Solution brief

vIMS for Communications

Service Providers
Executive Overview Introduction “Plan and Provide Infrastructure”
Intel is accelerating network function Increasing market pressures, such as processes. CSPs are also encountering
virtualization with unique capabilities skyrocketing mobile traffic, demand competitive pressure from Over the
that enable optimal use of data center for enhanced services in a more agile Top (OTT) providers, such as Skype.
resources to deliver communications environment, and the search for more Deployment of a vIMS solution offers
services. Virtualized IP Multimedia cost-effective solutions are driving the opportunity to capture new revenue
Services (vIMS) provides the Communications Service Providers streams and remain competitive with
Communications Service Provider (CSPs) to adopt network function services offered by OTT providers.
(CSP) with the ability to introduce virtualization (NFV). Virtualizing The number of subscribers for IMS
new services more rapidly and to services onto standard, commercial worldwide exceeds 190 million
scale current and future services off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and subscribers.1 The volume of Mobile
more seamlessly. More than ever, taking advantage of software-defined traffic is expected to grow at a
traditional Service Providers must networking (SDN) will increase network compound annual growth rate (CAGR)
keep pace in a world where application flexibility and reduce costs, as well as of at least 45 percent, 2 and analysts
developers bring to market new Over enable CSPs to launch new revenue predict the current USD 2.3 billion
the Top services and capabilities that generating services more quickly and NFV market to reach USD 11.6 billion
currently take CSPs years to launch. with less overhead. in 2019. 3 CSPs and the ecosystem that
To remain relevant and competitive, supports the industry are evaluating
The key benefit of virtualizing Network
CSPs are investing in the development approaches to efficiently scale to meet
Functions, such as Virtualized IP
of virtualized networks that will allow these traffic requirements.
Multimedia Services (vIMS), is that a
creation of new services to retain
CSP can host multiple workloads on Many system integrators, software
and grow the customer base. Many
the same rack of Intel® Architecture- vendors, and platform providers rely
IMS functions are available on Intel®
based servers and can dynamically on Intel® technologies to deliver the
Architecture today. This document
scale services up or down depending performance and scalability required
details the critical technologies and
on real-time requirements, including for vIMS solutions. Using vIMS solutions
capabilities, and describes Intel’s role
the busiest traffic hours. Additionally, based on Intel technologies, CSPs can
in the ecosystem that is required to
separation of the workload from offer a full range of services without
participate fully in CSP production
the underlying standard hardware having to use multiple purpose-built
deployments.
enables significant simplification of systems.
procurement compared to classic
appliance-based approaches. This paper describes the technologies
Hardware can be repurposed as required to enable and mature
service demands evolve, and acquired vIMS technologies to support CSP
very quickly compared to the classic production deployments.

