Telefonica and Brocade have completed performance benchmark testing for a virtual EPC (vEPC) implementation within the Telefonica NFV Reference Lab framework. The test results demonstrate that Brocade(R) vEPC built on top of its innovative Virtual Core for Mobile (VCM) solution platform enables service providers to build agile networks that quickly scale to match the performance demands of new services.
The VCM software architecture is purpose-built to reduce production costs, support faster service rollout, and dynamically allocate virtual resources. As a result, it allows service providers to serve diverse use cases that include traditional customer-centric services, IoT/M2M, MVNO, private LTE, and mobile edge computing.
The Brocade vEPC, running on Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) Intel(R)-based x86 servers in Telefonica's standardized reference test environment, was benchmarked with a broad mix of mobile traffic loads to measure both user plane and control plane performance. Telefonica's standardized NFV Reference Lab enables the deployment of complex network scenarios using Telefonica's OpenMANO stack. Brocade vEPC achieved user data processing rates in excess of 8.5 Mpps while serving 2 million simultaneous bearers at a rate greater than 7,000 bearer activations per second, the highest values seen by Telefonica for the reference test environment. Through this benchmark testing, the Brocade vEPC also demonstrated linear scalability in handling additional user plane traffic and control plane traffic independently with each other.
Brocade vEPC is part of the Brocade Virtual Core for Mobile product family, along with Brocade vPGW and Brocade vSAE-GW. All are part of the Brocade SDN/NFV solution portfolio that is enabling service providers to implement agile Telco Cloud architectures.