The Challenge
Subscriber growth had outpaced the legacy MikroTik CCR routers carrying VA Telecom’s backbone. The French operator, which sells to business customers, needed a platform that could hold BGP, MPLS, and VRF functions in service at the same time, reliably, while keeping cost of ownership predictable over a ten-year horizon. VA Telecom evaluated competing solutions from Nokia and Juniper, weighing scalability, operational simplicity, long-term support, and total cost of ownership before it committed.
The Solution
VA Telecom selected OcNOS and deployed it on UfiSpace platforms in two router roles. The backbone spans six data centers in three cities: Nantes, Paris, and Metz.
- MPLS Provider Edge routers running on UfiSpace S9510-28DC
- BGP border routers running on UfiSpace S9600-72XC
The platform delivers SR-MPLS, EVPN, LDP, VPLS, L3VPN, full IPv4 and IPv6 BGP routing, double VLAN stacking, advanced QoS, and SNMP and streaming telemetry for network monitoring. Those functions carry the operator’s revenue services: internet access, fixed and mobile telephony, MPLS VPN site interconnection, and BGP peering and transit. Pine Networks led the phased migration, using standard BGP, OSPF, and MPLS protocols so interoperability with legacy systems held while traffic moved over.
Outcomes
The migration retired the operator’s entire MikroTik CCR routing estate and consolidated hardware as it went. BGP, MPLS, and VRF functions now run concurrently and stay stable, and perpetual licensing alongside long product lifecycles pulls down the 10-year cost of ownership rather than resetting it at every license renewal. Buying hardware and software separately removes vendor lock-in and keeps the next platform decision open.
Support runs on two levels: IP Infusion provides 24/7 global coverage and Pine Networks contributes local expertise, so VA Telecom has a nearby first point of contact with round-the-clock backing behind it.
Why OcNOS
“VA Telecom’s successful deployment of OcNOS demonstrates the power of open networking to deliver scalable, cost-effective, and high-performance solutions,” said Jérôme Richard, CTO, VA Telecom. “We are proud to partner with IP Infusion and Pine Networks to drive innovation and efficiency in the telecommunications sector.”