Revision 1.2 April 2016

vIMS for Communications Service Providers 2

Table of Contents Market Opportunity spectrum makes it difficult to provide

The key drivers for IMS deployments complete building coverage. If Evolved
Executive Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Packet Core (EPC) is enhanced with
include Voice over LTE (VoLTE, Long
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Term Evolution), Voice over Wi- evolved Packet Data Gateway (ePDG),
Fi* (VoWiFi), Rich Communication VoWiFi can be considered an extension
Market Opportunity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 of VoLTE, providing seamless handoffs
Suite (RCS), and Web Real-time
Industry Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Communication (WebRTC) services. between LTE and Wi-Fi networks.
Successful use of this technology,
State of the Industry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
VoLTE offers high-definition voice however, requires VoWiFi support in
Intel’s Role in Addressing through its use of newer wide- the handset for seamless handover. An
Market Pain Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 band codecs. It also offers network early adopter of this technology was
SDN/NFV For vIMS Network optimization through increased T-Mobile in the United States. Sprint
Functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 efficiency of its wireless resources. and AT&T also offer this service today.
With the popularity of OTT-provided In the United Kingdom, EE and Three
Technology Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 services, such as Skype, CSPs must UK currently provide a Wi-Fi calling
Traditional IMS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 ensure that they aren’t relegated service. Other vendors worldwide
to the status of “pipe providers.” include Swisscom and Telkomsel,
Media Processing and Nfv. . . . . . . 6
To date, many of these OTT and Indonesia’s leading operator.6
Intel Technologies and content providers have been the
Ecosystem Enablers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 early beneficiaries of LTE’s increased RCS is a new set of Session Initiation
bandwidth and access speeds. So Protocol (SIP) based communication
Intel Chipset and Architecture
operators that have rolled out LTE and messaging services. It enhances
Capabilities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
networks are now turning to VoLTE, calls and chat by adding in videos,
Intel® Cloud Integrity pictures, music, and files, all of which
RCS, and other value-added services
Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 are available during the call session.
to win back revenue from OTT and
Intel® Trusted Execution content providers. Some of these RCS should have the significant
Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 advanced services require heavier advantage of working across networks
signaling requirements than media and devices unlike OTT services, which
Intel® Resource Director require users to download apps, such
Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 requirements, which makes them well
suited to virtualization. as Whatsapp* or Snapchat*. In the
Intel® Advanced Encryption United States, AT&T and T-Mobile have
Standard New Instructions. . . . . . 8 There are now over 40 operators offered advanced video and message
across 27 countries that have launched calling since 2015.7 However, RCS is not
Secure Real-time Transport
commercial VoLTE services.4 VoLTE a primary driver for IMS compared to
Protocol (SRTP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
services have been launched in all VoLTE.
Open Source and Standards. . . . . . . 9 major geographical regions, including
deployments by China Mobile and CSPs WebRTC is a technology allowing
Intel® Open Network Platform users to directly communicate with
Reference Architecture . . . . . . . . . . 10 in North America and EMEA. 5
one another through video calls
Intel® Network Builders. . . . . . . . . . 10 VoWiFi allows a mobile customer to on browsers without installing any
use the same phone number and the software or apps. Although WebRTC is
Next Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
same smartphone dialer interface over also not viewed as a primary driver for
Additional Information . . . . . . . . . . 11 cellular or Wi-Fi networks. This new the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS),8
Related efforts in Intel: . . . . . . . . 11 VoWiFi capability differs from existing major CSPs, such as Telefonica and
VoIP technology, such as Skype or Orange, have deployed this solution.9
Intel Network Builders Related Facetime, in that these OTT services
Information: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 cannot maintain the call connection VoLTE, VoWiFi, RCS, and WebRTC all
when moving from Wi-Fi to cellular use the IP protocol to carry audio/
E
 TSI-Defined vIMS Proofs
coverage. This technology is often voice/video traffic, and the IMS
of Concept (POCs):. . . . . . . . . . . . 11
deployed by CSPs whose licensed architecture is the element in the core
network to implement this.
vIMS for Communications Service Providers 3

IMS is an architectural framework for The report “CSP VoIP and IMS include Session Border Controllers,
delivering IP multimedia services. It is Equipment and Subscribers” from Voice Application Servers, and Call
a layered architecture that consists of Infonetics10 provides a good snapshot Session Control Function (CSCF) servers.
three layers: Service/Application, IMS, of the market opportunity for IMS
Current and projected IMS network
and Transport. A number of network network elements. Figure 1 reflects
element growths are shown in Figure 2.
elements are required to implement CSP spending on IMS network elements
this function in the mobile core. More for the third quarter of 2015. The top
details on the architecture and network three network elements are circled and
elements are described later in this
document.

Exhibit 1 Worldwide Service Provider VoIP and IMS Revenue in Review

Worldwide Service Provider
% Change
VoIP and IMS Revenue (US$M)
3Q14 2Q15 3q15 3Q15 vs 3Q14 3Q15 vs 2Q15

Trunk media gateways $106.1 $142.5 $139.7 31.7% -2.0%

Session border controllers $155.4 $219.6 $215.9 38.9% -1.7%
Media servers $21.6 $21.8 $24.0 11.1% 9.9%
Softswitches $161.0 $118.1 $95.6 -40.6% -19.0%
Voice application servers $122.2 $210.4 $229.6 87.9% 9.1%
HSS $138.6 $146.3 $100.7 -27.4% -31.2%
CSCF servers $265.7 $370.5 $389.3 46.5% 5.1%
BGCF $19.8 $38.3 $34.5 74.6% -10.0%
Media gateway control function (MGCF) $5.2 $13.5 $101.0 1,841.6% 650.6%
IM and presence application servers $38.1 $59.9 $57.4 50.7% -4.1%
Total revenue $1,033.7 $1,340.8 $1,387.6 34.2% 3.5%

Figure 1. Quarterly worldwide CSP spend on IMS network elements.

