NEC and Netcracker Technology have unveiled their Agile Virtualization Platform and Practice (AVP), a set of tools, platforms and services designed to accelerate and ease the adoption and commercialization of software-defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualization (NFV).
The components of AVP are a Virtualization Development and Operations Center, Business Enablement Applications, Hybrid Operations Management, and Primary Systems Integration Practice.
The Virtualization Development and Operations Center (VDOC) is a collaboration environment designed for systems architecture, network planning, and service design and deployment teams to automate end-to-end service lifecycle management. It's intended to enable collaboration across departments and with third-party partners, including solution vendors and systems integrators.
Business Enablement Applications (BEAs) are designed for executives in charge of customer-facing business units to reduce the time it takes to monetize virtualization offerings for both B2B and mass markets. BEAs are intended to optimize existing IT capabilities and fill the gaps with existing business support systems (BSSs). BEAs are independent, microservices-based application components that can be deployed in public, private or hybrid cloud environments.
Hybrid Operations Management (HOM) is built for the operations executive in charge of running service provider networks and is focused on making virtual and traditional networks operate simultaneously at scale. HOM is intended to automate hybrid network management, including assurance, continuous optimization, security and stability. HOM integrates with VDOC to create a feedback loop between product and development environments.
The Primary Systems Integration Practice (PSIP) is intended to overcome the business, operations and technology challenges associated with virtualization in multivendor ecosystems. PSIP covers virtualization initiatives from the initial definition of the program and its business case to the full transfer of operations.