ConteXtream lets carriers identify and manage flows on a per-subscriber basis, which can be handy.

Mitch Wagner, Executive Editor, Light Reading

May 27, 2015

3 Min Read
HP: ConteXtream's Precision Network Configuration Drove Acquisition

ConteXtream gives service providers the ability to configure networks with watchmaker precision, which was key to HP's decision to acquire the SDN company, says Saar Gillai, SVP and GM of NFV for HP.

Specifically, ConteXtream offers carriers the ability to identify and manage flows on a per-subscriber basis, Gillai told Light Reading. That granularity enables service chaining, an important piece of NFV.

"Telcos are trying to have differentiation on services for different subscribers based on what the subscriber requires," Gillai says. ConteXtream enables that. "They have a carrier-grade SDN capability that can handle subscriber-level granularity of management."

For example, a subscriber viewing a video stream might require video optimization, firewall and traffic optimization. A subscriber who is a child might get all those things plus parental controls. Yet another subscriber needs to see ads, and so must have an ad service in the chain, Gillai says.

"You need dynamic chaining. ConteXtream can do it in real-time on a carrier scale," Gillai says.

HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ) said Tuesday it plans to acquire ConteXtream, which is backed by Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ), to provide an SDN foundation for HP's NFV offerings. The companies have signed an acquisition agreement and HP expects the deal to close in the current third fiscal quarter, which ends July 31. (See HP Acquiring ConteXtream for Carrier SDN.)

Service chaining is a key component of NFV. "That's one part of NFV that people forget -- services have to be chained dynamically, scaled with high resiliency," Gillai says. "That's hard to do and get it right. If you have that capability it gives you strong SDN fabric and that fabric can be used for other applications as well."

HP plans to explore using ConteXtream technology in other areas where network operators will need to steer network traffic at subscriber level, such as in a virtual Evolved Packet Core (vEPC) environment, Gillai says.

Want to know more about SDN & NFV? This will be among the many topics covered at Light Reading's second Big Telecom Event on June 9-10 in Chicago. Get yourself registered today or get left behind!

Another reason HP found ConteXtream attractive is that ConteXtream is a strong contributor to the OpenDaylight Project, which HP supports at the Platinum level.

ConteXtream's employees will be integrated as a unit into HP's Communications Solutions Business.

ConteXtream likely won't be the last NFV acquisition for HP. "This is an area we're investing in. We're always looking for opportunities and capabilities to add to our technologies," Gillai says.

— Mitch Wagner, Circle me on Google+ Follow me on TwitterVisit my LinkedIn profileFollow me on Facebook, West Coast Bureau Chief, Light Reading. Got a tip about SDN or NFV? Send it to [email protected].

About the Author(s)

Mitch Wagner

Executive Editor, Light Reading

San Diego-based Mitch Wagner is many things. As well as being "our guy" on the West Coast (of the US, not Scotland, or anywhere else with indifferent meteorological conditions), he's a husband (to his wife), dissatisfied Democrat, American (so he could be President some day), nonobservant Jew, and science fiction fan. Not necessarily in that order.

He's also one half of a special duo, along with Minnie, who is the co-habitor of the West Coast Bureau and Light Reading's primary chewer of sticks, though she is not the only one on the team who regularly munches on bark.

Wagner, whose previous positions include Editor-in-Chief at Internet Evolution and Executive Editor at InformationWeek, will be responsible for tracking and reporting on developments in Silicon Valley and other US West Coast hotspots of communications technology innovation.

Beats: Software-defined networking (SDN), network functions virtualization (NFV), IP networking, and colored foods (such as 'green rice').

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