ADVA and 6WIND today announced that German telecommunication carrier WiTCOM is using ADVA's Ensemble Connector and 6WIND's Turbo IPsec vRouter as key components of its new edge cloud platform. The open multi-vendor solution enables WiTCOM to power its smart city initiative with network functions virtualization (NFV) and universal customer premises equipment (uCPE). Built on best-of-breed technology from five leading suppliers, the solution supports the rapid and efficient rollout of IoT, video and next-generation services across WiTCOM's IPv6 network and enables easy scalability for global deployments. Other partners in the project are Advantech, dacoso and Dell Technologies.

"We took an innovative approach for an open multi-vendor solution to power our smart city initiative working with 6WIND, ADVA, Advantech, Dell Technologies and dacoso," said Volker Bodenbach, head of technology and operations, WiTCOM. "Together we designed a secure open platform that powers edge cloud for IoT, video and next-generation services across our IPv6 network that can further be deployed worldwide across many verticals."

WiTCOM's new multi-vendor platform is composed of technologies optimized for edge cloud architecture. The uCPE approach brings dramatically increased efficiency and scale to the ICT service provider's business. It also ensures that its customers benefit from ultimate choice and flexibility. Now, WiTCOM can streamline multiple virtual network functions (VNFs) on a single installation deployed close to the end customer, helping cities to digitalize their infrastructure and take advantage of the latest innovation in areas such as traffic control, surveillance and IoT.

"Our Ensemble Connector is the ideal solution for hosting and managing demanding uCPE applications. It's now giving WiTCOM the power of the cloud along with several other benefits, such as zero-touch provisioning and platform security. It also provides access to the Ensemble Harmony ecosystem, which includes a wide variety of onboarded commercial VNFs," commented James Buchanan, general manager, Edge Cloud, ADVA. "With its new uCPE network, WiTCOM can respond in an instant to customer demands and empower municipal networks to test out offerings and ideas. It will help accelerate the fourth industrial revolution and be a key tool in transforming cities into safer, less wasteful and more pleasant places to live."

"6WIND's vRouters provide the high-performance virtual routing foundation required for secure, scalable uCPE solutions," said Eric Carmès, founder and CEO, 6WIND. "We are proud to work with WiTCOM alongside our partners ADVA, Advantech, dacoso and Dell Technologies to create an industry-leading smart city initiative for IoT, video and additional services."

"Our task was to combine the components for this managed edge cloud solution into a finely tuned overall solution," explained Karsten Geise, head of business and development, dacoso. "IoT via IPv6 public networks will be of great interest to many companies in the future if it meets such high security and automation requirements."

"WiTCOM's smart city blueprint extends the cloud infrastructure to the IoT edge, building a solid and open foundation to run innovative mobility and security services," said James Yang, VP, Cloud-IoT Group, Advantech. "Our white box uCPE solutions help service providers like WiTCOM enable this intelligent edge with optimized platforms that provide ample computing power and rich connectivity while meeting edge environmental and mechanical constraints."