NEC Corporation (NEC; TSE: 6701) and Netcracker Technology recently announced that they have provided a virtualized Evolved Packet Core (vEPC) solution via NEC Taiwan Ltd. to the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), a non-profit research institute working under the Ministry of Economic Affairs in Taiwan.

The NEC/Netcracker vEPC solution has a proven global track record of virtualizing network functions, such as the Mobility Management Entity (MME) that accommodates LTE handset authentication and handover controls, and the Serving Gateway (S-GW)/PDN Gateway (P-GW) for audio and packet processing, and enables them to run on a general-purpose IA server.

The vEPC was adopted by ITRI for an experimental network established for the Small Cell LTE Plugfest compatibility testing event. Ten Taiwanese small-cell LTE base station manufacturers participated in this event, seeking to verify functions for their base stations, enhance the competiveness of their systems and explore new business opportunities.

NEC and Netcracker will continue to support ITRI’s compatibility testing in order to further promote the expansion of the Taiwanese LTE telecom market.

“We are very pleased to have recently hosted a successful Plugfest compatibility testing event, utilizing the world’s first commercially available vEPC solution from NEC and Netcracker,” said Dr. Sheng-Ching Cheng, Deputy General Director of the Information and Communications Research Laboratories of ITRI. “We will remain focused on undertaking R&D activities in cooperation with NEC, primarily with respect to Software Defined Networking (SDN), Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and the Internet of Things (IoT), aiming to develop new business opportunities and increase the competitiveness of the telecommunications equipment industry in Taiwan.”

“We are thrilled to have helped ITRI successfully leverage the virtual LTE core networks for the Plugfest event in which ITRI validated the wide-ranging capabilities for virtualized infrastructure,” said Atsuo Kawamura, Senior Vice President, NEC Corporation. “NEC and Netcracker will continue to provide software-defined and virtualized solutions, including vEPC, to service providers in Taiwan and around the world in order to enable the delivery of better services more efficiently.”

“Netcracker is pleased to be part of this important technology validation of virtualized network functions for Taiwan’s mobile service providers,” said Loh John Wu, Vice President, Asia Pacific, Netcracker. “We look forward to helping more service providers here provide value today, while building advanced, new networks and business capabilities for the future.”

About NEC Corporation
NEC Corporation is a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies that benefit businesses and people around the world. By providing a combination of products and solutions that cross utilize the company’s experience and global resources, NEC’s advanced technologies meet the complex and ever-changing needs of its customers. NEC brings more than 100 years of expertise in technological innovation to empower people, businesses and society. For more information, visit NEC at http://www.nec.com.

The NEC Group globally provides “Solutions for Society” that promote the safety, security, efficiency and equality of society. Under the company’s corporate message of “Orchestrating a brighter world,” NEC aims to help solve a wide range of challenging issues and to create new social value for the changing world of tomorrow. For more information, please visit http://www.nec.com/en/global/about/solutionsforsociety/message.html.

NEC is a registered trademark of NEC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Other product or service marks mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners. ©2016 NEC Corporation.

About Netcracker Technology
Netcracker Technology, a wholly owned subsidiary of NEC Corporation, is a forward-looking software company, offering mission-critical solutions to service providers around the globe. Our comprehensive portfolio of software solutions and professional services enables large-scale digital transformations, unlocking the opportunities of the cloud, virtualization and the changing mobile ecosystem. With an unbroken service delivery track record of more than 20 years, our unique combination of technology, people and expertise helps companies transform their networks and enable better experiences for their customers.

For more information, visit www.netcracker.com.