Dimension Data to Provide Mobile Virtual Network Enabler (MVNE) in Hong Kong
By It is rare that in the telecommunications world infrastructure upgrades end up being an all-family affair. However, such has been the case with the announcement that the Dimension Data arm of Japan multi-national NTT Group has been selected by the service provider business NTT Communications to provide a mobile virtual network enabler (MVNE) as well as related services in Hong Kong.
For those not familiar, the MVNE delivers the provisioning, administration and operational support system (OSS)/business support systems (BSS) to mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs). NTT Communications will use Dimension Data to deliver the first MVNE platform in Hong Kong. It will give MVNOs in the city the infrastructure needed to deliver 3G (UMTS) and 4G (LTE) data services.
It was noted in the announcement that the network functions virtualization (NFV) architecture of the Dimension Data solution was a key consideration in the selection, as Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated cities in the world, and thus presents a complex deployment scheme on several fronts not the least of which is the sophistication of the population and its dependence on mobile network services. With NFV, NTT Communications will be able to scale as needed to address current and future demands as well as being able to introduce products and services much faster to a market which historically has been a hot house of innovative mobile services that other markets keep a close eye on.
Dimension Data is touting its NFV expertise as a reason NTT Communications selected it. In fact, frequent visitors to the NFV Essentials Community are well aware that NTT Communications has been not only an early adopter of NFV for its next generation infrastructure transition, but is actively promoting this fact as it rolls out new services both domestically and globally.
“We are incredibly proud to be involved in a project that has enabled us to deliver this first-of-its-kind solution to Hong Kong. This move will benefit both businesses and consumers, and we are delighted to be entrusted by NTT Communications to roll out this platform in the most cost-effective and efficient manner,” said Steve Lam, Managing Director, Dimension Data Hong Kong.
“Delivering a MNVE solution requires heavy upfront investment in specialized equipment, and high scalability and agility is required is difficult to cater to customer demand. It is crucial to find a partner that could work hand in hand with us to provide the required infrastructure to deliver on our MVNE ambitions,” said Taylor Man, Chief Technology Officer of NTT Com Asia.
For the partners, this is not just a wireless proposition. While the focus is on delivery of current mobile data services, Dimension Data is slated to address wired and wireless, hybrid wide-area network (WAN), network performance optimization, software-defined networking (SDN), Network Optimization Assessment along with a range of best-practice network optimization solutions for NTT.
Edited by Alicia Young
