KDDI Corporation and DriveNets have forged a strategic partnership aimed at accelerating the adoption of open network architecture.
The agreement aims to ensure the separation of hardware and software elements in networks, as well as expand the deployment of disaggregated routers, improve the management efficiency of these routers and optimise the capital investment and operating costs of high-scale network deployments.
Explaining the reasons behind the partnership, the companies said open network architecture is becoming increasingly important in building infrastructures that can respond swiftly to the anticipated step change in traffic. The firms’ approach is said to facilitate new features based on specific requirements and help improve network scalability.
In particular, KDDI noted that for the past five years, it has been pushing forward the development of cluster-based distributed disaggregated backbone routers (DDBR), which are not bound by physical chassis constraints and are designed to allow for flexible capacity expansion, through the Telecom Infra Project, as part of its ongoing efforts to promote disaggregated routers.
In June 2023, KDDI completed the commercial deployment of DDBR standalone as peering routers at its internet gateway, and by February 2025, it had completed technical validation for DDBR cluster as core routers in its backbone network.
For its part, DriveNets provides software-based network services optimised for disaggregated routers that many leading global carriers have adopted. The peering routers that KDDI deployed commercially in June 2023 are also based on DriveNets’ software. Building on the software’s proven contribution to network operational stability, the two companies have now entered this strategic partnership.
As part of the agreement, KDDI will start the deployment of the DriveNets Network Cloud service in backbone core routers at four key locations with the goal of reaching commercial operations by the end of 2025. From that point, the two companies say they will work together to build a flexible network architecture that can quickly adapt to changing market conditions and technological advancements to meet the growing data demands of the AI era.
Kazuyuki Yoshimura, senior managing executive officer, chief technology officer and general manager of the core technology sector at KDDI Corporation, said: “We are delighted to have signed the basic agreement for the strategic partnership with DriveNets. Since 2020, we at KDDI have been committed to achieving open and scalable networks, and we believe our collaboration with DriveNets will create significant new innovations.
“Our vision for the future is to build a flexible and robust architecture suited to the AI era, allowing us to swiftly respond to the evolving market needs and set new industry standards.”
DriveNet CEO Ido Susan added: “We are honoured to become a strategic partner of KDDI, one of the world’s leading telecommunications carriers. Together with KDDI, we will promote openness, disaggregation, and innovation across the entire network – from the core network to the edge and aggregation layers.
“By streamlining network operations and introducing automation and generative AI tools, we aim to help KDDI enhance the efficiency of its network and build a resilient architecture that can flexibly meet future demands.”
