Red Hat and Huawei Woo Telcos With Open Source Software

Big telecom companies like AT&T have made it clear to information-technology vendors they want more flexible options for their massive networks to meet demand for new services and lower costs. Theyve vowed to remake their networks using bare-bones computing equipment controlled by open-source software.

Now Red Hat and Huawei are teaming up to give the demanding telcos what they want.

Red Hat and Huawei sellers of computer-server software and telecom equipment, respectively are pushing an emerging open-source technology called Open Stack as an alternative to traditional telecom networking systems. Open Stack is making inroads as a way to manage large numbers of computer servers. The partnership aims to move its underlying concept into the networks that direct Web traffic within computer server-rooms and out to consumers.

Telecom companies are among the worlds biggest spenders on technology hardware, software and services. AT&T, for example, recently said it plans $18 billion in capital spending next year on facilities like its telecom network and computing equipment nearly double Google s capital spending this year. Such flush budgets mean that telcos technology choices have major ramifications for IT vendors.

If Red Hat and Huawei are successful, their alliance could pose a risk to companies such as Cisco and Ericsson, whose equipment is widely used by telecom carriers. Those companies traditional gear is based on proprietary technologies that are often time-consuming to reconfigure and hard to change out in favor of alternative vendors.

AT&T and its peers are among the biggest supporters of Open Stack, which is backed by Red Hat, Rackspace and others. Part of Red Hats goal in partnering with Huawei is to make Open Stack, a young technology that isnt easy to use, more relevant to demanding network situations, including telecommunications.

Open Stack is still too general-purpose a platform for them, said Tim Yeaton, senior vice president of Red Hats infrastructure business.

Cisco and other big telecom vendors also are also moving to offer OpenStack options to telecom firms and other customers. Red Hats partnership with Huawei is similar to one Red Hat announced earlier this year with Cisco.

OpenStack is the latest example of big changes brought on by open-source software, whose computer code can be viewed, modified, and shared freely by users. Open source software appeals to big businesses because its less expensive and easier to customize than proprietary software. Giant companies want more and more open source options, as they believe it can help them develop new services faster, according to industry experts.

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Red Hat and Huawei Woo Telcos With Open Source Software