NEC Strengthens Its Edge Portfolio for the 6G Era
NEC Corporation has expanded the capabilities
of its User Plane Function (UPF, *1) for telecom operators by adding support
for second-generation AWS Outposts racks (*2), further strengthening its multi
deployment model. With this enhancement, NEC’s UPF can now operate consistently
across on-premises environments, the cloud, edge locations, and AWS Outposts
racks installed within operators’ network sites. This enables flexible
deployment design that is tailored to traffic characteristics and service
requirements.
NEC’s UPF is designed for
lightweight, high performance operation in telecom networks, achieving 200 Gbps
throughput while limiting CPU usage to only 20% of total CPU cores on second
generation AWS Outposts racks. This lightweight architecture enables easier coexistence
with other workloads on second-generation AWS Outposts racks and supports the
deployment of low-latency, edge-based services such as network slicing and
service application integration. These capabilities have been achieved through
close collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Another key feature of NEC’s UPF is its unified software
architecture, which delivers a consistent experience from edge sites to
centralized deployments. The same software can be used when deployed on second
generation AWS Outposts racks, ensuring network wide consistency in design and
operations. With a cloud optimized approach that incorporates continuous
updates and automated operations, NEC enables labor efficient, stable, large
scale network operation. This supports telecom operators’ diverse network
strategies, from leveraging existing infrastructure to adopting cloud native
architectures.
With edge deployments expected to accelerate in the 6G era, NEC
has combined expanded cloud adoption options enabled by second-generation AWS
Outposts racks with the space- and power-efficient design of its UPF to achieve
efficient edge rollouts and the integration of edge environments with cloud
services.
The provision of this solution helps to advance NEC’s "AI
Native" vision for society and contributes to solving social challenges.
"NEC's innovative approach to User Plane Function deployment
exemplifies how AWS Outposts enables telecommunications operators to modernise their infrastructure without compromising on the application's mission-critical
performance or the operational consistency delivered by the cloud. With
second-generation AWS Outposts, NEC delivers the cloud-native agility that
operators need while maintaining the low-latency, high-throughput performance
that 5G services demand. This collaboration demonstrates AWS's commitment to
helping telecommunications partners build mission critical, high-performance,
flexible, and scalable networks that will power the next generation of
connected experiences."
- Amir Rao, Global Director,
GTM and Telco Solutions at Amazon Web Services
"Enabling NEC’s UPF, which is designed for multi-platform environments, to
run on second-generation AWS Outposts racks will expand the range of choices
that communications service providers have for network design and operations.
The UPF supports both rapid service deployment and stable operations while
minimizing design and operational complexity, thereby strengthening service
providers’ ability to deliver reliable services. Going forward, NEC will
continue to pursue the realization of network platforms that seamlessly and
pragmatically integrate cloud and network technologies, contributing to value
creation for communications service providers."
- Takashi Sato, Corporate
Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Network Solutions Business
Division of NEC Corporation
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