Telecommunications network with data centre deployment

A data center for providing reliable network functionality for a telecommunications network, the data center comprising:

• a load balancer implemented using hardware and configured to receive an encapsulated message from an access point of the telecommunications network, the encapsulated message including a control message of a control protocol of the telecommunications network;
• a plurality of virtual machines implemented using hardware and configured to act as control nodes for the telecommunications network, each virtual machine configured to receive and process the encapsulated message from the load balancer;
• wherein a first one of the plurality of virtual machines is associated to act as a respective control node for an end user device associated with the encapsulated message and receive the encapsulated message from the load balancer, and
• wherein a second one of the plurality of virtual machines is associated to act as the respective control node for the end user device upon failure of the first one of the plurality of virtual machines.

A method for providing reliable network functionality for a telecommunications network, the method comprising:

• receiving, by a load balancer, an encapsulated message from an access point of the telecommunications network, the encapsulated message including a control message of a control protocol of the telecommunications network;
• receiving, by a first one of a plurality of virtual machines acting as a respective control node for an end user device associated with the encapsulated message, the encapsulated message from the load balancer, wherein the plurality of virtual machines are configured to act as control nodes for the telecommunications network, each virtual machine configured to receive and process the encapsulated message from the load balancer;
• detecting a failure of the first one of the plurality of virtual machines;
• and
• receiving, by a second one of the plurality of virtual machines associated to act as the respective control node for the end user device upon failure of the first one of the plurality of virtual machines, the encapsulated message from the load balancer.

A system comprising:

• load balancing means for receiving an encapsulated message from an access point of a telecommunications network, the encapsulated message including a control message of a control protocol of the telecommunications network;
• a plurality of means for acting as control nodes for the telecommunications network, each means for acting as a control node configured to receive and process the encapsulated message from the load balancing means;
• wherein a first one of the means for acting as control nodes is associated to act as a respective control node for an end user device associated with the encapsulated message and receive the encapsulated message from the load balancing means, and
• wherein a second one of the plurality of means for acting as control nodes is associated to act as the respective control node for the end user device upon failure of the first one of the plurality of means for acting as control nodes.