$5,500 An additional report from Infonetics11

$5,000 states that “Worldwide CSP VoIP and
$4,500 IMS product revenue increased 34
Revenue (US$M)

$4,000 percent in 3Q15 over 3Q14 to $1.4B,

$3,500 which is 21 percent higher than
$3,000 originally forecast with sales related
$2,500 to VoLTE from Asia Pacific, particularly
$2,000 China and India, starting to take shape.
Additionally, mobile operators that
$1,500
have launched VoLTE and fixed-line
$1,000
operators continue a steady pace of
$500
expansion.”
$0
CY13 CY14 CY15 CY16 CY17 CY18 CY19
Media gateway control function (MGCF) BGCF
IM & presence application servers Media servers
Softswitches Trunk media gateways
HSS CSCF servers Figure 2. Projected annual CSP spend on
Voice application servers Session border controllers IMS network element.
vIMS for Communications Service Providers 4

Industry Challenges State of the Industry and those running virtualized are
CSPs have been losing revenue to Current IMS deployments have server- usually based on session capacity
OTT providers across many important based control and media gateway/ and transcoding capacity and do not
services, such as Skype for voice calls transport elements that are serviced focus on flexibility benefits. However,
and conferencing and Whatsapp by fixed function appliances that take Carrier Grade SBCs that have a
for messaging. This has resulted in a long time to deploy, are expensive decomposed architecture (that is,
CSPs looking at VoLTE and VoWiFi to to operate, and do not provide an separated Signaling Controller and
compete or at least remain relevant. evolution path to allow an operator to Media Gateway) allow independent
These services should provide better introduce new services quickly. These scaling of these functions to optimize
call quality and a broader array of fixed function call servers generally the deployment to handle the expected
competitive capabilities. IMS supports use optimized software running on call set-up rates as well as data plane
both services and can offer seamless Intel Architecture processors in ATCA throughput. The use of virtualized
call transfer without dropping the call. or proprietary form factors. In the controllers could be beneficial for
data plane, the gateway boxes often RCS, VoLTE, and VoWiFi requirements,
The costs associated with the initial all of which have heavy signaling
use network processors to handle the
deployment, the uncertainty of requirements compared to media
routing and security processing and
customer adoption, and the longer processing requirements.
Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) to
term return on investment (ROI) may
handle media transcoding. While IMS today is already in every
make certain SPs hesitant to deploy
IMS using classic appliance-based Vendors have been evolving their call CSP network that currently provides
infrastructure. The industry is looking server products to run as virtualized 4G-LTE VoLTE service, there is evidence
to drive cost reductions with major workloads on standard COTS Servers, that CSPs are considering virtualized
Telecommunication Equipment taking advantage of the commercial network elements in order to add
Manufacturers (TEMs) offering NFV benefits. There are also virtualized additional capacity. This provides an
solutions for IMS. solutions for media processing, opportunity to handle peak traffic loads
such as Session Border Controllers on virtualized platforms that can be
Interoperability between IMS networks reused for other workloads (or switched
(SBCs), available today; however,
is a challenge. This is being addressed off to minimize energy consumption)
adoption is limited to “Access” rather
by standards bodies like the GSM at other times of day. Operating a
than “Interworking” use cases. Since
Association (GSMA), release 5, and also hybrid-installation is simplified as the
media processing such as transcoding
by cooperation among CSPs. legacy Element Management System
requires vector arithmetic, proprietary
Support for VoWiFi has in the past DSP processors have been designed can generally be used to also run
not been supported by all handsets; and architected for this purpose. the Virtualized servers with minimal
however, this is changing since the If a transport element, such as an technician upskilling.
release of Apple’s iPhone 6 series Interworking SBC or Media Gateway, By adoption of industry standard
devices. Many major CSPs will likely has a high level of transcoding to servers, CSPs can also simply
take advantage of the opportunity to implement, a virtualized version may exploit the “Moore’s Law” ongoing
introduce VoWiFi. not compare favorably to the fixed improvements in the performance
function appliance. SBCs that are of servers currently enjoyed by IT
Most of the application services and
classified as Access SBCs (first point datacenters, which addresses the
CSCF functions have been available
of contact from User Equipment, growing demand for processing while
as software functions for a number
UE) generally do not have high minimizing the impact on operational
of years and are becoming available
levels of transcoding. Since peering accommodation.
on cloud platforms today. However,
or interconnect SBCs may have to
the challenge is that the network Intel is contributing to several open
connect to other CSPs and facilitate
elements that process media (voice and source communities, including
codec conversions, higher levels of
audio) traffic have stringent real-time Open vSwitch*,12 OpenDaylight*,13
transcoding performance are required.
requirements for jitter and latency. OpenStack*,14 and the 3G Partnership
Comparisons of media network
elements between physical functions Program (3GPP) Flexible Mobile Service
Steering project, to drive open source
vIMS for Communications Service Providers 5

