Case study: Verizon Universal CPE

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1 Case study: Verizon Universal CPE Verizon is one of the top service providers in the world and a leader in innovation. With their Virtual Network Service (VNS) as a first step, Verizon laid down a marker for providing service innovation in a cloud-native framework. However, Verizon based their initial VNS offering on gray box technology, which typically combines traditional hardware networking devices with standard computing platforms to deliver virtualized services. This approach provided Verizon with a first-mover advantage in the marketplace, but they realized that the gray box solution had limitations. The customer feedback was that gray boxes were more expensive, less flexible and built on a closed ecosystem that limited customers options. In essence, they weren t much different than purpose-built hardware. Verizon s enterprise customers began to demand white box solutions based solely on open, standard commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) server technology with no proprietary extensions. The perception is that deploying COTS: Is less expensive than gray box solutions Limits risk by allowing customers to repurpose server hardware for other use cases if required Aligns more closely with long-term cloud vision Provides a foundation for allowing customers to bring their own hardware for service deployment Based on feedback from their customers, Verizon launched their universal customer premises equipment (ucpe) program to take the cloud-based VNS vision and push it to the customer edge. How did they go from vision to reality? This case study looks at the history of the Verizon innovation program, from conception to implementation and deployment. 1

2 In the beginning Like other leading operators, Verizon wanted to leverage the capabilities of cloud technologies in their network. They had already made some steps forward with their initial VNS offering, but it was time to push that vision all the way to the customer site. The selection process began with Verizon issuing a tender for a white box CPE solution. In this case, white box meant leveraging standard x86 COTS server technology provided by any major supplier. However, Verizon also realized that to capitalize on the true value of white box hardware technology, they also needed to specify a cloud-native software layer. This layer would provide a common network operating system across any of their chosen server vendors. This network operating system would be a common hosting environment for network functions virtualization (NFV). It would support a variety of virtual network functions (VNFs), virtual networking and standard management integration into Verizon s back-office platforms (including OSS/BSS, orchestration, fault management and performance management). The Verizon tender was based on the key learnings from their initial VNS deployments, and included several interesting and important principles: Verizon wanted to maintain high levels of availability of hosting platforms, which meant using true COTS servers to host the ucpe application. Verizon insisted on a true multi-vendor approach across both the hardware and software layers. They excluded single vendor or bare-metal offerings. Verizon focused on simplicity of deployment and manageability of the solution. This drove features like zero touch commissioning, integration with standards-based cloud management platforms (e.g., OpenStack), and integration into existing Verizon OSS platforms. Verizon committed to an aggressive, agile timeline. They moved quickly in selecting suppliers and implementing a solution. The ucpe initiative was very appealing to us at ADVA s Ensemble division. Ensemble has been committed to the vision of NFV since the beginning. The team at Ensemble has been solving the hard problems of building and deploying the telco cloud for almost five years. This market need demonstrated the timing was right to extend that telco cloud to the customer edge. A sense of urgency Verizon issued its tender for ucpe in July 2016, with a more aggressive timeline than most Tier 1 operators. Verizon offered this tender to a large number of suppliers and asked them to complete responses within two weeks. 2

3 The sense of urgency continued in the analysis of the bids. Within two weeks of the response date, Verizon was bringing in suppliers for the bid defences. Less than a week after completing the bid defences, Verizon announced their shortlist selection for both hardware and software suppliers. ADVA s Ensemble Connector network virtualization platform was one of shortlisted software vendors and we immediately transitioned into the lab to perform a bake-off with another competitor. Verizon moved quickly because they identified a key set of requirements and stuck to them. These included: Supporting a wide variety of open COTS platforms An open hosting environment with support for a variety of VNFs A true multi-vendor model, with separate suppliers at every layer of the architecture High packet performance and compute efficiency Embedded OpenStack to enable deployment on a massive scale Ready now Ensemble Connector met all of the requirements. Evolution in the lab The Ensemble solution not only met all these requirements on paper, it proved them in the lab. We were able to start executing test cases almost immediately. Oh wow this is great, and this actually loads and runs were just a few of the favorable comments we received. All praise aside, that was only the beginning of our work. Verizon had a broad view of their overarching goals but knew that in the lab they would learn a lot more about the details and issues of implementation. They planned to identify and solve those in collaboration with their chosen suppliers. A good example of this teamwork was providing support for new VNFs. The Ensemble Harmony Ecosystem already has a large number of members, and the Ensemble Connector team has integrated the corresponding VNFs. During the lab process, Verizon identified new VNFs to integrate, and the Ensemble team worked quickly to on-board them. Another example was the need to respond to changing requirements. As we worked through the testing, Verizon was also learning how a virtualized deployment would work, and what additional features were needed. Again, the Ensemble team was able to work in an agile manner and quickly deliver the new requirements identified by the Verizon team. 3

