MEC offering includes media, voice, and data experiences, IoT and M2M capabilities as part of Intel Network Builders showcase
Huntington Beach, CA and Guildford, UK, 17 February 2016: Applied Computer Solutions (ACS) and Quortus today announced further details of the live Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) platform that they will be demonstrating for the first time at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The solution will show 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 will be 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 realize 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 pioneered 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 monetization opportunities. Higher delivery speeds and lower network latencies benefit content providers; customer organizations 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.
About Quortus
Quortus enables flexible, agile mobile communications networks that provide a foundation for innovative services tailored to a diverse range of end customers. Its award winning EdgeCentrix (ECX) virtualized mobile core solutions help increase operator margin and ‘stickiness’. They interwork gracefully with existing mobile networks, with small cell and HetNet architectures and with standard IT infrastructure, to create truly integrated communications platforms. Quortus’ ECX products are highly scalable and can be hosted anywhere – in the cloud, at the network edge, or deeply embedded alongside a cellular radio in a single-chip implementation.
About ACS
Since ACS’s inception in 1989, we have experienced consistent and sustainable growth by developing strong long-term relationships with our OEM/manufacturing partners and by providing tremendous value to our clients. Our customer base is extremely diverse in size and in the industries they serve, but our commitment never wavers. ACS delivers effectively, efficiently, and provides the best possible value for each of our loyal customers. In the communications industry, which is one of the many ACS serves, ACS has helped wireline service providers, MSOs, and wireless carriers build out their networks for the past 20 years. Our experience in traditional wired broadband services and mobility gives us the expertise, technical talent and OEM relationships to help the operators deliver on LTE-based mobile broadband. We are well-equipped for urban and enterprise deployments providing the integration experience, technical talent and programming skills necessary to build out, control and manage mobile broadband platforms. Applied Computer Solutions (ACS) is based in Huntington Beach, California.