Verizon Enterprise Solutions has added a virtual session border controller (vSBC) to its Virtual Network Services (VNS) platform.

Session border controllers have typically been deployed as a device in Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) networks to exert control over the signaling for telephone calls or other unified communications.

Verizon plans to offer the vSBC as a service in the United States and many countries around the world. The carrier developed the vSBC with Ribbon Communications. After Sonus Networks acquired Genband last year, it changed the name of the combined company to Ribbon Communications.

Ribbon’s virtual SBC SWe — software edition — product provides the basis for the new service, said Rakendu Devdhar, product manager for Verizon's VNS portfolio, in an email to SDxCentral.

Mike Brandenburg, an analyst with Frost & Sullivan, said SBCs have traditionally been very capex heavy and have required a lot of skill to deploy and maintain. Virtual SBCs relieve some of this pain.

But Devdhar said, “As with any new product or service offering, there were some challenges, primarily having to do with tweaking the underlying OpenStack environment to support a real-time application like a session border controller. We worked closely with Ribbon to solve for those challenges.”

Verizon is launching the vSBC on its own hosted cloud platform. “Later in the year, we'll also make it available on universal CPE (uCPE), which will be located on the customer premise,” said Devdhar.

Verizon announced in 2017 that it was offering its virtual network functions (VNFs) within its VNS platform via a pay-as-you-go, subscription pricing model. And its new vSBC will also be offered via this same model. The vSBC can be deployed as a stand-alone option or service chained with other VNFs.

"Increasing reliance on low-latency digital media and unified communications solutions is driving enterprises to apply the advantages of network virtualization to their IP voice and session border controllers," said Vickie Lonker, vice president of network and virtual solutions for Verizon, in a statement.