Wind River Joins NFV Bandwagon, Unveils Commercial Carrier Grade Platform

Wind River, a global provider of software for intelligent connected systems, has introduced Wind River Carrier Grade Communications Server, an integrated and virtualized software platform. The solution is designed specifically for network functions virtualization (NFV) deployment and seamlessly integrates with existing networks.

"Carrier networks are evolving toward full virtualization of function, and central to this transformation is a platform that allows easy virtualization of applications while maintaining the core attributes of a carrier grade solution: availability, scalability, security and management," said Mike Langlois, general manager of the communications business for Wind River. "While many companies supplying enterprise IT solutions may claim they offer an NFV solution, without the ability to deliver on carrier grade, those products are not a true fit to successfully achieve NFV. Carrier grade has long been part of Wind River's DNA."

A complete NFV solution, Wind River Carrier Grade Communications Server will enable operators to migrate their networks to NFV architectures while maintaining the carrier grade attributes they are known for. Customers can onboard and deploy NFV applications right out of the box, giving them a competitive jump-start in becoming NFV-ready.

Developed by telecom experts, Wind River Carrier Grade Communications Server is based on Wind River Open Virtualization with Wind River Linux, optimized real-time Kernel-Based Virtual Machine (KVM++), carrier grade enhancements to OpenStack(r), and Intel(r) Data Plane Development Kit (Intel DPDK) accelerated vSwitch technologies.

A key value of NFV is the ability to run what used to be dedicated boxes on virtual machines on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware. Wind River Carrier Grade Communications Server is optimized for and running on HP ProLiant servers and Intel(r) Xeon(r) processors for Communications Infrastructure Systems. Wind River is also working with HP to certify Wind River communications software on Network Equipment Building System (NEBS)-compliant HP ProLiant servers.

HP's portfolio of servers includes carrier-grade NEBS-compliant servers optimized for the needs of telecom service providers and network equipment suppliers. Upon completion of certification testing, Wind River networking and communications products will join the HP certification matrix and the company will be distinguished as a preferred software vendor for the communications market. Together Wind River and HP are accelerating network transformation by helping customers become ready to quickly address network functions virtualization (NFV) applications and lower total cost of ownership through the adoption of commercial off-the shelf (COTS) hardware.

"The carrier network is undergoing a transformation arising from the potential that comes with NFV. By taking advantage of a virtualized or cloud environment through NFV, the telecom industry could reap the flexibility, scalability, cost and energy benefits that IT data centers already enjoy," said Glenn Seiler, vice president of networking solutions at Wind River. "By combining Wind River's decades of telecom experience with servers from the market leader like HP, we're enabling a new generation of carrier grade, NFV-ready servers for the changing telecommunications market."

"As the telecom and IT industries converge and operators move to an NFV model, service providers need to improve deployment times for new applications, while keeping costs low," said Werner Schaefer, vice president of network functions virtualization at HP. "HP's NFV portfolio brings the flexibility and scalability needed to accommodate the modern-day workflow, while Wind River has the telecom expertise and proven technologies to ready customers for the NFV environment."

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