Heading to Vienna: three reasons disaggregation will define Network X 2026

By Richard Brandon, VP of Marketing, RtBrick

Network X takes us to Vienna this October. A homecoming for our Austrian founder, Hannes Gredler, who’s excited to show us around the city of Strauss and Hedy Lamarr, the Hollywood star whose wartime invention helped lay the groundwork for Wi-Fi, as well as a pivotal moment for the telco industry.

Operators are under pressure to modernise networks, improve operational efficiency and reduce dependence on traditional infrastructure models, all while managing tighter budgets and satisfying regulatory requirements.

Against that backdrop, we expect one topic to dominate discussions across the show floor: network disaggregation. The shift away from vertically integrated networking platforms is no longer a future vision. Operators have already started to build open, disaggregated architectures that will deliver greater flexibility, resilience, and efficiency than traditional approaches.

Here are three reasons why.

1.     Sovereignty is all about choice

Digital sovereignty is high on the agenda for Europe’s operators. Much of the discussion focuses on data, cloud platforms and applications, but the network infrastructure itself deserves equal attention. Everyone’s working out what it really means to control their own infrastructure at a moment when most of it is bought elsewhere.

Many operators still rely on tightly integrated hardware and software stacks sourced from a single vendor. While this model has delivered stability, it also limits flexibility and reduces control over technology decisions. True sovereignty requires choice. Disaggregation enables operators to select hardware and software independently, reducing dependence on a single supplier and creating greater resilience across the network.

Our research, surveying 200 senior telecoms decision-makers, revealed supply chain resilience as the top benefit expected from disaggregation, tied with automation at 54%. Disaggregation gives you a real choice at every layer.

2.     Freedom from vendor lock-in

For decades, operators have bought routing the same way. Hardware and software from one vendor, in one box, on that vendor’s timeline. Operators don’t need Cisco or Juniper to decide when they upgrade anymore. They want to make that decision for themselves.

Disaggregation lets them do exactly that. By separating network software from underlying hardware, operators gain the freedom to choose best-in-class components and evolve their infrastructure on their own terms. Hardware refresh cycles no longer dictate software innovation, and changes from one supplier no longer affect the entire network architecture.

It also enables a more incremental approach to capacity expansion. Rather than replacing large chassis-based systems through costly forklift upgrades, operators can scale network resources efficiently using open networking platforms built on merchant silicon.

3.     Efficiency is the name of the game

Energy bills and budgets are under pressure everywhere. In the same research, 49% of operators expected disaggregation to lower their environmental impact, and 48% expected it to cut purchase and running costs.

Merchant silicon helps with both. The open switches our software runs on use around 0.5W per gigabit per second, and a single device can run up to three network functions simultaneously: BNG, CGNAT and a full-table IP/MPLS router.

The result is a more efficient network architecture with fewer devices, lower power consumption and a reduced operational footprint.

The industry is moving. Adoption must follow.

The technical case for disaggregation is already proven. Leading operators, including AT&T, Comcast, and Deutsche Telekom, have adopted disaggregated architectures in parts of their networks, demonstrating the scalability and maturity of the model. Yet only 1 in 20 operators is currently in deployment.

As operators continue to evaluate how to build more flexible, cost-effective and future-ready networks, we believe disaggregation will increasingly move from strategic discussion to operational reality. That's the conversation we're looking forward to having at Network X.

We’ll be at stand H3 from 13 to 15 October. Come and say hello, find out more, or just tell us what you think… we won’t bite!

To arrange a meeting, email enquiries@rtbrick.com.