Barriers To NFV Adoption - NFV/SDN Reality Check Episode 28

NFV is a goal for many, but Procera notes challenges remain ahead of further NFV adoption

Cheaper, faster and smarter are constant claims from supporters of virtualization platforms using software-defined networking, network functions virtualization and cloud solutions, but to reap those benefits, telecom operators need to hurdle current barriers in order to further their NFV adoption plans.

On this week’s NFV/SDN Reality Check, we spoke with Mike Kay, VP for business development at Procera Networks, on some of the challenges the company sees in front of further NFV deployments.

Kay explained that one of those hurdles is the operator community waiting on the vendor community to further develop their virtualization platforms in order to meet telecom requirements, or what he called a “maturity gap.” In addition, there are continued concerns over whether telecom operators will deploy vendor-specific software solutions, or would rather move towards a more open-source model that frees those telecom operators from having to rely on a single vendor.

Kay also discussed recent work Procera has done with telecom operators to tackle key challenges, including working on the business case; the importance of carrier-grade solutions in gaining trust of telecom operators, operating support and business support system integration challenges; changes that need to occur within an organization when moving towards virtualized platforms; and challenges he sees going forward in terms of furthering NFV/SDN adoption, and what can be done to surmount those challenges.

Make sure to join us on Sept. 18 for our next live episode of NFV/SDN Reality Check when we speak with Margaret Chiosi, distinguished network architect at AT&T Labs, about the progress the telecom giant has made in terms of its virtualization future and how AT&T is tackling its leadership position in the NFV and SDN space.

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