Accelerating towards cable convergence with Red Hat and Intel

The demand for high-speed, reliable services is at an all-time high and service providers continue to face the challenge of modernizing their infrastructure while maintaining operational efficiency. In collaboration with Intel and Dell Technologies, Red Hat provides a powerful cloud-native platform built on Red Hat OpenShift as a foundation for this solution. This provides a future-ready, efficient and scalable platform for deploying virtualized cable modem termination systems (vCMTS) that meet modern service demands.

OpenShift is an enterprise-grade platform designed to simplify development, deployment and management across hybrid and multicloud environments. Built on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and Kubernetes, OpenShift provides a scalable and consistent experience across on-premise data centers, public clouds and edge environments across the broadband network.

OpenShift's key features include:

• Consistent user experience: Work with the same tools regardless of where your workload is kept from the core to the headend or edge of the network
• Streamlined installation and updates: With push-button deployment and automatic platform updates, organizations can reduce complexity and improve operational efficiency
• Enhanced security: A multilayer, security-first approach provides stronger protection for critical applications
• Seamless AI integration: OpenShift supports AI-driven application modernization, enabling organizations to innovate faster
• Consistent developer experience: Developers and IT teams can focus on business-critical activities without adapting to new tools or processes

Simplifying Network Virtualization with Intel’s Verified Reference Configuration for vCMTS, deployed on OpenShift, provides a robust framework for network function virtualization (NFV). By bundling hardware and software components, the solution reduces the guesswork from design decisions, offering predictable high performance and reducing time-to-deployment.

The architecture leverages:

• 4th Generation Intel^® Xeon^® Scalable Processors: Delivering advanced processing capabilities to handle demanding broadband workloads
• Intel^® Ethernet 800 Series Adapters: Enabling high-speed data transfer with minimal latency
• Dell PowerEdge R660 Servers: Offering scalable, energy-efficient infrastructure

Key performance highlights

Recent benchmarks validate the solution's capability to meet next-generation broadband service requirements:

• Achieved up to 290 Gbps of aggregate bi-directional throughput for 28 service groups with zero packet loss
• Demonstrated that increasing service groups does not compromise throughput or system reliability
• Maintained stable CPU and wall power consumption, even under higher loads, emphasizing energy efficiency
• Enabled seamless interoperability within a containerized environment, reinforcing the solution’s flexibility

So, why does this matter to operator and service providers? Deploying the combination of Red Hat and Intel’s VRC for vCMTS results in: 

• Faster deployment cycles: Pre-validated configurations accelerate time-to-market
• Reduced complexity: Integrated solutions minimize evaluation efforts and design choices
• No lock in: Red Hat’s multitenancy approach gives providers more flexibility to choose their vendor of choice for their different network functions
• Scalability: Operators can confidently scale their networks to meet evolving subscriber demands
• Operational efficiency: Streamlined management reduces operational costs and resource requirements
• Sustainability: Energy-efficient architectures help meet corporate sustainability goals

Red Hat’s commitment to open source leadership and community-driven innovation helps products like OpenShift remain at the forefront of hybrid cloud application platforms, providing an infrastructure that is future-ready. Its ability to provide a consistent experience across diverse environments allows organizations to modernize their infrastructure while optimizing for AI integration and application development.

As the industry evolves to meet the demands of modern connectivity, operators require solutions that deliver performance, scalability and efficiency. The collaboration between Red Hat, Intel and Dell Technologies provides a proven, future-ready platform that simplifies network virtualization while enhancing operational efficiency. With OpenShift at its core, this solution empowers organizations to confidently scale their networks and deliver next-generation broadband services that meet the needs of today’s connected world.

To learn more about this solution, download this whitepaper or contact a Red Hatter.