Importance Of Testing And Interoperability For NFV And SDN – NFV/SDN Reality Check Episode 60

As the telecom market continues its drive towards virtualizing network operations, one of the more common concerns we hear from operators are issues surrounding interoperability. Just as in legacy, hardware-based network architectures, telecom operators are reliant on their software-based solutions being able to speak with each other regardless of who vendor.

A recent Technology Business Research report found some early adopter telecom operators were moving forward with limited commercial launches of network functions virtualization and software-defined networking technologies despite continuing questions around NFV and SDN standards. According to TBR’s “NFV/SDN Telecom Market Landscape” report for the first quarter, these early launches are “leveraging a mix of vendor solutions and internal resources ahead of industry adopted standards,” with cost reduction and service agility seen as key drivers for initial deployments. TBR noted for carriers like AT&T, NFV and SDN are viewed as “critical for long-term survival.”

“Early adopters pursue differing approaches to build NFV and SDN solutions,” the report notes. “One approach is to build an end-to-end NFV stack leveraging products from several vendors. These deployments require tested, interoperable components to ensure carrier-grade delivery. Adding further complexity, operators must decide which vendor, if any, integrates the stack.”

For this week’s featured interview, we speak with Kumar Mehta, CEO and co-founder of Versa Networks, to get his view on the importance of testing and interoperability for NFV and SDN.

Versa earlier this year received validation for a new platform designed to provide managed network and security services using virtualized network functions and x86-based open hardware. Versa said the validation came from work with EMC testing interoperability of its FlexVNF software on EMC’s Network Functions Virtualization Infrastructure platform, which Versa said creates an integrated virtualized consumer premise equipment “in a box solution for deploying virtualized network and security functions in service provider points of presence or data centers.”

Make sure to check us out again next week when we are scheduled to speak with Cirba on using SDN to control workload placement with greater mobility, hidden benefits and how to get a return on investment from SDN.

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