Growth in application uptake and related traffic volumes are outpacing the ability of legacy platforms to keep pace. Providers are aware that they not only need new solutions but also need new models ​for how computing and networking should be done to meet demand and growth. The answer​ is in use of virtualized platforms and open modular software, which are providing order of magnitude improvements in scale, agility and TCO versus legacy designs. Cloud-based applications and IT investments are delivering payback periods of less than one to between two and three years depending on the service. Virtualized network functions are demonstrating ​sustainable ​ reductions in TCO of 40–65 percent, doubling the speed of new service deployments.

Operators can secure efficiencies and paybacks ​in these ranges ​ by starting on targeted programs of adopting the virtualized platform ​model. With the prospect of benefits from virtualization being as broad and substantial as the early evidence shows they can be, the primary imperative for an operator’s team is to choose the areas in which early implementations can be trialed, aligning those targets with a coherent vision of how service offerings might evolve moving forward, and building on the progress achieved. The track record of cloud and virtual platform implementations to date has shown that remarkable acceleration of innovations and new service developments can be achieved in fractions of the time previously required to deliver functionality. The relative efficiencies in deploying and scaling the solutions that gain traction allow for an order-of-magnitude improvement on total costs of operation.

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