Bell to test AT&T software platform for wireless traffic management

BCE Inc. has signed on to test a platform developed by AT&T Inc. that would allow it to carry more, and better manage, traffic on its network. The software — called ECOMP or Enhanced Control, Orchestration, Management and Policy — was built to power AT&T's new network, Bell said in a Thursday release. Bell joins France-based Orange SA as the first telecom companies to test the platform. It works by “virtualizing the network functions by moving the things hardware does into software, making it much faster to upgrade,” according to an AT&T video presentation. “The old networking industry was fine in a world where data traffic grew gradually and predictably,” the American telecom said in a July press release. But it said with the advent of smartphones, video, the cloud, and forthcoming technologies like autonomous cars, augmented and virtual reality, 4K video and the Internet of Things (IoT), networks must be quicker to adapt. For example, according to the video presentation, a retailer can manage its network in real time by using AT&T's “network on demand” platform to increase bandwidth on-the-fly and decrease it during slower periods. Bell said in its release that between 2008 and 2016, it has seen a “massive increase” in data traffic — its largest source of traffic — on networks that were originally built for voice traffic and that networks are now being challenged. “This software-centric network will allow us to deploy, monitor and scale our services more quickly and easily, giving us a flexible network that will better support advances like connected cars, smart cities and virtual reality,” Bell said in the release. AT&T said video is now the largest source of traffic on its network and it expects video usage to double by 2017. It estimates that more than 75 per cent of its network will be “software-centric” by 2020. AT&T said it will release the open-source software platform, which any company can use, in the first quarter of 2017.

Bell to test AT&T software platform for wireless traffic management

Brief | December 16, 2016

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Bell to test AT&T software platform for wireless traffic management

Brief | December 16, 2016

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