14 percent respectively completed within a month. These two types of services (49% and 55% respectively) are also more likely to take over 8 weeks to provision than any other type.

There also appear to be variations in speed from one country to the next, with organisations in Australia failing to provision anything other than service management systems in less than a week and a quarter (25%) taking over three months for everything bar RAN systems.

Those in Singapore appear to move fastest, with respondents estimating their employers to only take over three months to provision core network systems (18%) and corporate backend services (18%) with all other services completed in less than 12 weeks.

1-4 weeksLess than a week

4-8 weeks 8-12 weeks

3-6 months

Time taken to provision network services

Radio access network (RAN)

2%

22%

27%41%

8%

Mobile core network

6%

35%

24%

20%

16%

Service management system

29%

14%24%

16%

18%

Corporate backend service

2%12%

31%

20%

35%

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7. fIxeD NeTwork SerVIce proVISIoNINgA similar picture emerges when we look at the provisioning of fixed telecom network services. This is perhaps surprising again considering we know much of the focus here is on a business market that often views network connectivity and managed/cloud service provision in particular as mission critical.

The benchmark for fast cloud service provisioning set by Amazon Web Services, Google, Microsoft and other public cloud service providers engenders little tolerance for delay amongst companies looking for instant, on-demand access to cloud hosted applications and infrastructure.

This is a trend that telecom service providers in Australia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea do appear to have noted to a certain extent. A quarter (25%) currently provision cloud services in less

than a week, and just over half (51%) in less than eight weeks. But another quarter still take over three months to configure cloud services for their customers, with the same true for corporate back end services.

Corporate backend services are generally slower to configure on average alongside enterprise network services, with only 4-6 percent completed in less than a week and 14-18 percent in less than a month. However most (53-66%) take between 4 and 12 weeks to set up. As we have seen elsewhere, service management systems tend to be the fastest of all to provision, almost certainly due to their early use in the customer ordering process and revenue collection chain.

23 percent of fixed telecom services provisioned in a month or less

But residential customers do not appear to get the same level of priority as business customers, with only 2 percent of home access networks provisioned in less than a week, and 18 percent in less than a month. The big majority – 63 percent – take between 4 and 12 weeks to set up and deliver.

Organisations in South Korea appear faster at provisioning cloud services than most, with 36 percent delivered in less than a week compared to just 14 percent for those in Japan (which also takes over three months to configure cloud services in roughly one out of three cases).

Time taken to provision fixed telecom network services

Enterprise network service

Service management system

Corporate backend service

Home access network

Hosting/cloud service to customers

1-4 weeks

Less than a week

4-8 weeks

8-12 weeks

3-6 months0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

2

16

24

39

20

6

14

33 33

14

24

6

39

22

104

1822

3125 25

14 12

24 25

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8. NfV beNefITSSimplified management, faster service provisioning, hardware consolidation and lower costs most highly rated

Telecom service providers and mobile operators associate a number of potential benefits with their forthcoming NFV implementations. Foremost among these is the simplified management, configuration and control of relevant data centre and network architecture (identified as the biggest advantage by 47% on aggregate) which they believe the technology can deliver.

But almost as many saw faster application and service provisioning (45%), hardware consolidation (43%) and lower total cost of ownership (TCO - 41%) as other ways that NFV could improve their current approach.

There was generally less appreciation for NFV as an enabler of customer self-service portals however, with just over a third (37%) rating these as the most significant benefit on aggregate. This finding suggests most telecom service providers and mobile operators across all four countries tend to see NFV as a way to improve their own internal operations rather than the customer experience (despite the automation and reduced opex benefits that self-service portals may support).

Those in Australia and Singapore were particularly ambivalent on the merits of NFV enabled customer self-service portals however, with those in Japan and South Korea slightly more keen. There are also significant differences of opinion on the merits of NFV enabled customer self-service portals amongst different job roles. Half of CIOs, CTOs and CSOs (52%) rated these as the biggest potential benefit of NFV compared to a quarter of other those working in other roles.

But organisations in Australia and Japan are significantly more likely to associate the use of NFV with simplified management, configuration and control (67% and 64% respectively) than their counterparts in the other two countries, with more of those in Australia also highlighting hardware consolidation as a benefit (58%). C-Level executives also showed a greater appreciation of the avoidance of hardware vendor lock-in and utilisation of open source software (57% rated this as the biggest benefit of NFV).

