Top Telcos Join Facebook Open Source Hardware Project (thestack.com)

An anonymous reader sends word about the latest telcos to join Facebook's Open Compute Project. The Stack reports: "A new wave of communications companies has joined Facebook's non-profit Open Compute Project (OCP), including AT&T, Verizon, Deutsche Telekom and South Korea's SK Telecom, as the movement seeks to share innovative hardware designs and drive down costs in the telecom arena. An OCP sub-section focused entirely on telecom requirements has been set up to look into servers and networking efficiency in the field. As one of the largest hardware buyers, telcos will provide a significant new market for the project, alongside its successful data center efforts.

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Re:Translation:

[Anonymous Coward]

The telecom industry is moving towards Network Function Virtualization, which means "virtual machine" versions of specialist telecoms hardware running on Intel based server hardware. This is a push from companies like AT&T trying to cut hardware costs.

Google
Affirmed Networks --- Maker of a compact virtualized Enhanced Packet Core
Metaswitch Networks -- Makers of Perimeta, a virtualized session boarder controller and Project Clearwater an Open Source IMS switch

These are just two of the upstarts looking to make Telecom Equipment a software business.