Advantech Enhances Remote Evaluation Service for online vE-CPE White-box Testing with Wind River NFV Platform
New portal to accelerate evaluation of Wind River Titanium Server vBCPE reference design developed in collaboration with NFV software partners Brocade, Check Point Software, Riverbed and ADVA Optical Networking
SDN & OpenFlow World Congress, The Hague, NL, 10th Oct 2016 –Advantech (TWSE:2395) today announced that they have joined forces with Wind River to make Wind River Titanium Server CPE available on Advantech white-box appliances based on the Intel® Xeon® Processor D-1500 series.
The Wind River portal at Advantech will allow communication service providers (CSPs) to remotely and securely connect to a fully functional Network Function Virtualization Infrastructure (NFVI) based on Advantech’s FWA-3260 white-box appliance, for VNF onboarding using a pre-qualified set of Virtual Network Functions (VNFs).
The portal puts the Wind River virtual business customer premises equipment (vBCPE) reference design at the network architect’s fingertips and will help CSPs to rapidly size the configurations needed to optimally balance capex, opex and capacity strategies when planning their future virtual Enterprise CPE (vE-CPE) rollouts.
This is of particular importance to CSPs who need to absorb the capex outlay when planning large-scale deployment of new or replacement customer premise equipment. Over-specified platforms result in unneeded hardware components and increased capex while underspecified platforms can be the source of costly replacement programs and more unwanted truck rolls. The CSP’s ability to correctly size compute, offload, memory and network throughput based on different VNF resource requirements for routing, firewalling and load balancing can now be easily put to the test using the Wind River portal connected to Advantech’s Remote Evaluation Service (RES).
RES provides a comprehensive framework for remote evaluation and performance testing of NFVIs and VNFs across a wide selection of Advantech platforms and hardware configurations. These platforms range from Intel® Atom™ to Intel® Xeon® Processors with one to many cores, equipped with multiple gigabit to 100GbE ports, integrated into not only tabletop and rackmount appliances destined for customer premise deployment, but also carrier grade servers and blade servers for virtual service edge installations.
By connecting to Titanium Server CPE on the Advantech RES portal, CSPs will also be able to test Carrier Grade uptime for vBCPE services. When business uptime cannot be compromised CSPs can deploy cost-sensitive NFV applications such as a virtual Business CPE on two servers. Each server runs all the compute, control and storage functions, while delivering best-in-class VNF performance to maximize the number of users supported per server and thereby also maximize OPEX savings. This also enables them to minimize any revenue impact resulting from Service Level Agreement (SLA) penalties triggered by service downtime
“As NFV advances, our RES lab is steadily growing in size and capacity”, said Paul Stevens, Marketing Director, Advantech Networks & Communications Group. ”We expect the new Wind River portal to become a valuable asset for CSPs developing vE-CPE SLAs, enabling them to verify the impact of different hardware configurations and virtualization options on VNF performance.”
“By working across the ecosystem with leaders like Advantech, we’re able to provide CSPs with an enterprise-class vCPE solution, running on an NFVI platform that ensures the demanding carrier grade reliability, security and performance required for their industry needs,” said Charlie Ashton, senior director of business development for networking solutions, Wind River.
Wind River Titanium Server CPE, has been architected to speed the deployment of early Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) use cases such as vCPE. The Titanium Server portfolio (Titanium Server and Titanium Server CPE) comprises of commercial NFV infrastructure software solutions that deliver the carrier grade reliability required for telecom networks.
By using Titanium Server as an NFVI software foundation, the telecom industry can enjoy the best of both worlds: the rapid service deployment typically found in enterprise networks as well as the carrier grade uptime and reliability mandated by telecom networks. Based on open standards including carrier grade Wind River Linux, real-time Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM), OpenStack, and Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK), while incorporating optimizations for Intel® architecture, Titanium Server delivers high performance and carrier grade reliability.
Advantech FWA-3260 White-box appliance for vE-CPE
The FWA-3260 is a server class 1U- rackmount compute and network appliance based on the Intel® Xeon® Processor D with up to 16 cores and up to 128GB of memory ensuring that the right performance level can be matched to the workload at hand. Integrated Intel® QuickAssist Technology accelerates execution of crypto algorithms including IPSec without burdening the CPU. As a result, secure branch connectivity including end-to-end encryption can be provided without compromising VNF performance or increasing cost. The system offers flexible connectivity with four 1GbE ports and two 10GbE SFP+ ports for WAN or additional LAN connectivity. A Network Mezzanine Card bay provides the ability to add additional I/O including handling a variety of 1GbE and 10GbE copper and fiber options. A PCIe gen.3 slot provides further I/O expansion. The system offers storage flexibility with two 2.5-inch SATA HDD/SSD sockets.
Availability
The portal will available for general customer use in November 2016. For further information and early access requirements please visit the Advantech Booth #119 and the Intel/Wind River Booth #58/59 in the exhibition area at SDN and OpenFlow World Congress in The Hague, NL from Oct 11-14.
Primary Media Contact:
Advantech BV
Paul Stevens
Tel: +33-1-4119-7575
About Advantech – Founded in 1983, Advantech is a leader in providing trusted, innovative products, services, and solutions. Advantech offers comprehensive system integration, hardware, software, customer-centric design services, embedded systems, automation products, and global logistics support. Our mission is to enable an intelligent planet with embedded computing products and solutions that empower the development of smarter working and living. With Advantech, there’s no limit to the applications and innovations our products make possible. For Telecom and Networking markets, Advantech provides mission-critical hardware to the leading telecom and networking equipment manufacturers, and to global communication service providers. Advantech’s standard and customized products are embedded in OEM equipment that the world's communications infrastructure depends upon.
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