Download our complete guide to de-risking NFV deployment in 2016, including: An eight-step strategy to deploying NFV safely, based on input from the companies that have already started virtualizing their production networks. Interviews with leading executives at Colt, AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, Cisco, Nokia, ZTE, Ericsson and Heavy Reading.

Steve Saunders, Founder, Light Reading

April 19, 2016

1 Min Read
NFV: Coming, Ready or Not!

Forget the hype and the hoopla. 2016 is the year that the telecom market gets serious about network functions virtualization (NFV).

That's the verdict -- and it's unanimous -- from more than two dozen C-level executives at communications service providers (CSPs) and solution vendors that I've interviewed about their NFV strategies since the start of this year.

These are exciting times for our industry -- for both suppliers and carrier users of NFV tech. With its potential to not only save money on opex and capex, but also generate revenue through creation of new services like vCPE, virtualized managed security and Evolved Packet Core, the industry is "bigging up" NFV as the right solution at the right time for CSPs looking for ways to cut costs and dig out of the revenue slump that has dogged them for the last decade.

Interesting, then, that the emotion most evident during my conversations with service providers in 2016 hasn't been giddy euphoria, but anxiety.

CSPs are right to be cautious. Attempts in 2015 to launch commercial services based on NFV did not always go well, and there is a clear consensus amongst first movers that vendors have significantly overstated the network savings that can be achieved by deploying today's NFV solutions.

Download our complete guide to de-risking NFV deployment in 2016, including:

  • An eight-step strategy to deploying NFV safely based on input from the companies that have already started virtualizing their production networks.

  • Interviews with leading executives at Colt, AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, Cisco, Nokia, ZTE, Ericsson and Heavy Reading.

    NFV: Coming, Ready or Not! is available to download now.

    — Stephen Saunders, Founder and CEO, Light Reading

About the Author(s)

Steve Saunders

Founder, Light Reading

Steve Saunders is the Founder of Light Reading.

He was previously the Managing Director of UBM DeusM, an integrated marketing services division of UBM, which has successfully launched 45 online communities in less than three years.

DeusM communities are based on Saunders' vision for a structured system of community publishing, one which creates unprecedented engagement among highly qualified business users. Based on the success of the first dozen UBM DeusM communities, the UBM Tech division in 2013 made the decision to move its online business to the UBM DeusM community platform – including 20 year old flagship brands such as Information Week and EE Times.

Saunders' next mission for UBM is the development of UBM's Integrated Community Business Model (ICBM), a publishing system designed to take advantage of, and build upon, UBM's competitive strengths as a leading provider of live events around the globe. The model is designed to extend the ability of UBM's events to generate revenue 365 days of the year by contextually integrating content from community and event sites, and directories, to drive bigger audiences to all three platforms, and thereby create additional value for customers. In turn, these amplified audiences will allow business leaders to grow both revenues and profits through higher directory fees and online sponsorship. The ICBM concept is currently being discussed with a broad group of business leaders across UBM, and is earmarked to be piloted in the second half of 2013 and early 2014.

UBM DeusM is Saunders' fifth successful start-up. In 2008, he founded Internet Evolution (www.internetevolution.com), a ground-breaking, award-winning, global online community dedicated to investigating the future of the Internet, now in its fifth year.

Prior to Internet Evolution, Saunders was the founder and CEO of Light Reading (www.lightreading.com), Heavy Reading (www.heavyreading.com

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