Telecom Moving Toward WebScale with SDN/NFV; Telcos Seek Scale Economies From $1.7T IT Spend

​WebScale firms increasingly source their own infrastructure from AsiaPac ODM/OEM vendors. Telecom operators with Tens of $Billions more revenue look at the WebScale IT ecosystem and seek to benefit from the WebScale economies. In some ways, Telcos can emulate the WebScale firms, and in other ways they cannot.

It is no secret that much of the telecom infrastructure is based on the Intel x86 Xeon architecture and many of the Network Functions fit very well into a server architecture. In the report, “White Box SDN/NFV”, ABI Research looks at the pros and cons of telecom operators seeking commercial IT hardware for their core network elements. The findings support inclusion of more commercial IT into the mobile broadband network and deployment with a top-tier IT vendor to minimize risk and uncertainty.

“Operators are correct in observing that a given x86 processor delivers pretty much the same MIPs no matter in whose box it is installed,” says Joe Hoffman, practice director at ABI Research. “But unlike the WebScale firms, mobile networks are fiendishly complex and no operator has expertise to build an in-house solution. Operators still need the telecom infrastructure vendors to provide the Network Functions software.”

Competitive pressure and the scale of the IT ecosystem will continue to deliver the best value for processing power. As a result, top tier infrastructure vendors are partially or wholly embracing commercial IT infrastructure. Further, ABI Research finds the role of the infrastructure vendor will evolve to that of a software and system integrator – and that is already happening now with an end-to-end IT based solution from at least one vendor.

These findings are part of ABI Research’s Software Defined Networking & NFV Research Service ,which includes Research Analyses, Market Data, Insights, and Competitive Assessments.

ABI Research provides in-depth analysis and quantitative forecasting of trends in global connectivity and other emerging technologies. From offices in North America, Europe and Asia, ABI Research’s worldwide team of experts advises thousands of decision makers through 70+ research and advisory services. Est. 1990. For more information visit www.abiresearch.com , or call +1.516.624.2500.