integration efforts, such as the Intel® overhead introduced by the hypervisor KVM best-known methods are
Open Network Platform (Intel® ONP) in a virtualized environment, this can summarized here: https://wiki.opnfv.
Server and the Open Platform for NFV* be solved by data acceleration methods org/nfv-kvm-tuning.
(OPNFV*)15 and to support the growth such as:
of technologies required by vIMS. Intel SDN/NFV For vIMS Network Functions
• Core pinning
is also working with ecosystem partners SDN and NFV promise to revolutionize
and suppliers on proofs of concept • PCIe* passthrough the industry by driving cost reductions,
to validate end-to-end solutions that improving operating efficiency, and
• Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV)
demonstrate the capabilities and increasing potential for service revenue
maturity of the technologies. These • Accelerated Virtual Switches growth. However, the transition to NFV
end-to-end solutions will provide the (vSwitches) will require a number of new, disparate
industry with visibility into the gaps technologies to work collaboratively.
Intel has been ensuring that features
impeding broader adoption of vIMS The maturity of these technologies is
like Core Pinning, which come under the
using SDN/NFV technologies for mobile captured in Intel’s Network Maturity
Enhanced Platform Awareness (EPA)
CSPs’ services. Model for CSPs.16
feature set, are exposed in OpenStack.
Core Pinning can be specified as a
Intel’s Role in Addressing Market CPU policy. Intel is also ensuring Technology Overview
Pain Points instruction extensions (for example, The following sections describe IMS
The market adoption of technology Intel® Advanced Encryption Standard and Intel technology contributions in
innovation requires the business drivers New Instructions (Intel® AES-NI)) are more detail.
for the technology to solve a problem exposed using the OpenStack Nova
or enable a new capability that will libvirt driver. PCIe passthrough and SR- Traditional IMS
drive cost reductions or new services IOV can also be configured using the
The IMS system consists of a number
or both. Intel is driving the ecosystem OpenStack Nova configuration file.
of network elements, including
forward to make NFV a commercial
Review this whitepaper for more Application Servers, CSCF Servers, and
reality. Intel is providing technology
details on these features: https:// Media processing network elements.
and contributing to the ecosystem to
networkbuilders.intel.com/docs/
enable virtualized network functions Most of the application services
openStack_Kilo_wp_v2.pdf
and routing applications to scale more and CSCF functions have been
efficiently to optimally deliver end- Intel has also been involved in available as software functions for
to-end services. A common software- developing a number of best-known a number of years and are available
defined programmability of virtualized methods for real-time processing to on cloud platforms today. Network
functions and routing between these minimize jitter and latency, which would elements that process media traffic
functions provides the ability to scale improve performance of IMS network are typically deployed on dedicated
traffic in a more efficient manner. elements that process voice and media hardware appliances or Advanced
data. Telecommunications Computing
Service agility and speed of
Architecture (ATCA)-based platforms.
introduction are key benefits for More details on these methods can be
Often these physical appliances use
deploying vIMS. Services Providers found at: http://www.intel.com/content/
physical cabling and preconfigured
have faced revenue competition from dam/www/public/us/en/documents/
static routing mechanisms. Lead
OTT providers that have deployed white-papers/real-time-virtualization-
times are long for these dedicated
a broad array of customer-friendly on-xeon-server-white-paper.pdf
appliances, and deployment can be
services. Current IMS deployments do
Intel continues to be an active complex, leading to early procurement
not currently have the flexibility to cope
participant in communications-focused, of infrastructure inventory to
with rapid traffic volume changes.
industry-wide Open Standards and accommodate potential future traffic
For network elements, such as Session Open Source projects. As part of these needs. Unlike reusable virtualized
Border Controllers (SBCs), challenges efforts related to vIMS, Intel is involved solutions, proprietary and ATCA
include media (audio) transcoding on in a real-time KVM project within the platforms are not interchangeable
Intel® Architecture, throughput, latency, OPNFV community. among applications from different
and jitter performance. With respect vendors.
KVM work can be found at: https://wiki.
to throughput or more specifically, the
opnfv.org/nfv_hypervisors-kvm.
vIMS for Communications Service Providers 6

