When it comes to virtual network functions (VNFs), Dell is convinced that the heavy lifting will need to be done in the 'cloud'.

Roz Roseboro, Consulting Analyst, Light Reading

August 4, 2014

4 Min Read
Where to Put Your VNFs

As has been documented widely, NFV was one of the main topics of discussion during the recent Big Telecom Event (BTE) in Chicago. (See Let's Federate Our NFV Labs – Telefónica and this show site for full coverage of the BTE event.)

I found it particularly encouraging that BTE attendees were thinking hard about how network functions virtualization will be implemented in telco data centers.

One of the key debates centers around where virtual network functions (VNFs) should reside: Some are pushing a vision whereby some functions are distributed all the way to the customer premises; others believe they should reside in the telco cloud.

In August 2013, Tom Nolle of CIMI Corp. launched the CloudNFV initiative, and earlier this year Dell Technologies (Nasdaq: DELL) assumed the leadership role in that initiative, which focus on the capabilities required to manage and orchestrate VNFs in a network architecture. I recently spoke with Bala Pitchaikani, Head of Dell NFV Strategy and Product Management, about the company's participation in the CloudNFV initiative and what Dell is hearing from telcos as they begin the process of transforming their data centers to support NFV. (See Dell Has Big NFV Plans.)

Dell is keen to stress that CloudNFV is not about doing old things in a new way. Rather, it is defining its architectural vision as "open," "innovative," and "extensible." The CloudNFV team is focusing on building a foundation that will ultimately provide differentiation for telcos, and is putting a lot of focus on building the open orchestration interfaces to telcos' existing OSS/BSS systems, recognizing that telcos must be able to leverage their existing systems.

CloudNFV was the first proof of concept (PoC) accepted by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) NFV industry specifications group (ISG), and is the only PoC that focuses on a framework, whereas others are trying to implement one of the ISG's specified use cases. It's because of the focus on the framework that Dell is able to showcase the need for the type of strong foundation that telcos should implement.

Dell regards the NFV platform as the base that delivers standard northbound interfaces to support OSS/BSS integration as well as open orchestration of the various components and sub-systems of the platform. Dell regards the platform as a plug-and-play framework for NFVs that can help enable service agility as well as deliver opex and capex savings.

Dell strongly believes that the NFV ISG's use cases 1-4 -- which deal with the provision of NFV Infrastructure, VNF and Virtual Network Platform as a Service, and VNF Forwarding Graphs -- must be deployed, as they are the foundational pieces for the NFV architecture that is necessary to reap the benefits of new and differentiated services.

Need to know more about network functions virtualization and the cloud? Then check out the agenda for NFV and the Data Center, September 16 at the Santa Clara Marriott, Calif.

The Dell team is currently debating what uses cases telcos are really looking for, though it's understood that ensuring that telcos are able to provide a differentiated offering is of critical importance. Something being considered is the way in which VNFs can be used once deployed -- in effect asking, now that those functions are running on a different, virtual platform, how can things be done differently than in the past?

According to Dell, telcos have been requesting details related to the cloud-based delivery of VNFs in their request for information (RFI) documents. However, Dell believes that, ultimately, it is likely that different parts of a solution will reside in different places. For example, firewall enforcement might be performed at the customer premises, but all of the related policies (the complexity) would reside in a virtual point of presence (vPoP) or central office. One reason Dell says telcos will want to deliver VNFs via the cloud is that functionality would be dynamic, and able to respond to changing needs. In fact, if this doesn't happen, the NFV movement will have been a failure, in Dell's opinion.

The notion of distributed versus centralized VNFs is just one of the topics that will be discussed and debated at Light Reading's upcoming NFV and the Data Center event, where my colleague, Heavy Reading senior analyst Jim Hodges, and I will lead sessions that will delve into the practical considerations for telcos as they prepare to deploy NFV in their data centers.

— Roz Roseboro, Senior Analyst, Heavy Reading

About the Author(s)

Roz Roseboro

Consulting Analyst, Light Reading

Roz Roseboro has more than 20 years' experience in market research, marketing and product management. Her research focuses on how innovation and change are impacting the compute, network and storage infrastructure domains within the data centers of telecom operators. She monitors trends such as how open source is impacting the development process for telecom, and how telco data centers are transforming to support SDN, NFV and cloud. Roz joined Heavy Reading following eight years at OSS Observer and Analysys Mason, where she most recently managed its Middle East and Africa regional program, and prior to that, its Infrastructure Solutions and Communications Service Provider programs. She spent five years at RHK, where she ran the Switching and Routing and Business Communication Services programs. Prior to becoming an analyst, she worked at Motorola on IT product development and radio and mobile phone product management.

Roz holds a BA in English from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and an MBA in marketing, management, and international business from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. She is based in Chicago. 

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