After a long period of focusing on hardware, attention in the
network infrastructure is now turning to software to lead the drive
to deliver next generation network services. Responding to customer
demands to avoid single-source solutions, Network Equipment
Providers (NEPs, also called Telecom Equipment Manufacturers, TEMs)
are delivering an increasingly standardized stack of hardware and
software components. This is providing for the first time a stable
platform on which to create robust, scalable applications that can
be built and deployed rapidly.
Effectively all new applications in the network infrastructure
are being built on blade or rack-mounted servers. These servers
provide redundant hardware at many levels, from cooling systems and
network connections to hot-swappable controller cards and server
blades. They are used to support applications as diverse as radio
access nodes, voice over IP (VoIP) gateways, softswitches, and GPRS
Support Nodes (xGSN). The difference, and the differentiation, is
in the software.
The swing to software orientation is driving a rapid increase in
the complexity of the applications that deliver network services.
Only a short time ago, applications in the network infrastructure
were simple, completely purpose-built, and isolated. Increasingly,
they are complex, interact with other components and need to be
open to rapid enhancements. At the same time, extraordinary levels
of robustness are seen as basic requirements. Applications are
expected to scale easily and economically as customer populations
grow. And applications are expected to run in a complex lights-out
environment with minimal attention.