CSPs deploying an IMS solution Media Processing and Nfv Elements such as SBCs and Media
have had to ensure interoperability Resource Function (MRF) are
Most of the IMS functions, such as
between IP and legacy time-division traditionally built on fixed-function
CSCF, Home Subscriber Server (HSS),
multiplexing (TDM) equipment, even hardware; however, there are solutions
and voice application servers, are
though fixed-line TDM equipment for SBCs and MRF running on software
available as software functions today
deployment is decreasing. today. These network elements operate
and are widely deployed on servers
at the signaling, data, and media layers.
As CSPs move toward an all IP-based using Intel® Architecture processors.
network, SBCs are commonly deployed Vendors are generally porting these The media layer must perform tasks,
in IMS networks as discrete network to run on a hypervisor with little or such as voice transcoding, and for
elements at the edge of an IP network, no modifications. Intel’s high CPU LTE, codecs such as G711 and AMR
where they offer control of signaling frequency, large caches, advanced are required. Voice transcoding is
and media streams. Originally, SBCs did pipelines, and hardware accelerators computationally intensive. Jitter, which
not have to do much media processing; make them ideal for tasks such as large is introduced by the hypervisor and is
however, this has changed over time. table lookups, hashing, and parsing, detrimental for voice solutions, is an
Since requirements of different peer which are required for signaling layer additional concern. DPDK does not help
networks vary, media handling requires processing. The Serving CSCF (S-CSCF), with jitter.
capabilities such as transcoding and IP Multimedia Subsystem CSCF
conversion of a media stream from (I-CSCF), and Breakout Gateway Control Intel Technologies and Ecosystem
one codec type to another. As stated Function (BGCF) functions are typically Enablers
previously this is achieved using rigid virtualized on dual-socket servers with
For network CSPs that intend to deploy
architectures. Intel® Xeon® processors E5-2600 v3
vIMS solutions, Intel’s architecture and
product family and adapters based on
Figure 3 shows a simplified IMS ecosystem contributions are significant.
Intel® Ethernet Controllers.
architecture. Intel’s product performance, unique
platform awareness capabilities,
software portability from network edge
to core, and significant contributions
to Open Source communities and
standards bodies support solution
realization.

Intel’s chipset and platform capabilities

enable IMS network functions to
facilitate efficient resource utilization
through optimal performance and
programmability. Intel continues to
work with the ecosystem to enable
optimal use of these capabilities with
seamless integration by the NFV/SDN
architecture.

Virtualized network functions benefit

from the ongoing efforts to enable
and enhance the horizontal platform.
Platform capabilities based on Intel’s
Figure 3. An example of a simplified vIMS architecture. chipsets supporting Open Source
ingredients (including DPDK17 and
Open vSwitch18) are leveraged by
CSPs to achieve the benefits of NFV.
The horizontal platform provides
the foundation for a virtualized
infrastructure and capabilities such
as CPU/memory virtualization, I/O
vIMS for Communications Service Providers 7