Benefits of NFV Implementation

Simplify management, configuration and control

Speed up application and service provisioning

Enable hardware consolidation

Lower infrastructure TCO

Avoid vendor lock-in/utilise open source software

Enable customer self-service portals

Shift billing from capex to opex model

47%

45%

43%

41%

39%

37%

35%

in association with

9. curreNT SerVIce DelIVery challeNgeS

Most telecom service providers and mobile operators in Australia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea identify problems with the network service delivery strategies currently in place which they may look to NFV to alleviate.

Almost two thirds (63%) on aggregate currently see the need to install, configure and maintain dedicated and customised network hardware and customer premise equipment (CPE) as a problem when it comes to delivering network services to their customers, for example.

This is clearly a big issue for a sizeable proportion of those surveyed - cited as the single biggest challenge by a third (33%) on aggregate, but more in South Korea (50%) and Australia (42%) compared to Japan (21%) and Singapore (18%) which are both more concerned about slow bandwidth/service provisioning times and lack of customer control over service provisioning and configuration.

That same need to accommodate dedicated/customised network hardware and CPE appears to present greater problems to smaller organisations employing less than a 1,000 staff, suggesting the issue is compounded within companies with fewer dedicated network engineers.

Only slightly lower numbers of those surveyed on aggregate (55-56%) reported that their organisation encountered challenges around network and service management (83% in Australia), scaling networking resources to meet cloud service demand, quickly provisioning bandwidth, and giving customers control over service provisioning and configuration.

A higher proportion of those working as vice presidents or in technology, infrastructure and operational roles (64%) recognise a lack of customer control over service provisioning or configuration as an issue, additionally identified as their most significant problem by 25 percent compared to only 13% of C-Level executives.

It is also the respondents at the sharper end of infrastructure management who are marginally more likely to perceive expensive network hardware/CPE (68%), and slow provisioning (61%) as current handicaps.

Running dedicated data centre/network hardware and customer premise equipment is most problematic

Dedicated/customised hardware/CPE expensive

Network/service management complex/time consuming

Network resources hard to scale

Services/bandwidth slow to provision

Customers have no control over service provisioning

Common service delivery challenges

63%

57% 55% 55% 55%

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10. remeDIal meaSureSMore organisations have resorted to outsourcing application and service provision than upgrading or expanding internal infrastructure/staff resources

Cost, agility and flexibility are all major factors in any network or data centre expansion activity, and the IDG Connect research findings suggest that outsourcing is marginally preferred to in-house staff or infrastructure upgrades on aggregate.

The respondents indicate that the most common approach to addressing the network service problems outlined in Tab 9 centres on outsourcing their provision to third party providers, for example. This is a strategy currently employed by almost two thirds (65%) of the organisations surveyed across all four countries, but more so for those in Japan (71%) and Singapore (73%) ahead of Australia (50%).

Yet only slightly less (just over half in each case) are additionally focussed on tackling these issues through the utilisation of in-house resources: either by expanding their current network or data centre infrastructure with the installation of new equipment or employing more staff in the form of engineers or network/data centre managers (both 55%), or upgrading their existing network and data centre hardware (51%).

Those in Singapore (73%) and Australia (67%) reported themselves more likely to be investing in the expansion of current network and data centre infrastructure. This tactic is less popular amongst those in Japan however (36%), more of which prefer to upgrade the equipment they already have (64%).

Another illustration of the varying degrees of visibility into internal staff and infrastructure resources amongst different job roles also presents itself here, along with a strong suggestion that internal politics may be at play. So while we see that two thirds (65%) of C-Level executives consider that their organisation is employing more engineers and/or network or data centre managers, that figure drops to less than half (46%) amongst those holding other job roles.

Conversely, a much higher number of those working as vice presidents or in technology, infrastructure and operational roles (64%) identified upgrading existing network/data centre hardware as a current remedial measure compared to just 35% of C-Level executives.

Remedial measures taken to ease problems

Outsourcing application/service provision to third party providers

Expanding current network/data centre infrastructure

Employing more engineers, network/data centre managers

Upgrading existing data centre hardware

65% 55% 55% 51%

in association with

11. opTImal poINTS for NfV ImplemeNTaTIoNCentralised data hosting facilities identified as best place for initial NFV implementations

NFV has multiple potential use cases within telecom service providers, mobile operator networks and data centres, many of which are the subjects of ongoing trials and proof of concept (PoC) deployments. Those in Australia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea have their own ideas on where the technology can best be implemented, however.

