The CORD Architecture

Edge provider networks, supporting DSL, voice, and other services to consumers and small businesses, tend to be more heavily bound by vendor specific equipment and hardware centric standards. These networks are built around the more closed telephone standards, rather than the more open internetworking standards, and hence they tend to be more expensive to operate and manage. As one friend said about a company that supplies this equipment, “they just print money.” The large edge providers, such as AT&T and Verizon, however, are not endless pools of money. These providers are in a squeeze between the content providers, who are taking large shares of revenue, and consumers, who are always looking for a lower price option for communications and new and interesting services.
If this seems like an area that’s ripe for virtualization to you, you’re not alone. AT&T has been working on a project called CORD for a few years in this area; they published a series of papers on the topic that make for interesting reading:
CloudApex functionality is key.


She brings 20 years of experience in telecom reporting.