virtualization, workload isolation, and Table 1. Key Intel features impacting vIMS functions.
acceleration are the foundation of
Media
NFV.19 EPA: CPU
Memory processing and
Pinning, CAT/ AES-
Intel has also worked closely with vIMS Function Bandwidth acceleration QAT TXT
NUMA, Huge CMT NI
Monitoring of Codecs on IA
ecosystem participants to develop Pages, etc
(G.711, AMR...)
reference architectures that maximize
vIMS Control
the value of vIMS. These architectures Plane
capitalize on open, industry-standard (vCSCF, 3 3 3 3
technologies to help CSPs reduce vMCGF,
vendor costs, more easily produce vBGCF)
scalable solutions, and accelerate vIMS Data
time to market for new solutions. Plane
(SBC, BG, 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
Purpose-built devices require CSPs MGW, MRF
and their hardware partners to qualify WebRTC GW)
each version of a device, whether it is vIMS
produced to offer a distinct service or Applications
3 3
to accommodate a different number (Messaging,
of users. With vIMS solutions based Presence, TAS)
on industry-standard technologies,
CSPs can produce, and qualify, fewer
variations for their solutions. The Intel® Cloud Integrity Technology Intel® Trusted Execution Technology
virtualized environment allows them to Intel has a portfolio of technologies For CSPs with operations in multiple
support a greater variety of commercial that are being introduced into the countries, regulators require that
services and to scale more efficiently to processor microarchitecture to subscriber data be protected to ensure
meet demand. specifically address CSP requirements it does not traverse country boundaries.
for secure multi-tenanted Intel TXT and Geo-Tagging Intel TXT
Intel Chipset and Architecture
infrastructure for virtualized workloads. use cases can help operators adhere to
Capabilities
Specific focus areas include the security this requirement. These technologies
Specific Intel capabilities that drive of traffic between network elements in use hardware-based geography and
optimal performance and security for service chains, VM-VM confidentiality, asset tags to help control workload
virtualized IMS functions are identified secure monitoring, ETSI compliance, placement and migration. They allow
in Table 1. Some of these capabilities and resource visibility and analytics. for boundary control policies to be set
include: Enhanced Platform Awareness for a workload, allowing or preventing
These cover four layers of security:
(EPA), 20 Intel® Resource Director its deployment in certain locations. An
Technology (RDT), Intel® QuickAssist • Platform Integrity, including Intel® TXT enabling guide for TXT is available with
Technology (Intel® QAT), 21 Intel® Trusted + TPM, AES-NI, and Secure Key details on equipment availability. 22
Execution Technology (Intel® TXT), and
• Location & Boundary Control,
Intel® Advanced Encryption Standard
including geo-tagging
New Instructions (Intel® AES-NI), among
others. • Workload Integrity
For vIMS, there are a number of • Run Time Integrity
relevant Intel technologies:
vIMS for Communications Service Providers 8

Secure Real-time Transport

Protocol (SRTP)
Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP)
is the protocol that carries the media
streams (for example, audio and video
in the IMS transport layer). SRTP
defines a profile of RTP intended
to provide encryption, message
authentication and integrity, and replay
protection to the RTP data. Preliminary
testing on a server with 2 x Intel®
Xeon® processor E5-2699 v3 (Ubuntu*
Server 14.04.3 LTS, libsrtp 2.0.0-pre
and OpenSSL 1.0.2e, AES-128 counter)
using libSRTP library (, ie.,open-source
implementation SRTP) shows that the
throughput and processing load is
improved using Intel AES-NI.
Figure 4. Trusted location and boundary control required for subscriber information.

Intel® Resource Director Technology

Designed to optimize resource
Throughput (Mb/s)

utilization, the Intel® Resource Director libsrtp original

Technology (Intel® RDT) feature set
libsrtp using OpenSSL
brings new levels of visibility and w/o AES-NI
control over how shared resources such libsrtp using OpenSSL
as last-level cache (LLC) and memory w AES-NI
bandwidth are used by applications,
Virtual Machines (VMs) and containers,
enabling new advances in workload
consolidation density, performance packet size [B]
consistency, and reducing total cost of
ownership (TCO).
Figure 5. SRTP throughput performance graph.

Intel® Advanced Encryption Standard

New Instructions
The Intel® AES-NI instruction set
was designed to help improve
libsrtp original
(k instr./s)

cryptographic operations used in

security protocols, such as IP Security libsrtp using OpenSSL
w/o AES-NI
(IPSec). Intel has demonstrated
libsrtp using OpenSSL
increases of from 15 percent to 100
w AES-NI
percent per cycle on a single thread of
an Intel® Core™ i7-4770 processor core
over an Intel® Core™ i7-2600 processor length (octets)
core. 23 G.711 G. 726-32 G.729 Wideband

Figure 6. Number of instructions to implement SRTP.

vIMS for Communications Service Providers 9

The table below provides links to more information on these specific capabilities.

