LG U+ Employs Juniper Virtual Route Feature

LG U+ is using the NFV-based route reflector feature of the Juniper Networks vMX and EX4300/EX2200 Ethernet switches. This new installation puts the Korean service provider on the path to 5G, according to the companies.

This announcement follows, by about five months, the news that LG U+ had partnered with Juniper and Wind River to commercial a carrier-grade NFV-based virtual router for application in service networks.

The Juniper Networks vMX is an MX Series router optimized to run on x86 servers. It provides control, forwarding, and management planes. The EX4300 provides Layer 2 and 3 switching in branch, campus, and data center environments. The EX2200 offers an economical, entry-level, stand-alone solution for access layer deployments in branch, campus, and remote offices, according to Juniper Networks.

The solutions outfit LG U+ with the technology it needs to do auto healing and auto recovery. With auto healing, the service provider can prevent system overload if defined maximum CPU and memory use values are exceeded. With auto recovery, the LG U+ network can automatically recognize network errors and dynamically create a new virtual router to allow for service continuity.

The Juniper solution also can support third-party hosted operating systems, hypervisors, and orchestration tools. And it has enabled anti-DDoS attack and anti-hacking services, and IPv6 routing, for LG U+.

“We are very excited about Korea's first commercial launch of a carrier-grade NFV-based router,” said Jae-ho Choi, general manager of the transport platform development team at LG U+. “I believe this will enable us to not only drastically improve our routing performance, but provide greater stability and a more diverse range of services for our customers.”

Network functions virtualization (NFV) holds great promise in enabling communications service providers to reduce their costs related to managing, maintaining, and updating their networks and freeing them from the grip of their suppliers. According to Accenture, adoption of NFV and software-defined networking can lead to a 25 percent decline in costs.