Sandvine launches traffic steering engine to enable service function chaining

WATERLOO, ON, Oct. 5, 2016 /CNW/ - Sandvine, (TSX:SVC) a leading provider of intelligent broadband network solutions for fixed and mobile operators, today announced the Sandvine Traffic Steering Engine, a new product that has been engineered to solve the challenges that face communications service providers (CSPs) looking to deploy Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Service Function Chaining (SFC) at a large scale.

NFV is a carrier-led effort to move away from proprietary hardware, motivated by the desire to dramatically increase agility, enable faster service launches, and dramatically reduce the cost of deployment. Service Function Chaining is a technique for selecting and steering data traffic flows through various 'service functions', allowing operators to deploy a wide range of services for their subscribers that improve and protect overall Internet experience and increase ARPU.

For example, operators may use Service Function Chaining to intelligently steer relevant traffic through service functions like, network security, parental controls, and traffic optimization solutions. Sandvine's Traffic Steering Engine enables the deployment of these types of functions in Gi-LAN, Mobile Edge Computing (MEC), and fixed-line environments.

In October last year, Sandvine's Policy Traffic Switch set the NFV performance benchmark for vertical scale by achieving 1.1 Tbps of throughput performance, demonstrating a level of performance that has yet to be matched. Sandvine's Traffic Steering Engine builds upon that innovation by allowing CSPs to deploy NFV at tremendous horizontal scale, through Service Function Chaining.

Sandvine's Traffic Steering Engine enables CSPs to deploy Service Function Chains in a straightforward, standards-compliant manner. Unlike alternatives, the Traffic Steering Engine delivers carrier-grade scale and reliability in a completely virtualized solution, so it is aligned with CSPs' NFV strategies, and is subscriber-aware, making the Traffic Steering Engine the perfect enabler for today's subscriber-centric network services.

Sandvine engineered the Traffic Steering Engine to fulfil the proposed Service Function Forwarder (SFF) role of the IETF standard, as well as the proposed Traffic Steering Support Function (TSSF) from the ETSI/3GPP standards, making its function essential for operators interested in deploying NFV and Service Function Chaining using industry standards.

"Sandvine has been at the forefront on NFV deployments, with approximately 10% of our customers and partners now deploying or trialing our products virtually in the data plane," said Don Bowman, CTO Sandvine. "This experience in the early stages of NFV market adoption has allowed Sandvine to develop our Traffic Steering Engine to meet the needs of large operators looking to capitalize on the benefits of NFV and fulfill the vision of Service Function Chaining at a massive scale".

Sandvine will be demonstrating its new Traffic Steering Engine in booth #72 at SDN & OpenFlow World Congress from October 10-14.

ABOUT SANDVINE

Sandvine's network policy control solutions add intelligence to fixed, mobile and converged communications service provider networks, to increase revenue, reduce network costs and improve subscriber quality of experience. Our networking solutions perform end-to-end policy control functions, including traffic classification, policy decision and enforcement. Deployed as virtualized network functions or on Sandvine's purpose built hardware, the products provide actionable business insight, and the ability to deploy new consumer and business subscriber services, optimize and secure network traffic, and engage with subscribers.

Sandvine's network policy control solutions are deployed in more than 300 networks in over 100 countries, serving hundreds of millions of data subscribers worldwide. www.sandvine.com

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain statements in this release which are not historical facts constitute forward-looking statements or forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws ("forward-looking statements") and are made pursuant to the "safe harbour" provisions of such laws. Statements related to the scope of deployment of Sandvine's products by a specific customer, the potential revenue opportunity with any particular customer or in any market segment, the benefits of Sandvine's products and services to be realized by customers, Sandvine's market position, future opportunities, product development plans and demand for Sandvine's products and services are forward looking statements, as are any statements relating to future events, conditions or circumstances. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements involve both known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Sandvine to differ materially from the results, performance, achievements or developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, changes in internal deployment strategies or plans by specific customers; the growth of broadband internet usage and levels of capital spending on broadband network management systems; the timing of orders and manufacturing lead times; changes in customer order patterns or customer mix; insufficient, excess or obsolete inventory; increased competition in the broadband network equipment industry; dependence on the timely development and market acceptance of new product offerings and standards; rapid technological and market change; manufacturing and sourcing risks including dependence on key suppliers and key technologies; dependence upon indirect channel sales and resellers; factors such as business and economic conditions and growth trends in the broadband network equipment industry and in various geographic regions; global economic conditions and uncertainties in the geopolitical environment including the impact of regulation related to the internet and the delivery of internet services. Forward-looking statements are based on management's current plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions, and Sandvine does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements should assumptions related to these plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions change, except to the extent required by applicable law.

SOURCE Sandvine

INVESTOR CONTACT: Rick Wadsworth, Sandvine, [phone] ext. 3503, [email protected]; MEDIA CONTACT: Dan Deeth, Sandvine, [phone], [email protected]