Verizon announced a partnership with white-box hardware manufacturer Lanner to launch the service provider's next-generation universal premises equipment (uCPE) line. The revamped uCPE line is being targeted at small- to medium-size deployments and is designed to integrate with existing virtual network service (VNS) applications on Verizon's global network.

Based on Intel's X86 Atom-based processor architecture, Lanner's modular hardware design features integrated LTE and WiFi connectivity that will allow Verizon to more quickly deploy devices with "low touch" provisioning.

The software underlying Verizon's uCPEs is built on open source components including OpenStack. The hardware is designed to replace physical hardware with virtualized appliances in the form of VNFs allowing customers to deploy virtualized SD-WAN, security, routing, or other services on a single hardware platform.

This approach offers significant improvements in operational efficiency, especially where management is concerned, and facilitates easer deployments of VNFs on the platform, said Jason Kett, SDN product manager at Verizon, in a statement.

Verizon claims Lanner's appliances also provide the company with future-proof scalability, significant cost savings, and gives the company a competitive edge for SD-WAN deployments.

“Organizations are embracing cloud and mobile-first strategies that require more complex networking environments," Kett noted. "To address this we have enhanced our product through tighter integration with the hardware and software ecosystems to ensure we meet and exceed our customers’ expectations."

According to Beth Cohen, cloud product technologist at Verizon, Lanner's hardware offers 2.5-times better performance over its previous line of uCPEs.

Its been a busy couple of months for Lanner, which partnered with GTT in August, and early last month joined the growing Open Compute Project (OCP) in an effort to drive adoption of white-box appliances for edge data centers and 5G appliances.

“The OCP is well positioned to catalyze the transformation of the networking industry with its newly established strategic plan," said Jeans Tseng, GM and VP of Lanner Telecom Applications Business Unit, in a statement.