35 pc telecoms to deploy NFV in 2015: IHS

MUMBAI, INDIA: Thirty five percent telecom operators are planning to deploy network functions virtualization (NFV) in 2015, according to a survey by IHS.

The deployments will be fuelled by usage of software for quick revenue, increase operational efficiency, scaling services, and adding new services.

“Though we are still in the early stages of a long-term transition to NFV-SDN architected networks, many carriers will be moving from proof-of-concept tests and lab evaluations to commercial deployments of NFV in 2015,” said Michael Howard, Senior Research Director, Carrier Networks, IHS.

The IHS survey also noted that all major operators are either deploying NFV or plan to within the next few years. The telecos believe that NFV and its SDN (software-defined networking) are a fundamental change in telecom network architecture that will deliver benefits in service agility and new revenue, operational efficiencies and Capex savings.

The IHS report said 48 percent of carriers plan to evaluate NFV by the end of 2015. The main NFV use cases include virtual enterprise CPE (vE-CPE), service chaining and virtual network platform-as-a-service (VNPaaS). Lack of carrier grade products and training staff are the main challenges in the NFV deployment market, the report observed.