MONTREAL � A telco industry initiative known as CORD (central office re-architected as a data center) has been developed to provide support to operators that are keen to redesign their networks. CORD is overseen by an industry group called the Open Networking Foundation, which is heavily backed by AT&T, a pioneer in network virtualization.
The implementation of CORD leads to a greater investment in so-called “white box technologies,” whereby network functions are turned into software programs running over common off-the-shelf servers, according to lightreading.com.
Bell Canada, as one example, is carrying out a white box overhaul, as it works on transforming its central offices into data centers that can support new types of services for residential and enterprise customers. However, �the immaturity of white box technology in telco networks, and concerns surrounding interoperability and the use of open source code…threaten to hold up progress in this area,� according to the same article.�
While working to rebuild its core network structure, Bell Canada has been investing heavily in fiber networks to support higher-speed mobile services. “Everything starts with the wireline network,” said Stephen Howe, Bell Canada�s executive vice president, quoted in the same article. “Without fiber, we cannot get the mobile broadband speeds we need.” Bell Canada plans to connect 3.7 million premises to fiber-to-the-home networks by the end of this year, representing 40% of its ultimate target for FTTH connections.
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