The majority (84%) of those surveyed by IDG Connect aggregate think NFV would deliver most benefit if implemented within their data centres and hosting facilities for example, a finding which suggests a clear understanding of the technology’s suitability in helping to simplify and improve the provision of cloud based or managed applications and services.

Three quarters (76%) also see the radio access network (RAN) as the ideal location, with the figure higher for those based in Australia (100%) and Singapore (91%).

However, it is important to remember here that only 6 percent of the survey base identified the RAN as their area of responsibility, and that consequently respondents may have little visibility into, or appreciation of, NFV’s suitability for deployment at the network edge or their organisation’s deployment plans. Certainly the RAN does not appear to be a priority location - only 4 percent on aggregate identified it as the most important point of implementation.

A majority (59%) on aggregate identified core network infrastructure as the best place for NFV. This was also seen as the single most important location for NFV deployment by 39 percent indicating it is a priority on a par with centralised data centre hosting facilities (35%) for a significant number.

A much smaller percentage (16%) feel that NFV enabled CPE will yield any significant advantage for the moment however. This indicates that most see the benefits of the technology as more applicable to their own network and data centre infrastructure in the short term, and that the current problems with dedicated, expensive hardware identified in Tab 9 relate more directly to their own equipment.

Benefits areas for NFV within network and data centre architecture

Radio access network

Core network infrastructure

Network edge

Centralised data centre/hosting facility

Customer location

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100% 84%76%

59% 53%

16%

in association with

12. core INfraSTrucTure elemeNTSTwo thirds will focus on virtualising core IMS and BRAS infrastructure first

In terms of which specific parts of the core network they would consider virtualising using NFV in the future, two clear candidates emerge.

The first is the IP multimedia subsystem (IMS, highlighted by 67% on aggregate) commonly defined as a foundation for the integration of fixed and wireless networks using the Internet Protocol (IP) to support a new generation of converged end to end applications and services.

But roughly the same number (65%) also pinpointed the broadband remote access server (BRAS) or broadband network gateway which routes traffic to and from digital subscriber line access multiplexers (DSLAMs), provides Layer 2/3 internet connectivity through the service provider’s backbone network, and controls policy management and quality of service metrics.

These findings offer valuable insight into the types of NFV enabled applications and services respondents expect to start delivering the in the early stages of their NFV rollouts, most likely IP based voice/video/messaging/collaboration over fixed and mobile networks alongside business and residential broadband services for example.

Expectations for NFV enabled IMS are higher in Singapore (82%) and Japan (71%) ahead of South Korea (50%) while organisations in Australia (75%) anticipate a greater focus on BRAS. BRAS is marginally more of a priority for larger organisations with headcounts of between 1,000 and 5,000 people (76%) perhaps indicating a greater focus on broadband service provision, whereas IMS is favoured by 71% of those employing fewer staff.

Just over half (53%) on aggregate believe the evolved packet core (EPC) platforms designed to converge voice and video on 4G LTE mobile networks will be virtualised using NFV. But the number is only slightly lower (47%) for deep packet inspection (DPI) elements needed for network traffic monitoring, filtering, security and analysis, currently being considered by more companies in South Korea (64%) than anywhere else.

IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)

Broadband Remote Access Server (BRAS)

Evolved Packet Core (EPC)

Deep Packet Inspection (DPI)

67%

65%

53%

47%

Core infrastructure areas for NFV

in association with

13. NfV challeNgeSMultiple challenges in evaluating, planning and implementing NFV enabled architecture are anticipated

Nobody is under any illusion that the NFV infrastructure upgrades they implement will be plain sailing. Despite widespread plans for deployment highlighted in Tab 5, telecom service providers and mobile operators across the region do anticipate difficulties in implementing the technology, though given the current lack of live deployments their deliberation clearly rests on expectations rather than experience.

That so many companies are at the planning stage is obvious from the finding that almost two thirds (65%) highlighted difficulties in the evaluation of different vendor NFV solutions as either their biggest, or at least a very big, challenge. And roughly the same number are concerned about migration complexity and interoperability issues (65%), and integration with existing systems (63%).

