The deal means that Three UK, traditionally a data-oriented mobile operator in the UK, will be able to implement its next-generation core network which deploys network functions virtualisation (NFV) and software defined networks (SDN), and will be part of what the company calls the world’s first telco cloud.
“Three is the first operator to create a fully integrated cloud native core network, or a telco cloud, but we expect to see many more following suit,” said Mounir Ladki, president and CTO of Mycom OSI, which won the contract from Three UK.
Mycom OSI will be supplying its Experience Assurance and Analytics (EAA) product suite, to be deployed to monitor Three UK’s telco cloud – based on the ETSI NFV MANO framework. It incorporates open-source technologies such as Redhat OpenStack and spans several new state-of-the-art datacentres architected for full geo-redundant high-availability, said the software company.
“Mycom OSI was the best fit for our strategy of delivering a quality and reliable network experience for all of our customers,” said Bryn Jones, Three UK’s CTO.
“While others are debating various approaches and standards, Three has designed a leading architecture, selected leading partners and is now leading its peer group in deploying telco cloud,” said Ladki. “Mycom OSI’s Assurance suite will enable Three to deliver market-leading customer experience, agility, scale and reliability whilst embracing exciting new opportunities with digital services, IoT and 5G.”
He added: “Consumer needs are changing rapidly as demand for voice over LTE (VoLTE), high definition video and other digital services increase. This means that wholesale operators are expected to provide reliable services with a high quality user experience to remain competitive.”
Mycom OSI is seeing operators moving their infrastructure to the cloud to enable massive scalability, elasticity, and better reliability, which provides the agility to rapidly spin out new and personalised services, he said.
“An important part of enabling the telco cloud is ensuring that it is supported by end-to-end network and service assurance while also having a proactive and real-time surveillance suite that can provide bottom-up service impact and top-down root cause analyses.”
Three UK has bought several elements of Mycom OSI’s EAA solution, including a single, integrated assurance suite that manages end-to-end network and service quality across all hybrid telco and IT network domains. There is proactive and real-time surveillance with automated bottom-up service impact and top-down root cause analyses, said Mycom OSI.
