Calsoft Labs announces the availability of high performance NFV solutions

Chennai, Tamil Nadu, February 14, 2014: Calsoft Labs, a pioneer in NFV and SDN solutions, has announced the availability of high performance Virtual CPE and Virtual B-RAS solutions along with its Cloud NOC orchestration framework based on OpenStack. A subsidiary of the €1.2 billion ALTEN Group, Calsoft Labs offers virtual network function (VNF) development and optimization; systems integration, deployment and operations support services to Telecom operators.

Telecom operators are increasingly turning to network function virtualization (NFV) to consolidate workloads, improve network utilization, scale infrastructure as they grow, and accelerate the deployment of new revenue generating services. NFV allows service providers to reduce CapEx and OpEx by migrating functions traditionally implemented in dedicated hardware, to open standards-based platforms based on Intel architecture.

Service Providers continue to face several challenges in NFV implementation, such as,

• Scalability and performance of Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) on general purpose hardware
• VNF and NFVI orchestration and integration with legacy service provisioning and service assurance platforms
• NFV solution staging, end-to-end service validation, roll out and operations management

Calsoft Labs works with an ecosystem of leading technology and platform providers such as 6WIND, Intel and Red Hat to offer a suite of high-performance VNFs, OpenStack based NFV orchestration framework and professional services for NFV systems integration, service roll-out management and operations support.

Calsoft Labs’ Virtual CPE and Virtual B-RAS solutions are powered by 6WIND’s portfolio of 6WINDGate™ packet processing software for data plane performance and designed to leverage Intel DPDK libraries (http://dpdk.org) to deliver industry leading performance and scalability on the latest multi-core Intel processors.

Founder & Chief Executive Officer for 6WIND Eric Carmès said, “6WIND delivers the critical data plane acceleration solutions that are required for high-performance Virtual CPE and Virtual B-RAS functions with our 6WINDGate packet processing software. 6WINDGate optimizes Linux-based virtual environments to deliver a level of performance that is comparable to physical implementations so that network operators can truly benefit from the promise of NFV. Calsoft Labs has relevant expertise as a system integrator and our partner in the Telecom market, and we look forward to working with Calsoft Labs on NFV opportunities”.

The CloudNOC framework from Calsoft Labs offers the ability to automate service provisioning and service fulfillment on virtual clouds. Built in line with ETSI NFV ISG recommendations, it makes efficient use of OpenStack™ components such as Neutron and Heat to offer an open, non-proprietary NFVI management solution that is backed by a large ecosystem of cloud technology providers.

Chuck Dubuque, Director of Product Marketing, Virtualization and OpenStack, Red Hat said, “Red Hat is fully committed to OpenStack development and the community, and understands the critical nature of providing an OpenStack platform with enterprise-grade hardening, stability, and performance for demanding functions like NFV. Calsoft Labs has been among the early leaders in NFV, bringing network operators increased flexibility and value as they move to the cloud, and we’re pleased that they’ve selected Red Hat Enterprise OpenStack Linux Platform for their highly scalable NFV platform and as an open foundation for a heterogeneous cloud environment.”

Calsoft Labs’ has partnered with leading server hardware vendors to offer VNF staging and systems integration services to telecom operators. Service Providers can therefore rely on Calsoft Labs to build, deploy, integrate and manage an NFV solution deployment as a one stop source.

Peter Willis, Chief Researcher, Data Networks for BT Group said, “Systems integrators can play an important role in SDN and NFV projects. Calsoft Labs offers a combination of skills in Intel DPDK, VNF and NFVI orchestration, systems integration and operations support that can be of high value to Network Operators as they move forward with network transformation initiatives. Calsoft Labs have demonstrated world class knowledge of networks and leading edge packet processing software. They delivered a compelling, scalable, low power, compact, high performance solution running on standard x86 servers in only a few months to BT.”

Senior VP of Engineering and CTO for Calsoft Labs Narendra Dhara said, “Calsoft Labs, with Intel and 6WIND partnerships and its expertise in networking and cloud infrastructure services, is in a unique position to offer high performance VNF components and scalable NFV solutions”.

Calsoft Labs will be demonstrating its Virtual B-RAS solution and Cloud NOC orchestration framework at the upcoming Mobile World Congress 2014 in Barcelona, Spain from Feb 24 – 27, 2014 in Hall 8.0, Stand 8.0B66.