Table 2. Links to specific capabilities.

Intel® Resource
Director http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/resource-director-technology.html
Technology
http://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/white-papers/communications-quick-
Intel® QuickAssist assist-paper.pdf
Technology
https://01.org/packet-processing/intel®-quickassist-technology-drivers-and-patches
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/trusted-execution-technology/
malware-reduction-general-technology.html
Intel® Trusted
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/trusted-execution-technology/trusted-
Execution execution-technology-security-paper.html
Technology
http://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/guides/intel-txt-software-development-
guide.pdf
Intel® Advanced https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-advanced-encryption-standard-instructions-aes-ni
Encryption
Standards New http://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/white-papers/aes-ipsec-performance-
linux-paper.pdf
Instructions
Enhanced Platform https://software.intel.com/sites/default/files/managed/8e/63/OpenStack_Enhanced_Platform_Awareness.pdf
Awareness https://networkbuilders.intel.com/docs/openStack_Kilo_wp_v2.pdf
Open vSwitch* https://networkbuilders.intel.com/docs/open-vswitch-enables-sdn-and-nfv-transformation-paper.pdf
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/intelligent-systems/intel-technology/dpdk-packet-processing-ia-
Data Plane overview-presentation.html
Development Kit
https://networkbuilders.intel.com/docs/aug_17/Future_Enhancements_to_DPDK_Framework.pdf
Intel® Cloud
Integrity http://www.intelserveredge.com/enhancedsecurityservers/
Technology
Hardware Offload http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ethernet-products/controllers/overview.html

Please note: A separate reference-benchmarking document will detail performance benefits of these capabilities for specific virtualized
vIMS network function use cases.

Open Source and Standards:

Intel is driving software contributions and broad market capabilities through important Open Source communities.

Figure 7. Intel’s involvement in open source and standards.

vIMS for Communications Service Providers 10

Intel invests in 10 Open Source and Intel® Open Network Platform Intel® Network Builders
Standards initiatives shown on Figure 7, Reference Architecture Intel recognizes that a key component
from the ETSI-NFV group to Intel’s own of enabling network transformation is
Intel ONP Server is an enablement
packet processing project on 01.org. a strong ecosystem of partners. The
program with a reference architecture
Contributions are driven both that integrates Intel’s hardware and Intel® Network Builders community
by the market and by specific open source software ingredients for (www.networkbuilders.intel.com)
customer requirements. These easier ecosystem adoption. One of has more than 200+ partners
include commercial deployments the key objectives of Intel ONP Server developing SDN/NFV solutions on Intel
that meet business needs, support is to align and optimize key Open Architecture. Within this community,
targeted performance metrics, close Community software ingredients for there are more than 30 software
development gaps, and provide the architects and engineers targeting vendors for critical SDN/NFV use
management tools needed to ensure high-performing SDN and NFV cases, including vIMS. The work of
service levels. solutions. The Intel ONP provides the community extends to proofs of
a convenient reference platform concept, reference architectures and
Intel’s contribution is across the trials. With the help of its ecosystem
to evaluate the latest performance
entire spectrum, including technical partners, Intel remains committed
contributions for OpenStack, 24 DPDK, 25
specifications, code development, to the development of technology
and accelerated OVS. 27
testing and benchmark tools, and solutions and capabilities that will
reference platforms. improve the performance of virtualized
network functions for CSPs.

