Cisco introduces ESP to see into the future of network services, says Ovum

As per an update, David Krozier, Principal Analyst, Network Infrastructure of Ovum has commented on the recent release of evolved series platform (ESP) by Cisco.

David Krozier said, “Cisco recently announced its Evolved Services Platform (ESP), building on the SDN and NFV concepts already incorporated in Cisco’s vision for programmable communications service provider (CSP) networks (Cisco ONE), and the company’s Evolved Programmable Network (EPN) for a virtualized network infrastructure. ESP automates the delivery of virtualized network services using three components: a services broker that acts as the app store; a catalog of virtualized network functions (VNFs) used to implement network services; and an orchestration engine used to automate the configuration of network resources. Cisco released a library of VNFs, along with two initial service modules within the services broker for ESP; a multi-screen Cloud DVR service to boost ARPUs and supported by virtualized Cisco Videoscape VNFs; and a mobile Internet service based on Cisco’s Quantum collection of mobile network services.”

He added, “We believe they will push as much system integration onto their vendors as they can; Cisco’s ESP and last week’s Ericsson-Ciena development and distribution agreement are two distinct approaches to providing this integration.”

The introduction of ESP provides evidence of a number of industry-wide changes occurring in service provider’s networks. Cisco is offering ESP VNFs standalone or integrated with Cisco service orchestration. ESP can also be purchased fully integrated into a service provider’s network, or as a cloud-based service.