Customer premises equipment (CPE) is telecommunications equipment located at the subscriber or client's premises. The equipment may be owned, leased or rented by the customer.
CPE is usually used to connect the client to the public or private network of the operator or provider by any technology.
CPEs include
- telephone devices
- IP phone
- Broadband, Ethernet or DSL modems
- LAN or WAN devices
- private branch exchange – automatic telephone exchange for office or institution
- automated signal distribution systems
- peripheral equipment
- data terminals, hubs, switches, routers, multiplexers
- firewall hardware.
vCPE
Virtual customer premises equipment is network services, like virtual private networks, firewalls and routing. vCPE moves legacy CPE functions to carrier devices, like the BRAS, DHCP and RADIUS server, so that user-end CPEs perform only Layer 2 functions.
vCPE is also referred to as cloud-CPE.
This model makes service distribution and maintenance more efficient and convenient. vCPE allows you to reduce capital and operating costs by simplifying operations and accelerating service delivery.