The Future of Virtualization: Deployment Phase

Communications service providers are stepping up both the deployment and the development of high-priority network functions, according to a Heavy Reading report on virtualization.

Among the 40 communication service providers (CSPs) that were surveyed in April for "The Force (Finally) Awakens" report, there was greater confidence in meeting timetables for testing and deploying high-priority network functions than they previously indicated in a November version of the survey.

On the flipside, some of the CSPs said that their timelines for identifying which functions needed to be virtualized -- and when those functions would go into production -- have slipped. In the April report, 30% said it would be 2023 or later before the functions would be in production, while 38% said that their entire virtualization projects would be done by 2020, which was down from 45% in last year's survey.

The twice-yearly survey tracks CSPs' virtualization progress across three areas: planning, spending and deployment.

The first infographic in this series focused on planning while the third and final installment will look at the spending index. (See The Future of Virtualization: NFV Rising.)

For a look at last year's deployment stage, go here.

— Mike Robuck, Editor, Telco Transformation