Figure 8. Intel® Network Builders

vIMS for Communications Service Providers 11

The following table lists vIMS ecosystem partners with products Additional Information
and technologies supporting deployment:
Related efforts in Intel:
Table 3. vIMS ecosystem partners..
• OpenDaylight Contribution and IETF
Partner Product (*) or Technology efforts on NSH
https://tools.ietf.org/pdf/draft-ietf-
Alcatel-Lucent 5900* MRF sfc-nsh-04.pdf
Alcatel-Lucent 5420* Converged Telephony Server (CTS) https://wiki.opendaylight.org/view/
Alcatel-Lucent 1430* Unified HSS Project_Proposals:Service_function_
Alcatel-Lucent 5450* IP Session Controller chaining
Dialogic BorderNet* Virtualized SBCs •O
 penStack EPA contributions:
Ericsson Session Border Gateway (SBG) https://01.org/sites/default/files/
page/openstack-epa_wp_fin.pdf
Ericsson Media Resource Function (MRF)
https://networkbuilders.intel.com/
Ericsson Multimedia Telephony Application Server
docs/openStack_Kilo_wp_v2.pdf
Ericsson Home Subscriber Server (HSS)
• Intel Open Network Platform
Ericsson Call Session Control Function (CSCF)
https://01.org/packet-processing/
Genband QUANTiX* Session Border Controllers intel-onp-servers
Genband EXPERiUS* Application Server
Intel Network Builders Related
Genband SMART CORE* IMS
Information:
HP OpenCall* Media Platform
• https://networkbuilders.intel.com/
HP I-HSS
docs/Intel-Virtual-VOIP-Orch-RA.pdf
Huawei SE2600* SBC
• https://networkbuilders.intel.com/
Huawei MRP6600*
solutionscatalog/session-border-
Huawei ATS9900* controller-74
Huawei HSS9820*
• https://www.brighttalk.com/
Huawei CSC3300* webcast/12229/181563
Italtel NetMatch-S*
ETSI-Defined vIMS Proofs of Concept
Italtel i-MCS*
(POCs):
Italtel i-TDS*
POC 27: VoLTE Service based on vEPC
and vIMS Architecture
Next Steps
• To learn more about Intel’s technology • To get the best security in your NFV POC 11: Multi-Vendor on-boarding
for NFV, attend the courses available systems, specify Intel Cloud Integrity of vIMS on a cloud management
in the Intel Network Builders Technology in your infrastructure and framework
University at https://networkbuilders. VNF procurements.
intel.com/university
• To get the highest performance
• To learn more about Intel Network from your NFV systems, specify
Builder partner’s vIMS and other compatibility with the Data Plane
NFV products, visit https:// Development Kit in your Infrastructure
networkbuilders.intel.com/ and VNF procurements.
solutionscatalog
• To get the highest return on
• To build a testbed using the Intel ONP investment from your NFV systems,
Reference Architecture, download specify use of Enhanced Platform
the documentation at https://01.org/ Awareness in your Orchestration,
packet-processing/intel%C2%AE-onp Infrastructure and VNF procurements.
 1 http://www.gsma.com/network2020/all-ip-statistics/
2 Ericsson Mobility Report, June 2015 - http://www.ericsson.com/res/docs/2015/ericsson-mobility-report-june-2015.pdf
3 http://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/story/study-nfv-market-will-hit-116b-2019/2015-07-20
4 http://www.gsma.com/network2020/all-ip-statistics/
5 Communications Service Provider VoIP and IMS Equipment and Subscribers, Infonetics, November 25, 2015.
6 Virtualization drives more VoLTE and VoWiFi adoption, ABI Research, July 7, 2015.
7 http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/att-launches-rcs-based-messaging-and-video-calling-following-t-mobile/2015-11-20
8 SBC Strategies and Vendor Leadership, Infonetics, Oct 285h, 2015
9 http://www.fiercewireless.com/europe/story/telef-nica-uses-webrtc-tu-go-orange-ramps-libon/2015-02-27
www.infonetics.com
10

11 www.infonetics.com
12 http://www.openvswitch.org
13 http://www.opendaylight.org
14 http://www.openstack.org
15 http://www.opnfv.org
16 http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/communications/service-provider-network-maturity-paper.html
17 http://www.dpdk.org
18 http://openvsitch.org
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/virtualization/virtualization-technology/intel-virtualization-technology.html
19

20 https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/openstack-enhanced-platform-awareness
https://01.org/packet-processing/intel%C2%AE-quickassist-technology-drivers-and-patches
21

https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-trusted-execution-technology-intel-txt-enabling-guide#_Toc383534414
22

http://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/white-papers/haswell-cryptographic-performance-paper.pdf
23

http://www.openstack.org
24

25 http://www.dpdk.org
26 http://openvswitch.org
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