NIA's Latest NFV Test Program Opens for Business

Following a highly successful test program in late 2015, The New IP Agency (NIA) is now signing up participants for an independent evaluation of virtual network function (VNF) management capabilities.

The NIA, which is now a fully fledged not-for-profit independent initiative following its official launch in late January, previously organized an extensive, multivendor test program focused on interoperability between various NFV infrastructure (NFVi) platforms and multiple VNFs, with the results published on Light Reading in December. (See EXCLUSIVE! NFV Interop Evaluation Results and New IP Agency Launches With Massive Industry Support.)

Now, once again in partnership with European Advanced Networking Test Center AG (EANTC) , the NIA is seeking companies and organizations keen to benefit from an independent evaluation of their technology, this time with a focus on multivendor management and operations interoperability.

Any entity (commercial or non-commercial) that has developed NFVi, virtual infrastructure manager (VIM) or VNF manager (generic or in combination with VNFs) capabilities is eligible to participate.

The focus of EANTC's plan is to evaluate interoperability between a VIM (and associated NFVi) from one vendor and the VNF manager from another vendor, using interface specifications outlined in draft documents from the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) NFV Industry Specifications Group (ISG).

The aim is to create a multivendor matrix of interoperable VNF/VNFM to NFVi/VIM pairs that can be referenced by network operators, which are keen to make use of the NIA's test program results. (See DT Has High Hopes for the NIA and Colt Lauds NIA's NFV Evaluation.)

The importance of such tests can hardly be overstated, as they provide an independent guide to the state of the NFV sector's development and help companies, including network operators, large enterprises and data center operators, make more informed and efficient planning and request for information (RFI) decisions.

Any company interested in participating should contact Jeff Hannah, director of NIA, at [email protected].

— Ray Le Maistre, , Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading