Can open-source projects (re-) shape the SDN/NFV-driven telecommunication market?

Telecom network operators face rapidly changing business needs. Due to their dependence on long product cycles they lack the ability to quickly respond to changing user demands. To spur innovation and stay competitive, network operators are investigating technological solutions with a proven track record in other application domains such as open source software projects. Open source software enables parties to learn, use, or contribute to technology from which they were previously excluded. OSS has reshaped many application areas including the landscape of operating systems and consumer software. The paradigmshift in telecommunication systems towards Software-Defined Networking introduces possibilities to benefit from open source projects. Implementing the control part of networks in software enables speedier adaption and innovation, and less dependencies on legacy protocols or algorithms hard-coded in the control part of network devices. The recently proposed concept of Network Function Virtualization pushes the softwarization of telecommunication functionalities even further down to the data plane. Within the NFV paradigm, functionality which was previously reserved for dedicated hardware implementations can now be implemented in software and deployed on generic Commercial Off-The Shelf (COTS) hardware. This paper provides an overview of existing open source initiatives for SDN/NFV-based network architectures, involving infrastructure to orchestration-related functionality. It situates them in a business process context and identifies the pros and cons for the market in general, as well as for individual actors

Towards a business model for cellular network and telecommunication operators: a theoretical framework

Cellular networks and telecommunications bring major change to the way businesses are conducted. Mobility has become one of the main priorities for users and this has impacted on cellular networks and telecommunication operators (CNTOs). However, entrants into the cellular industry have been confounded primarily by inexistent or weak Business Models (BMs). Designing a BM for a CNTO is complex and requires multiple actors to balance different and often conflicting design requirements. Nevertheless, most research about CNTOs has been technically oriented and has mainly addressed the technological and engineering issues related to their infrastructure. Less attention has been given to the business model of CNTOs. Hence, there is a need to enhance our ability to determine what constitutes the optimal and most viable business model to meet the various strategic objectives and goals for these CNTOs. In this paper an overview of research into the cellular business model and the main issues to be resolved is provided. In particular, the authors propose guidelines as a basis on which to develop a more comprehensive definition which may lead to a consensus. Moreover, a generic model (V4 Model) is proposed for the BM of these companies based on value proposition, value architecture, value network and value finance

Smart grid architecture for rural distribution networks: application to a Spanish pilot network

This paper presents a novel architecture for rural distribution grids. This architecture is designed to modernize traditional rural networks into new Smart Grid ones. The architecture tackles innovation actions on both the power plane and the management plane of the system. In the power plane, the architecture focuses on exploiting the synergies between telecommunications and innovative technologies based on power electronics managing low scale electrical storage. In the management plane, a decentralized management system is proposed based on the addition of two new agents assisting the typical Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) system of distribution system operators. Altogether, the proposed architecture enables operators to use more effectively—in an automated and decentralized way—weak rural distribution systems, increasing the capability to integrate new distributed energy resources. This architecture is being implemented in a real Pilot Network located in Spain, in the frame of the European Smart Rural Grid project. The paper also includes a study case showing one of the potentialities of one of the principal technologies developed in the project and underpinning the realization of the new architecture: the so-called Intelligent Distribution Power Router.Postprint (published version

Deploying Virtual Machines on Shared Platforms

In this report, we describe mechanisms for secure deployment of virtual machines on shared platforms looking into a telecommunication cloud use case, which is also presented in this report. The architecture we present focuses on the security requirements of the major stakeholders’ part of the scenario we present. This report comprehensively covers all major security aspects including different security mechanisms and protocols, leveraging existing standards and state-of-the art wherever applicable. In particular, our architecture uses TCG technologies for trust establishment in the deployment of operator virtual machines on shared resource platforms. We also propose a novel procedure for securely launching and cryptographically binding a virtual machine to a target platform thereby protecting the operator virtual machine and its related credentials

e-Report Generator Supporting Communications and Fieldwork: A Practical Case of Electrical Network Expansion Projects

In this piece of work we present a simple way to incorporate Geographical Information System tools that have been developed using open source software in order to help the different processes in the expansion of the electrical network. This is accomplished by developing a novel fieldwork tool that provides the user with automatically generated enriched e-reports that include information about every one of the involved private real estates in a specific project. These reports are an eco-friendly alternative to paper format, and can be accessed by clients using any kind of personal device with a minimal set of technical requirements