VMware vCloud for NFV lets carriers run clouds on OpenStack side-by-side with VMware's own vCloud.

Mitch Wagner, Executive Editor, Light Reading

March 2, 2015

3 Min Read
VMware Bows OpenStack/vCloud NFV

BARCELONA -- Mobile World Congress -- VMware on Monday introduced software to let carriers run OpenStack and the company's own vCloud cloud manager side-by-side. The VMware vCloud for NFV platform is designed to help carriers get started migrating to OpenStack while running vCloud for production cloud services.

"For a lot of carriers over the long haul, OpenStack compatibility is important to them, for good reason," says David Wright, VP of operatons for the telco NFV group for VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) "They want to create a way they can mix and match functions, picking the right vendor for the right purpose, and swapping them out for another vendor. OpenStack promises to give them that."

"Eventually, within a year or two years, we expect OpenStack to be the de facto standard for the whole space," Wright says. But OpenStack is not mature enough for service-provider-class cloud services (or so VMware says). So vCloud for NFV supports both. vCloud for NFV supports more than 40 VNFs from more than 30 vendors.

vCloud for NFV fills the NFVI or infrastructure layer of the NFV architecture.

vCloud for NFV comprises vSphere for cloud compute virtualization, NSX for SDN, vSAN for storage and vRealize Operations for management tools, as well as the VMware Integrated OpenStack.

VMware vCloud for NFV includes VMware vSphere, VMware NSX, VMware Virtual SAN and VMware vRealize Operations and is available today for telcos to purchase. But the final piece that puts the whole puzzle together isn't available quite yet -- VMware Integrated OpenStack will be included in vCloud for NFV when it is made generally available later this quarter.

Find out more about Network Functions Virtualization on Light Reading's NFV Channel.

VMware is having a good year so far, and its software networking initiative gets a lot of the credit. Late last month, VMware poached Juniper CIO Bask Iyer to serve as VMware's own CIO. Iyer replaces Tony Scott, who was appointed CIO for the US government. (See VMware Nabs Juniper CIO.)

Early this month, VMware introduced its One Cloud software platform, designed to allow service providers to simplify connecting private and public clouds for their customers. (See VMware Looks to Help Carriers Bridge Private, Public Clouds.)

And in late January, VMware said SDN, as well as mobile management and cloud, drove growth last year and will continue to do so this year. CEO Pat Gelsinger singled out NSX SDN as having had a "particularly impressive" 2014. (See VMware Looks to Help Carriers Bridge Private, Public Clouds.)

For more about NFV, see:

— Mitch Wagner, Circle me on Google+ Follow me on TwitterVisit my LinkedIn profileFollow me on Facebook, West Coast Bureau Chief, Light Reading. Got a tip about SDN or NFV? Send it to [email protected].

About the Author(s)

Mitch Wagner

Executive Editor, Light Reading

San Diego-based Mitch Wagner is many things. As well as being "our guy" on the West Coast (of the US, not Scotland, or anywhere else with indifferent meteorological conditions), he's a husband (to his wife), dissatisfied Democrat, American (so he could be President some day), nonobservant Jew, and science fiction fan. Not necessarily in that order.

He's also one half of a special duo, along with Minnie, who is the co-habitor of the West Coast Bureau and Light Reading's primary chewer of sticks, though she is not the only one on the team who regularly munches on bark.

Wagner, whose previous positions include Editor-in-Chief at Internet Evolution and Executive Editor at InformationWeek, will be responsible for tracking and reporting on developments in Silicon Valley and other US West Coast hotspots of communications technology innovation.

Beats: Software-defined networking (SDN), network functions virtualization (NFV), IP networking, and colored foods (such as 'green rice').

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