Network Function Virtualization (NFV) has emerged as a potentially revolutionary new architecture for building fixed and mobile networks. Offering a host of financial and operational benefits, this approach has quickly moved from Proof of Concept to field deployments carrying traffic for some of the world’s largest network operators. While the benefits of this technology have been understood by those responsible for building and designing networks, these results have remained largely proprietary and have not been shared with the world at large—until now.
In a report just released titled “Total Cost of Ownership Study, Virtualizing the Mobile Core,” authored by ACG Research, these tangible benefits are shared for the first time. As such, the report, sponsored by Affirmed Networks and VMware, makes a compelling argument for why Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) should move to an NFV-based architecture today.
The report reveals that for MNOs, the decision to delay network virtualization efforts can be a costly one, as every year they remain in traditional network architectures can cost them millions in unnecessary capital and operating expenses.
As part of its research, the study compared NFV architectures against traditional architectures as part of an independent, multi-year, multi-scenario economic analysis – looking specifically at a Machine-to-Machine (M2M) service offering and a large-scale, consumer broadband service – two common services being deployed over NFV based networks today.
Finally, the study sought to compare the inherent characteristics and capabilities of leading NFV solutions to determine which capabilities were necessary to achieve the greatest economic impact – from both a capital expenditure and a revenue-generation standpoint.