Nokia and HP have embarked on joint development of an open source-based cloud solution for telcos migrating to NFV, a pairing that could give Nokia open source credibility, while helping HP steady its NFV ship.

The solution, which will be ETSI NFV-compliant, will see Nokia Networks bringing its NFV tools to HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ)'s Helion OpenStack platform. HP has long been pushing OpenStack as the default standard for cloud computing software, and was among several companies that contributed code to the recent OpenStack Juno release targeted at satisfying NFV requirements. (See OpenStack Tackles NFV Support With Juno Release.)

Yet, the company also suffered the departure of a key NFV executive, and is undergoing a corporate split, both potential distractions from its NFV efforts. (See Ixia Names NFV Pioneer Mayer CEO and Winds of Change Blow NFV at HP.)

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For Nokia, the announcement represents its second big NFV play in recent months after announcing its VoLTE NFV solution and unveiling its Cloud Network Director orchestration tool in early September. (See Nokia's NFV Strategy Starts With VoLTE .)

The jointly created carrier-grade cloud offering will be available by mid-2015, the companies said.

— Dan O'Shea, Managing Editor, Light Reading