<p>AT&amp;T has decided its time to remodel its network, tossing out old legacy telecom gear and replacing it with shiny new servers. At Mobile World Congress this week, AT&amp;T SVP of Technology and Network Operations John Donovan outlined a broad plan for Ma Bell to transform its network into a data center.</p><p>John Donovan</p><p>Last I week I wrote about the emerging trend of the mobile-network cloud, how carriers may one day rip out all of the expensive base stations in their networks and virtualize their functions as software on off-the-shelf servers. AT&amp;T isn't going that far and no carrier really can for several years but it did announce some pretty bold plans to overhaul the fundamental makeup of its network.</p><p>First off, AT&amp;T is working with a little-known software-defined networking startup called Affirmed Networks to replace its LTE mobile core a byzantine collection of purpose-built packet and signaling gateways with a virtualized evolved packet core. In addition AT&amp;T has selected Ericsson, Tail-f Systems and Metaswitch Networks to help it design a future services framework, which Donovan described in AT&amp;T's blog:</p><p><a href="http://gigaom.com/2014/02/25/software-is-eating-the-mobile-network-too-as-att-begins-its-journey-into-the-cloud/">Keep reading...</a></p>