4 This was not an easy process for Verizon or its suppliers. There are many decision-makers within Verizon, each of them with their own priorities and approaches. We at Ensemble had to work with all these groups to ensure success. Our success at Verizon underscores the value of the Ensemble architecture and experience. We have been working on NFV for five years, and in production deployments for over two years. The maturity of the product, our experienced team, and our willingness to work with a variety of partners were the building blocks of our success. Flexibility is paramount NFV is a new technology, and the industry is still learning the best ways to acquire and deploy it. During this period of evolution, it is imperative that all parties be flexible and work towards the best solution. Licensing of software is one of the areas in question. Service providers like Verizon are exploring different methods of acquiring the software they use for virtualized services. One-time perpetual? Annual subscription? PAYGO? Revenue sharing? All of these were possibilities, and we at Ensemble were willing to support whichever made the most sense for the customer. In addition to the model for payment, there was a question of scale. Verizon specified servers ranging from small (4 core Atom) to extra-large (36 core Xeon) as deployment models for ucpe. They wanted to ensure that the commercial model worked for all of these deployments. We at Ensemble offered Verizon a variety of commercial options and we agreed on one that worked for everybody. Global fulfilment was another area that required flexibility. Verizon insisted on multiple suppliers of servers, as opposed to a single-sourced appliance model. As a result, the fulfilment process would be complex. Who would place the software on the server? Who would handle spares, replacements, and returns? We worked with Verizon on a variety of options. Ultimately, Verizon decided that the global COTS supplier would stage the devices and ship directly to the customer, while a separate entity would handle returns and repairs. We support this process by working closely with each supplier in terms of software and licensing to ensure a seamless delivery to Verizon. The resulting process enables Verizon to bring on a new customer and turn up services without having to send anybody on site or having to touch a box. They simply issue purchase orders to ADVA and the appropriate COTS vendor. The units will show up at the customer site and services are activated automatically thanks in part to the work described next. 4

5 Integration today and tomorrow During the lab process, we showed Verizon the value of our knowledge of VNFs, and how we could integrate them. We agreed to continue to provide ongoing support to Verizon. We would verify new VNFs and new versions of VNFs. Manageability is another area where we were able to demonstrate our flexibility and responsiveness. We had to integrate Ensemble Connector with Verizon s third-party platforms. These included packages for orchestration, fault management, and performance management. Ensemble has open interfaces, and the Ensemble team has the drive to support integration with Verizon s chosen software packages even when we didn t have previous experience with a given package. This kind of flexibility and responsiveness serves as a precursor to supporting a bring your own hardware, (BYOH) model. We at Ensemble are working with Verizon to support a BYOH model for Verizon customers. When this model is in place, the Ensemble software will automatically determine if a customer-provided server meets the requirements for ucpe. If so, we will automatically download and install the Ensemble Connector ucpe software. The customer will then be able to enjoy the benefits of Verizon s ucpe-based services immediately, and on demand. Benefits to Verizon Here are some examples of what ucpe enables for service providers: Quick turn-up of locations. With local sourcing of COTS servers, service providers have the ability to respond immediately to service requests. Delays due to import issues and needing onsite support are greatly reduced. Wireless access. Today s COTS servers support optional wireless interfaces, enabling service turn-up even when wireline connectivity is not yet available. Once wired access is provided, the wireless interface can be used for backup or true bandwidth on demand. Service on demand. Today s services are coupled with an appliance. Adding or changing a service means adding or changing an appliance. Changing hardware is slow and costly, especially if done over hundreds or thousands of sites. Moving to a software-centric solution means the customer can get the service they want when they want it (which is usually now). In addition, multiple services can be hosted on a single platform. Shared resources. A proper choice of ucpe architecture (including orchestration and control) can enable the hosting server to be used by multiple service providers. This approach enables new opportunities for wholesale revenue as well as for cost-effective access to off-net locations and over the top solutions. 5

6 Moving to the cloud the time is now Service providers want to leverage the advantages of cloud technologies, and ucpe is one concrete path to success when functions need to be deployed at the edge. A move to ucpe can enable new services and new revenue. At the same time, ucpe is the first step towards a cloud-centric platform for innovation. It s a win-win concrete benefits today and preparation for longer-term strategic innovation. So, what s stopping this evolution? Many service providers are concerned with the complexity and issues related to a relatively new technology such as NFV. However, the path to the cloud doesn t have to be hard. We at Ensemble stand ready, willing and able to help with your cloud journey. Vickie Lonker is Executive Director of Network and Virtual Solutions at Verizon. She noted the Ensemble team helped us solve the tough problems of working in a multivendor environment and making ucpe deployable at scale. We look forward to continued success going forward. About ADVA Optical Networking ADVA provides a comprehensive set of hardware and software products to simplify network virtualization. Within ADVA, Ensemble is a full NFV architecture. It includes Ensemble Connector, as described above for the Verizon ucpe use case. It also includes Ensemble Orchestrator, Ensemble Controller and Ensemble Director. These components work together, but they can also be used individually where needed. ADVA also provides NFV hardware in the form of its FSP 150 ProVMe hybrid NID and its FSP 150 ProVMi hardened server. The FSP 150 ProVMe provides valuable capabilities such as forwarding in hardware, precision timing and encryption as well as an Intel Xeon compute blade. The FSP 150 ProVMi is an Atom server with additional features such as SFPs, DC power, extended temperature and dying gasp. 6