Calix Accelerates Service Delivery with AXOS Sandbox

Real software instances of all Calix AXOS systems expedite back office integration to enable faster innovation and new service introduction

Calix, Inc.  announced AXOS Sandbox, a virtual environment that dramatically improves the economics of new services introduction by eliminating the need for physical systems in service provider labs. With AXOS Sandbox, service providers can speed up service delivery by reducing the time needed for lab testing, BSS and OSS integration work, and software certification by deploying virtual instances of Calix AXOS systems. AXOS Sandbox runs the actual production software release of each Calix AXOS system making it the world’s first true SDA. This brings the promise of SDN to the access network by enabling service providers to overcome traditional logistical and operational challenges. By using open standard interfaces NETCONF/YANG and OpenFlow, AXOS Sandbox quickly and easily slides into existing service provider networks.

“The speed at which cloud companies and new entrants introduce services is a fundamental threat for service providers,” said Greg Whelan, Greywale Insights. “Rapid time to market for new services has been a promise of virtualization from its onset. What has been missing is a solution that addresses the hard stuff – simplifying the complex, time consuming, and costly service creation process.”

Service providers face a multitude of operational challenges and additional expenses when introducing new technologies into their networks today.These challenges are magnified when service providers have multiple labs spread across various geographies, forcing them to manage hundreds oftechnicians installing, testing, and managing thousands of systems. In addition, due to the substantial amount of hardware required, testing and validating the scalability of management, orchestration, and control functions within a lab environment would be prohibitive. Data centers and central offices also bring additional costs for rack space, powering, and cooling of the equipment. These challenges and costs are eliminated with AXOS Sandbox, which decouples IT/OSS integration from hardware availability and gives technicians access to countless virtual instances of AXOS systems allowing them to test scalability faster without the need for travel, scheduling, or physical maintenance.

“It’s a matter of survival,” said Shane Eleniak, Calix vice president of product line leadership. “Service providers must find disruptive ways to bring new services to market faster and at much lower costs than ever before or they will be run over by their competition. AXOS Sandbox is a breakthrough tool built to meet that challenge, with the first-ever virtual instances of access systems enabling a DevOps environment to work in parallel across multiple locations. AXOS Sandbox makes SDA tangible and validates AXOS as the world’s first and only true SDA. For any service provider looking to understand the difference, Calix invites you to drop AXOS Sandbox into your lab and let the race to new service introduction begin immediately, across multiple locations and groups.”