Lack of in-house NFV skills and knowledge is another problem (identified as a big or the biggest challenge by another 63% on aggregate), one echoed in other industry sectors which are also struggling to find staff with experience of network virtualisation platforms and strategies which remain immature for the most part.Associated leasing, maintenance and ownership costs seem slightly less of a concern, though pricing for NFV enabled platforms remains largely opaque where available as vendors themselves struggle to settle on appropriate NFV billing strategies.

There are significant differences in expectations between organisations from each different territory however. Those in Singapore fear migration complexity, interoperability issues and a lack of in-house skills and knowledge (81-82%) more than most, whilst Japanese telecom service providers and mobile operators are more apprehensive of the difficulties involved in evaluating different vendor solutions (86%) and integration with existing systems (71%). Organisations in South Korea too see migration complexity and interoperability issues as big challenges (79%) alongside unfamiliar TCO modelling (71%).

Those working at the sharp end of IT services provision, predominantly in technology, infrastructure and operational roles alongside executive and senior vice presidents, are particularly concerned about the impact of application and service performance during any rollout.

Most important NFV challenges

Impact on application/service performance

Unfamiliar TCO modelling

Difficulties evaluating NFV solutions

Lack of in-house NFV skills/knowledge

Cost of installing/maintaining NFV architecture

Migration complexity/interoperability issues

Integration with existing systems

22%

20%

18%

16%

12%

10%

8%

in association with

13. NfV challeNgeS Multiple challenges in evaluating, planning and implementing NFV enabled architecture are anticipated

Most important NFV challenges

Australia

Japan Singapore

Difficulties evaluating NFV solutions Migration complexity/interoperability issues Lack of in-house NFV knowledge Integration with existing systems

Impact on application/service performance Unfamiliar TCO modelling Cost of installing/maintaining NFV architecture

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

25 25

17

8 8

17

8

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

0

21

7

0

29

14

7

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30% 29

7

29

0

21

1414

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30% 27

18

9 9 9

27

18

South Korea

in association with

14. coNcluSIoNThe findings of the IDG Connect research provide invaluable insight into expectations for NFV amongst telecom service providers and mobile operators in Australia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea, detailing not only rollout plans and timescale but also the specific application and service use cases being initially investigated.

Almost all (98%) expect to have either already implemented, or be in the process of implementing, NFV enabled solutions within their networks or data centres within the next two years, with those in South Korea expected to be the early adopters.

A number of potential benefits are associated with these forthcoming NFV deployments, foremost of which is the simplified management, configuration and control of relevant data centre and network architecture that they believe the technology can deliver.But almost as many see faster application and service provisioning as a major benefit – particularly important given the time it currently takes them to provision new customer facing, internal management and backend services on both fixed and mobile networks.

Certainly most telecom service providers and mobile operators surveyed across Australia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea do recognise problems in the way they currently provision and deliver network services which they may look to NFV to alleviate.

Over half (55%) believe that services and bandwidth are too slow to provision. And equal numbers feel that network and service management is complex and time consuming, network resources are

hard to scale and customers have no direct control over service delivery and configuration. But almost two thirds (63%) also see the deployment and management of dedicated or customised network and data centre hardware and customer premise equipment (CPE) as a challenge.

NFV enabled cloud service delivery appears to be a big area of focus across all four countries. Almost all (84%) pinpoint centralised data centres or hosting facilities as the optimal location for deployment of the technology, with a sharp focus on NFV enabled IMS and BRAS suggesting initial plans for IP based voice/video/messaging/collaboration over fixed and mobile networks alongside business and residential broadband services.

Yet NFV remains an emerging technology which is not widely understood within the telecom service provider and mobile operator community. Many organisations have difficulties evaluating NFV solutions; migration, interoperability and integration issues; and a lack of in-house knowledge and skills.

As such telecom service providers and mobile operators in Australia, Japan, South Korea and Singapore should take their time to properly assess the platforms now available from both major network hardware/software vendors and emerging start-ups. They should now engage in trial and proof of concept scenarios on a limited scale before committing to broader mission critical rollouts, and seek to match deployment plans with service expansion initiatives and/or infrastructure consolidation projects to maximise the potential benefits.

IDG Connect is the demand generation division of International Data Group (IDG), the world’s largest technology media company. Established in 2006, it utilises access to 44 million business decision makers’ details to unite technology marketers with relevant targets from any country in the world Committed to engaging a disparate global IT audience with truly localised messaging, IDG Connect also publishes market specific thought leadership papers on behalf of its clients, and produces research for B2B marketers worldwide.

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