Delivering innovative applications and services to market first and faster is business critical for network operators today. ConteXtream's lightweight, agile approach to network virtualization cuts 50%-80% from the investment & time required to deploy new applications and services.
Network operators which implement an effective virtualization strategy get new applications to market more cost effectively, much faster and with superior quality; plus they can "mass customize" to the needs of every subscriber and still reduce cost/subscriber.
Server and data center virtualization has already proven a spectacular success because hardware can be treated as a common pool, shared flexibly amongst applications. Network virtualization delivers similar advantages in flexibility but for the network as a whole.
Our Service Delivery Grid creates a dynamic virtual pool of all the available application servers network wide and delivers each subscriber's traffic to those best placed to serve that subscribers' individual needs. See here for an explanation of our network virtualization technology.
Here are some examples of how ConteXtream's Service Delivery Grid virtualizes network operator' networks, resulting in substantial and measurable benefits to the network operator.
- ConteXtream's network virtualization solution enables operators to pool application resources and create a unified "virtual data center" spanning the network. Pooling resources in this way eliminates stranded capacity, drives 2X-4X the productivity out of a given set of application servers and software, and improves subscriber QOE. Our Service Delivery Grid can virtualize any network, but IMS is particularly strategic for many network operators today. IMS Virtualization describes how ConteXtream's network virtualization solutions can improve operators' day-to-day operations, business case and subscriber QOE in an IMS environment.
- Network Operators are offering to their subscribers an increasing number of value-added service features. These include features which subscribers opt into such as content/anti-virus filters, features depending on the subscriber's location or type of equipment e,g. ad insert, and features depending on the ultimate application requested. With today's physically oriented networks, it is very costly to offer a-la-carte "personalization" of the features subscribers receive. By virtualizing their networks, operators can deliver to each subscriber a personalized bundle of apps and services, very cost effectively and very simply. The "itinerary" subscribers' traffic takes through the network is software defined, and individually constructed according to subscribers' bespoke requirements. ConteXtream calls this process Traffic Steering and it is discussed under Personalized Services.
- Monetizing broadband services is an on-going challenge for network operators. A virtualized network affords network operators enormous flexibility in how they monetize. In a virtualized network, operators are able to take any set of subscriber, network or application attributes and, for a fee, tailor an enhanced service around them. A corporation may wish to guarantee its employees priority access to bandwidth during times of congestion. A student may need cost effective all-you-can eat service when others are not using the network – and may opt-in to targeted advertising to get it. These services and many more are readily and cost effectively achievable with a virtualized network.
- The success of Apple and Google has demonstrated the importance of "Apps" to every network operator. Our Service Delivery Grid enables network operators to extend the boundaries of their virtual networks to integrate key ASPs, and to open their networks to all application providers. Network operators are able to get branded applications to market much faster and the application provider can deliver a more targeted, more satisfying experience to the user by leveraging the operator's subscriber knowledge and intimacy. This is a virtuous circle which drives customers and ARPU to operators deploying the Service Delivery Grid.
- Triple play is a key initiative for network operators. ConteXtream's Service Delivery Grid virtualized solution to triple play networks has been proven to save operators deploying triple play 80% or more of the CapEx required by traditional approaches, and to do away with all the complex and static configuration required by traditional solutions.