Software Defined Networking and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) are some of the newest technologies affecting telecom operators around the world. These technologies will create new services to increase revenue faster while increasing efficiencies to reduce costs.

Telecom service providers regularly need to add capacity, functionality, and new services to cater to the needs of their clients. Unfortunately, this labor-intensive process involves months to procure equipment, perform tests, ship it to a specific location, and finally to deploy it.

Indian telcos are realizing that their network infrastructure has to be agile and flexible enough to meet the rapidly growing and changing needs of their customers. Further, legacy networks are incapable of meeting the needs of emerging trends like Internet of Things (IoT) and smart cities, thus forcing the service providers to upgrade and modernize their networks for a new kind of traffic mix.

Software-powered NFV is likely to play a key role in the network transformation of the Telco networks. Virtualization offers a host of possibilities in delivering converged, scalable and cloud-based services in a cost-effective manner. A recent IDC survey commissioned by Ciena revealed that 64 percent of Asia-Pacific businesses are at some stage of NFV deployment. Nearly 80 percent of the survey respondents believed that NFV implementation would make network management easier through automated processes and provisioning. The survey further revealed that 15 percent of enterprises in most markets, including Hong Kong and India, are ready to adopt NFV for its carrier-class security features.

NFV: Paradigm Shift for Telecom Networks