Parts of the transformation effort David Amzallag led for two years are ready to go live, but he's ready to move on.

March 29, 2017

2 Min Read
Amzallag, Vodafone's SDN & NFV Man, Leaving in June

David Amzallag, the man who has led Vodafone's ambitious global transformation, confirmed today that he is leaving that company in June, citing family reasons.

Amzallag, who is group head of Network Virtualization, SDN and NFV at Vodafone, has been commuting to London from Israel for the last two years. He said in an interview that he is considering other options now.

The former Alcatel and Amdocs executive came into Vodafone just under two years ago but in that time has helped lead the diverse company -- it has 26 different operators, thanks to many acquisitions -- in a sweeping transformation known as Project Ocean, which sought not only to implement NFV and SDN but also to adopt a common cloud-based architecture across the company and enable automation as well. (See Vodafone Hires NFV Specialist to Develop Group Virtualization Strategy.)

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That effort is going live in 2017, Amzallag says, with new services such as VPN+, a new flexible offering for businesses that includes SD-WAN capabilities along with security, policy and more.

Amzallag also has been willing to speak out about what operators need from their vendors and from themselves, including multiple appearances at Light Reading events. He has been a passionate advocate for new pricing models in the software-defined world and for industry efforts to agree on key things such as VNF onboarding. (See Vodafone Demands More From NFV Vendors, BCE 2016: A Sea Change at Vodafone, Vodafone: Desperately Seeking Cloud-Centric Tech and Vodafone Calls for End to Five Nines.)

In a wide-ranging discussion, Amzallag also shared what's immediately ahead for Ocean as it goes live and frankly discusses the challenges Vodafone has faced in creating an end-to-end architecture with the flexibility to address the differing needs of its many operating units. Stay tuned for those comments in the coming days.

— Carol Wilson, Editor-at-Large, Light Reading

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