Author: Tom Nolle

If we need to apply advanced cloud principles to virtual network functions (VNFs), what exactly would that mean for VNF design, onboarding, and management?  This is an important question because the current VNF onboarding process is broken from the operators’ almost universal perspective.  Management, in my own view, is at least as broken.  Fixing these…

I hope that convincing you that having NFV evolve in sync with the leading edge of the cloud hasn’t proven too difficult.  If it has, then I hope the rest of this series will do the job.  If you’re on board, then I hope that the rest gives you a few action items to study. …

An article in Light Reading yesterday caught my eye, because it said that a survey of operators showed a lower level of confidence in their meeting virtualization goals.  This isn’t a surprise to me, given that my own contact with operators has been saying they had little confidence all along.  It does offer some insights…

The announcement that Verizon is truly selling its cloud data centers, we now know to Equinix, has to put fear in the heart of carrier cloud proponents.  It should, and it should even call into question the future of NFV.  But all is not lost here; the fact is that Verizon was premature in getting…

CORD, the new darling of telco transformation using open source, is a great concept and one I’ve supported for ages.  I think it’s a necessary condition for effective transformation, but it’s not a sufficient condition.  There are two other things we need to look at.  The first is what makes up the other carrier-cloud data…

I noted in my introductory blog in AT&T’s and Verizon’s SDN/NFV approach that Verizon has taken a totally different tack with its architecture.  Where AT&T is building open-source glue to bind its vendor-controlling D2 architecture, Verizon is defining an open architectural framework for vendor integration.  Standards from the ONF, TMF, and NFV ISGs fit deep…

When AT&T and Verizon released their architecture models for SDN and NFV, I did a quick blog overview of the two.  I’ve had a chance to talk with operators and vendors about the approach now, and I’d like to revisit the two architectures based on what I’ve heard.  This is going to be a three-part…

Network operators have accepted open source software.  Or, sort of accepted.  I don’t want to minimize the fact that operators have indeed made the culture shift necessary to consider the adoption of open-source software, but that’s Step One.  There are other steps to be taken, and you can see some of the early attempts at…

Whatever your party, if you are concerned about the country’s future, I recommend this poem, one I’ve quoted to friends in the past.  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State! Sail on, O Union, strong and great! Humanity with all its fears, With all the hopes of future years, Is hanging…

Telecom is really more about regulatory posture than technology.  The US is now looking at a change in the FCC Chairmanship and the overall political balance of the body, and so there’s a chance that regulatory policy will shift.  It might even shift sharply.  However, FCC workings are murky so it’s not always easy to…