“I’m really happy to get Jonas onboard. His deep knowledge of the technology and IT market in general is a boost for the whole company and an important cornerstone in our expansion strategy” says Christel Sandstedt, interim CEO of PacketFront Software.
News Area
Virtual1 acquires PacketFront the network orchestration software company
Leading UK Connectivity and Cloud provider Virtual1 is delighted to announce the acquisition of PacketFront Software, providers of network orchestration solutions for complex multi-vendor residential, enterprise and MPLS networks.
Founded in 2001, the Swedish based software house delivers efficient network automation solutions for telecom operators, city carriers and enterprises in more than 20 countries, including Virtual1.
Virtual1 founder and CEO Tom O’Hagan: “Virtual1 have worked closely with PacketFront for a number of years, and they have been a key partner in the creation of our market leading Software Defined carrier network (SDN) strategy. Acquiring PacketFront helps to secure the intellectual property that we have heavily invested in, as well as recognising how critical orchestration software is to the future of both Virtual1 and the wider industry.”
O’Hagan continued “Whilst PacketFront will join the Virtual1 group of companies, it will continue to operate as an entirely stand-alone organisation from Virtual1. It will maintain its own distinct brand, customer base and senior leadership team. This acquisition will give the team at PacketFront the financial investment to more rapidly open up new markets within the UK and internationally.”
Timo Kuusela, VP of Sales at PacketFront Software echoed these sentiments: “We are very excited about being part of the Virtual1 family and now expanding our business into the UK market as well as other territories. Having helped FTTP providers get to market quickly and operate efficiently across the Nordics, we see a very exciting opportunity with the new wave of FTTP suppliers emerging in the UK.“
About Virtual1
Virtual1 Empower businesses with a network built for the future. They operate the UK’s largest wholesale-only network, built for simplicity and success with high capacity, low latency, and advanced software architecture. Privately connected to market leading UC, SIP, and Cloud solutions, our users enjoy top-notch security and guaranteed levels of performance.
By combining state-of-the-art technology and a team of the industry’s best, we provide businesses with customisable, automated, streamlined connectivity. And our award-winning 1Portal puts control of it all in our partners’ hands, so they can quote, order, and manage their customers’ solutions with ease.
About PacketFront
“Since 2001, PacketFront Software has delivered efficient automation solutions for telecom operators, city carriers and enterprises in more than 20 countries. Their multi-vendor network orchestrator, BECS, provides true end-to-end network automation – enabling functionality such as zero touch configuration and automated service provisioning for all IP networks. It also offers a seamless migration from legacy networks to SDN and NFV.”
BECS 3.18 is released
The latest BECS release is now available for existing customers at www.pfsw.com/support.
@focus in this release is usability and performance. The main features include:
On-demand initial parsing
- Adding flexibility regarding when in time the initial parsing exercise is carried out after an element manager connects to the element
Dedicated GDR connections
- Some connections between the Element Manager and the element will be dedicated to fetching troubleshooting info, so that this info can be obtained quicker if the element manager is busy configuring the element.
Visualize Element Config Mode
- The element configuration mode, i.e. read-only, full-control etc, is illustrated by a badge on the element icon in the topology view making it easier to determine which elements are currently controlled by BECS.
Improved Element State Display
- Specific indication in the BECS GUI that an element is in the state of initial parsing.
Stateful Logging
•Introducing object states, which makes it easier to get an overview of the system health. For example, it is easy to see which objects are currently in an erroneous state, and which ones have been recently resolved.
BBE 2.5.0 is released
The latest BBE release is now available for existing customers at www.pfsw.com/support.
Major changes in the release:
- Java application uses WildFly instead of GlassFish
- Improvements to inventory and subscription management
- Improvements to trouble shooting of GPON customers
- Improvements to report management
Gamma Telecom Selects PacketFront’s BECS Network Orchestrator
PacketFront Software, a leading network orchestration solution provider, announced today that Gamma Communications PLC (LSE:GAMA), a leading UK communications provider, has selected PacketFront Software’s BECS network orchestrator to automate Gamma’s multi-vendor connectivity network.
“We are known in the market for the quality and reliability of the services we provide. We came to see during the evaluation of the BECS platform that it provides us with automation tools that serve our customer needs with great speed and precision” says Tony McKenzie, Head of Architecture Gamma.
“We are proud that Gamma have selected BECS after a thorough technical evaluation. This demonstrates once again, the unique values we can bring to operators wanting to streamline operations.
This agreement also demonstrates that the UK is becoming one of our key markets and we predict continuous growth in the UK marketplace, not only in the segment of communications operators, such as Gamma, but also within a very dynamic FTTH space”, says Jan Kettnaker, CEO PacketFront Software.
Meet us at FTTH Conference 2020 in Berlin
It’s soon time for the yearly FTTH Council event again. Meet us 21-23 of April in Berlin and discover the latest news about PacketFront network automation.
Find more information about the event at: http://www.ftthconference.eu/
PacketFront becomes a member of the Intel Network Builders Winner’s Circle
PacketFront Software has been awarded a partnership in Intel’s Network Builders Winners’ Circle program with the following motivation:
“As a member of the Intel Network Builders ecosystem, PacketFront Software has contributed to the acceleration of network transformation by working closely with Intel and our ecosystem and we recognize your contributions by awarding PacketFront Software in our Winners’ Circle Program as a Partner”
The award was presented at the SDN NFV World Congress 2019 event in the Hague, the Netherlands.
More informatio
n about the Network Builders ecosystem:
https://networkbuilders.intel.com/
Intel’s PacketFront introduction:
https://networkbuilders.intel.com/ecosystem/packetfront-software
BBE 2.4.0 and BECS 3.17 Released
Latest BBE and BECS releases are now available for existing customers at www.pfsw.com/support. Highlights of the releases include following features:
BBE 2.4.0 Release
- Support for ON-API 2.4
- Support for OpenJDK
BECS 3.17
- Automatic CLOB creation – BECS users can synchronize configuration from network elements, which helps in automation of manually created configuration
- Python support – A new script engine supporting Python as a complement to the Tcl script engine
PacketFront Software Joined State Visit In Ireland
His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia did a State Visit to Ireland on 22–24 May 2019 at the invitation of President Michael D. Higgins. The Government was represented by Minister for Foreign Affairs Margot Wallström, Minister for Energy and Digital Development Anders Ygeman, and Maja Fjaestad, State Secretary to Minister for Health and Social Affairs Lena Hallengren.
PacketFront Software participated in an associated business delegation arranged by Business Sweden.
A Digital Infrastructure summit 2019 was arranged in conjunction with the State Visit at Ericsson´s R&D site in Athlone, where among other PacketFront Software’s BECS and BBE products were highlighted in the context of how City Carriers have successfully contributed to the fiber rollout in Sweden.
PacketFront introduces new BBE features for City Carriers
PacketFront Software announces new BBE functions to support City Carriers’ operations and interaction with Service Providers.
Service Providers can now manage customer address registers, service provisioning and troubleshooting via Hubory’s web portal. This means, for example, that service providers can access multiple open access networks via a single interface rather than working directly in operators’ systems or using manual processes. The integration between Hubory and BBE also improves GDPR compliance as no customer sensitive information is sent over the interface.
The second new feature is a report suite to accommodate City Carriers’ requirements for standard reporting for various purposes, such as:
- Service Provider invoicing
- Follow-up of economic data
- Statistics
Even if standardized, it is easy to select what information is presented in each report.
The report suite reduces the need for customized reports and makes sure that all templates are fully tested and supported in new software releases. As a result, the already smooth software upgrade process becomes even faster than today.