By 2020, carrier networks will look more like clouds than today's multilayered hardware-dependent equipment domains. The new networks will have far fewer network elements, and with the exception of RAN, and optical and router elements, there will be little necessity for network equipment in the service layer and at network traffic management and control points. In fact, physical infrastructure will hinder service provisioning agility and the opex and capex savings carriers expect to achieve. Suppliers must prepare for this dramatic shift — which could reduce revenue for system elements by as much as 30% — as dedicated proprietary hardware and software elements are replaced by software-only licenses for functions running on virtual machines with multiple functions per commodity server. The TBR Networking and Mobility research team recorded a thought leadership webinar on Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2013, which outlined how suppliers must prepare for an impending sea change in their marketplace as well as the initiatives they've already taken to adopt this model. Executive Analyst Michael Sullivan-Trainor shared his perspective on the latest trends and provided webinar attendees with additional insight into vendor performance and the future of the network function virtualization market. He then field ed questions from the audience. Questions for discussion included: • How are service providers reshaping their data centers to support cloud and network function virtualization (NFV)? • What are the key investment areas in these two segments? • Which service providers are leading the pack? For more information contact James McIlroy at mcilroy@tbri.com or at 603-929-1166.

• published: 20 Nov 2013
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