du, the UAE-based telecommunications service provider, has chosen Affirmed Networks network functions virtualisation (NFV) narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) solution.
By using Affirmed Networks mobile core to provide a 3GPP core network, du is able to develop IoT use cases and smart city use cases.
"We are excited to partner with Affirmed Networks, a leader in native virtualised core network solutions," said Saleem AlBlooshi, chief infrastructure officer at Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company. "Adopting Affirmed Networks NB-IoT core will ensure we have state-of-the-art 5G ready core network with slicing to serve enterprise as well as consumer use cases. Also, the cooperation in 5G and IoT development is essential to realize UAE leaders' vision to build the smartest city and to be on top of the technological evolution."
The NB-IoT part of the Affirmed Networks offering will be deployed on du's fully virtualised native cloud open-stack environment. In addition du will use Affirmed Network’s Virtualized Mobile Core, complete with a virtualised WiFi Gateway, to deliver VoWiFi and fixed wireless services. The entire offering is 5G-ready and has Network Slicing capabilities to support du’s goal of creating a fully virtualised and software-defined native cloud core network.
Commenting on the news, Mohammed Shanableh, vice president of global operations at Affirmed Networks, said: "As one of the innovative operators in the Middle East, du has realized how a virtualised network can dramatically improve both their network economics and service agility. By embracing new technologies such as NB-IoT, VoWiFi and Fixed LTE, they are now able to add new revenue generating services, while at the same time achieving better network utilisation and improving customer quality of experience. We look forward to continue our work with du as they transform their network toward 5G."
The company says that NFV is the foundation for achieving efficient carrier-grade solutions. It enables high availability, flexibility and service agility. It represents a key technology allowing telecom operators to move towards 5G with core and edge cloud computing and network slicing, and offers an agile, fast and more efficient model that best serves the operators' subscribers.
du recently selected Ericsson to transform its IoT and cloud services. Through it, du will be able to offer its enterprise customers, flexible pricing and billing solutions for its IoT and cloud platforms. Ericsson IoT monetisation platform, which is built on Ericsson’s enterprise and cloud billing solution, will also allow du to offer billing as-a-service to government entities and across various industry verticals such as utilities, retail and transport.