I know that in past blogs I’ve noted that we often create unnecessary problems in the industry by overloading hot new technology terms. “Software-Defined Network” is a great example; some people have used the term to describe a major shift from distributed device-adapted networking to centralized software networking. Others think you get to SDN by…
One of the outcomes of the recent meeting of NFV ISG members, hosted by CableLabs, was recognition of the value of open-source implementations of NFV and a need to harmonize efforts there. Ironically, it’s also been reported that four operators have formed their own open-source activity to develop a MANO implementation. It’s worth looking both…
Network virtualization is unique in our virtualizing world in that it’s both a goal and a facilitator. We want to use network virtualization to change both the services networks can offer and the way that familiar services are created, and at the same time we expect virtualization to answer new questions on resource connection and…
Back in October 2012 a group of network operators issued a paper called “Network Functions Virtualisation: An Introduction, Benefits, Enablers, Challenges & Call for Action”. There were a lot of prescient statements in that first paper, but one that seems particularly relevant today is “Network operators need to be able to “mix & match” hardware…
Yesterday, Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent combined, and as a company name at least the latter is no more. The question now is whether the merger will accomplish anything. Many, myself included, have wondered if the Alcatel-Lucent combination wasn’t one of the classic cases where the whole ended up being a lot less than the sum of…
In yet another sign that NFV is evolving, ADVA has purchased Overture Networks, one of the six vendors who I believe have the tools needed to make a business case for NFV deployment. ADVA joins optical rival Ciena (who purchased Cyan and its Blue Planet platform for SDN/NFV) in the ranks of network equipment vendors…
Sometimes really important things reach the news but in pieces, and that may be the case with two items in SDx Central. Huawei, says one article, is beefing up its open source credentials with new hires. Fujitsu, according to a second article, has announced a new SDN controller that uses two levels of abstraction. It’s…
The big question for network operators is less how they might use SDN or NFV but how they might build their next-gen infrastructure to support an evolved business model. That question has been asked for a full decade now, and tellingly it was first called “transformation”. The term reflects a top-down vision that’s absent in…
It seems to me that if you read the tea leaves of current carrier plans you see that the potential for new things like SDN and NFV are being inhibited by “old-think”. If we try to build a new model of a Carrier Ethernet network, we’re limited in the benefits we can bring relative to…
One thing that is probably clear to everyone who reads about SDN or NFV these days is that there is no real consensus on what either actually do, or should do. There’s a lot of confusion out there, inhibiting a strong consensus on what SDN or NFV can do, separately or together, and what other…