Telstra's virtualised network carrying live video calling ahead of broadcast media

Ericsson has announced that its virtualisation of Telstra's infrastructure has progressed to enabling live mobile video calls, with Telstra to also extend the Ericsson cloud platform deployment to carry live or near-live broadcast media workloads.

The announcement, made at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona on Sunday, means a step towards NFV capabilities for 5G, such as network slicing, using Ericsson's virtual evolved packet core,

Telstra is the first in the nation to deliver live mobile traffic over its virtualised network functionality, with the telecommunications carrier now entering the second phase of the NFV program with Ericsson.

"Delivery of live traffic over virtualized network functions is an important step in delivering the mobile network for the future. Increasingly, operator's customers are looking for mobile services that are optimized for their needs," said Ericsson ANZ head Emilio Romeo.

"Additionally, the establishment of media cloud capabilities will enable the processing and distribution of bandwidth intensive broadcast workloads assisting broadcasters to improve workflows."

Telstra's NFV program with Ericsson, announced a year ago, involved deployment of Ericsson's Hyperscale Datacenter System 8000, Cloud Execution Environment, Cloud Manager, Cloud SDN, and VNFs such as virtual Evolved Packet Core (vEPC) and virtual IP Multimedia System (vIMS).

Telstra and Ericsson also used MWC to unveil their plans to conduct 5G new radio (NR) trials, deploy an optical network transformation and expansion nationwide, and deploy a Cat M1 Internet of Things (IoT) network across the country.

Ciena, Sierra Wireless, Altair, Qualcomm, and Bosch are all contributing to Telstra and Ericsson's "Network of the Future" program.

Ericsson is also virtualising Vodafone Australia's core network with Cisco, it announced last month.

The Vodafone network architecture solution makes use of Ericsson's Hyperscale Datacenter System and such software as Ericsson Cloud Execution Environment, Ericsson Cloud Manager, and Cloud SDN controller, while Cisco is contributing its WAN Automation Engine; IP Network VNFs including IOS XR 9000v and Cloud Services Router 1000v; virtualised and physical security technologies including its Adaptive Security Appliance and Cisco Firepower security gateway; and security support services for the Vodafone project.