Radisys Corporation, a global leader of open telecom solutions, announced its Edge Computing Software Platform. The new platform provides an access-agnostic, ETSI standards-compliant Mobile Edge Platform with a building-block framework and open APIs to enable disruptive edge applications. It is based on Intel Xeon processor-based platforms and leverages Intel's Network Edge Virtualization (NEV) SDK targeted at MEC applications and services. Radisys' platform can be used with multiple access technologies, enabling service providers to leverage a common edge computing platform for both their wireless and wireline solutions, and to break vendor lock-in from proprietary edge computing solutions.

News Highlights

• Service providers are seeking to deploy edge computing in their networks to support multiple 5G, smart enterprise and IoT use applications that require ultra-low latency, such as connected car and industrial automation, or localized content, such as video surveillance and location services.
• By moving processing to the network edge, service providers can also reduce backhaul costs, deliver a better end-user experience, and leverage real-time network analytics to make more informed decisions to manage their networks.
• Current proprietary edge computing platforms lock service providers into a single vendor and access technology, typically requiring expensive purpose-built hardware.
• Radisys' Edge Computing Software Platform is based on off-the-shelf general purpose processors and platforms and is compliant with industry-standards around ETSI MEC. By utilizing open best-of-breed software components from a multi-vendor ecosystem and a disaggregated architecture, the Radisys edge computing platform enables service providers to break vendor lock-in and reduce cost of deployment.
• The platform design is completely agnostic to the access technology, so service providers, enterprise or venue owners can deploy edge computing for both wireline and broadband wireless access, including Wi-Fi, with a complete end-to-end solution.
• The enabling solution is application-ready, providing all the elements pre-configured for application VNFs to be initiated, orchestrated, programmed and serviced as needed.
• The software platform hosts a P4 based data plane to enable user plane functionalities, such as the User Plane Function (UPF) at the edge delivering lower latencies.
• As a founding member of the Akraino Edge Stack project for edge computing applications, Radisys is committed to enabling open solutions for multiple 5G, enterprise and IoT use cases.

"With multi-access edge computing, service providers can innovate and differentiate their service offerings faster than ever and improve the user experience as they look to grow their revenues, while taking advantage of significant CapEx and OpEx savings associated with reduced backhaul," said Neeraj Patel, vice president and general manager, Software & Services, Radisys. "We have designed our open Edge Computing Software Platform on the philosophies of open, standard centric, access agnostic, and disaggregation - enabling our customers to build networks of their choice. Various deployment topologies for the edge, definitions range from far edge to near edge and everything in between, can be targeted with Radisys' edge computing solution. We are also proud to be founding members of the Akraino Project and plan to collaborate with the Akraino community to help enable the ecosystem for open source edge solutions."

"We share a common vision with Radisys of enabling service providers around the world to deploy the next generation of networks supporting 5G and IoT," said Caroline Chan, vice president and general manager, 5G infrastructure division, Data Center Group, Intel. "By utilizing Intel's Network Edge Virtualization (NEV) and Intel Xeon processor-based platforms for its Edge Computing Software Framework, Radisys is enabling network transformation at the edge, and contributing to a strong ecosystem offering innovative solutions that will accelerate the advent of 5G."

"It is great to see Radisys, a founding member of Akraino Edge Stack, release a MEC-based solution that integrates both open APIs and open standards," said Arpit Joshipura, general manager, Networking and Orchestration, The Linux Foundation. "Radisys brings significant expertise in delivering commercially-deployable open solutions, and projects like Akraino - which enables edge computing applications for use cases across telco, enterprise and industrial IOT - play a critical role in the deployment these products."