Colt taps ADVA Ensemble Connector for NFV-powered universal CPE

Colt Technology Services will base a new line of universal customer premises equipment (uCPE) on the ADVA’s (FSE: ADV) Ensemble Connector platform, the two companies have announced. Use of Ensemble Connector will enable Colt to leverage a network functions virtualization (NFV) approach to cost-effectively deliver services on-demand, including those based on third-party software and virtual network functions (VNFs), the companies say. The platform also will support zero-touch provisioning of these services.

Colt will work with a variety of ecosystem partners on both the uCPE and the services that will run through them, according to Prayson Pate, CTO of ADVA’s Ensemble Division. The ecosystem will supply open servers and a variety of software platforms and tools that will enable a consistent cloud environment to which the uCPE will connect. Pate did not say how many of the partners under consideration are part of the Ensemble Harmony Ecosystem but did say that ADVA has worked with the majority of companies on Colt’s “short list.”

"We're committed to expanding the range of choices available to our customers. Built on ADVA's high-performance Ensemble Connector, our offerings based on this uCPE solution will give enterprises access to innovative and dynamic value-added services for a crucial competitive edge," said Mirko Voltolini, head of Network On Demand, Colt Technology Services, via a press release. "We'll now be able to deliver virtualized services from the widest range of suppliers on demand and under end-user control. It's all about empowering our customers to respond in an instant to new business opportunities. With Ensemble Connector, we're also able to leverage open, standard cloud components such as Linux, KVM, OpenStack, and COTS servers, which gives us the flexibility to deploy a fully multi-vendor environment."

“Colt has an aggressive roll out plan” that begins with upcoming lab tests, Pate told Lightwave. He described the schedule as someone more rapid than typical but added that Colt’s goal is similar to other companies with whom the Ensemble Division has worked (see, for example, “A Ensemble upgrades NFV platform, reveals Verizon as customer” and “Fujitsu leverages ADVA Ensemble’s Orchestrator and Connector for EMEIA managed network services”). He said that a growing number of service providers are moving to an open, multivendor, NFV-focused approach to business services provision – with further examples to be announced in the relatively near future. He said he’s seeing a similar philosophy extended toward emerging wireless network evolution, particularly in the context of 5G rollouts.

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