Applied Computer Solutions (ACS) and Quortus announced further details of the live Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) platform that they are demonstrating for the first time at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
The solution shows a range of applications, including user presence tied to responsive digital signage provided by Stratacache, fixed mobile convergence and breakout to local enterprise applications. The demonstration is hosted by Intel (Booth 3D30) as part of the Intel Network Builders showcase.
Brought together by ACS, the demonstration shows how MEC can be used to cost-effectively and flexibly enable communications services which are difficult or impossible to realise using traditional network architectures. In addition to the presence-based digital signage offering and local PBX integration with short code dialing, the system provides a platform for completely local communication between two terminal nodes. This is particularly powerful in IoT-type applications, for instance providing local interconnect between a security camera and video viewer. At the heart of the demonstration are ACS’ powerful controller platform and MEC appliances, integrating dataplane functions traditionally implemented in the cellular core network. This allows functions like media control to be performed at the network edge, as well as caching, analytics and DNS interception for local service delivery.
ACS offers the cellular market’s first MEC control plane platform, MEC appliances and integrated software applications, making rollout of this key enabling technology possible for the first time. Quortus provided the concept of selectively implementing cellular network functions at or near the network edge. The companies’ partnership, announced earlier this month, enables services that enhance user experience and create a new ecosystem surrounding service creation – all via a platform that reaches from highly tailored niche services to high-volume offerings with substantial economies of scale. This allows more efficient use of operators’ network resources and new monetisation opportunities. Higher delivery speeds and lower network latencies benefit content providers; customer organisations and end users see better integration between IT and communications infrastructure, advanced services with outstanding ease of use, and dramatically enhanced quality of experience (QoE).
MEC architectures combine wireless technology with an IT-type service environment to deliver efficient communications services with low latency and high bandwidth. MEC software applications can tap into local content and information about network conditions so that traffic can be handled in an optimal way; examples include local traffic offload and caching, and real-time traffic analytics.
The joint MEC platform leverages functions developed for Quortus’ award-winning EdgeCentrix software core network technology. The company has been developing, deploying and promoting edge-of-network cellular intelligence for many years and has built up a substantial fund of expertise and intellectual property in the field. The combination of ACS’s MEC control plane, MEC appliances, and systems integration expertise, together with EdgeCentrix technology will allow service providers to truly deliver on the promise of MEC. Services are provided where they are consumed – at the network edge.
ACS and Quortus’s combined efforts address the needs of SMB and enterprise segments such as healthcare, retail, and large campus industry and manufacturing sites.
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