QUEBEC CITY, CANADA - EXFO Inc. announced today it is joining forces with NEC/Netcracker SDN/NFV Solutions in order to help communications service providers (CSPs) access the full benefits of network functions virtualization (NFV) and software-defined networks (SDN).

With the communications industry undergoing a massive transformation to enable virtualization, CSPs rely on automated and integrated end-to-end solutions to make sure the migration to NFV/SDN improves their operational efficiency and delivers best-in-class quality of experience (QoE). To meet this need, EXFO has partnered with NEC/Netcracker to incorporate pre-integrated solutions into its NFV ecosystem. In doing so, EXFO and NEC/Netcracker will be able to showcase joint use cases to customers and enable CSPs to reduce the time it takes to bring innovative services to market.

"We are committed to giving our customers complete confidence that the promises of NFV will be delivered," said Claudio Mazzuca, EXFO's Vice-President of Systems and Services. "By innovating our virtualized service assurance solution to fully integrate with the NFV solutions from industry-leading SDN/NFV players like NEC/Netcracker, EXFO makes it possible for service providers to build and operate smarter networks, today and tomorrow."

"Service providers need to know that NFV and SDN will enable them to deliver new innovative services quickly and efficiently," said Rahul Chandra, Vice President of NFV/Netcracker's Worldwide SDN/NFV Business Development. "We continuously strive to minimize risk when service providers are undergoing virtualization initiatives. Our Agile Virtualization Platform and Practice (AVP), combined with our partner ecosystem that is constantly expanding through the pre-integration of solutions from companies like EXFO, ensures that our customers have access to the tools and solutions they need in order to open new revenue streams faster and optimize operational efficiency."

The EXFO Ecosystems Integration Initiative is part of the company's ongoing commitment to support CSPs during each phase of their successful transition to NFV/SDN deployment and operationalization.

Netcracker Technology Corp.

EXFO (Nasdaq: EXFO; Toronto: EXF)