USP Introduction
The Ultra Services Platform (USP) is a 5G-ready virtual mobility network platform that provides a robust and highly scalable architecture that can quickly deploy mobility services across a distributed network in a virtualized environment. 5G will support countless emerging use cases with a variety of applications that drive significant variability in their performance attributes. From delay-sensitive mobile video applications to infrequent connectivity for simple devices, the diversity of use cases will demand substantially increased throughput, lower latency, ultra-high reliability with substantially higher connection densities.
The USP is a complex Virtual Network Function (VNF) conforming to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) Network Function Virtualization (NFV) and NFV Management and Orchestration (MANO) specifications. Unlike simple VNFs constrained to a single Virtual Machine (VM), the USP is a complex VNF comprised of multiple VNF Components (VNFCs) with a variable number of VMs depending on feature optioning and desired performance specifications.
Leveraging these virtualization, automation and orchestration technologies, the USP enables a NFV architecture that allows VNFs to be “sliced” into smaller, customizable end-to-end instances capable of seamless scaling regardless of the use case. The flexibility brings network providers to true Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) offering.
