AT&T is migrating network probe functions to the cloud with new service assurance software from Israel-based Radcom. The move is part of AT&T’s shift to network virtualization and it's recently announced Network Functions on Demand.

Radcom's virtual probe (vProbe) software will replace legacy network probes from Netscout Tektronix.

"What we’re doing is providing the service assurance for all the VNFs they’re rolling out into the network," says Radcom's CEO Yaron Ravkaie.

As part of its Network Functions on Demand, AT&T has said it's using virtual network functions (VNFs) from Juniper and Cisco for virtual routers; it's using Fortinet's virtual security; and it's using Riverbed's virtual WAN optimization.

All those VNFs need to be monitored with software, rather than legacy physical equipment. "We're doing that using our own VNF that’s running on the AT&T Integrated Cloud (AIC)," says Ravkaie. "The moment a carrier moves to NFV, the way to monitor it is to run your own vProbes in the cloud."

AT&T is in the process of integrating Radcom’s MaveriQ vProbe software functions into its network through its Enhanced Control, Orchestration, Management and Policy (ECOMP) platform. ECOMP is AT&T’s homegrown infrastructure code to power its virtualization efforts.

Last month, AT&T released its ECOMP platform as open source code, tapping the Linux Foundation to help develop an organization around the project.

And the billing and OSS company Amdocs is working with AT&T to help telecom operators deploy the ECOMP platform. The company will also help market ECOMP globally to other service providers.

In July, AT&T unveiled its Network Functions on Demand, which runs on its AIC.

AT&T is striving for a 2016 goal to virtualize 30 percent of its network.

In a recent interview with Silicon Valley venture capitalist Mike Volpi, he said that network monitoring is “much more interesting than in the past.” With the advent of virtualization and the major upheavals in networks, “Monitoring and security are ripe for startups,” he said.