Steve Barefoot, senior product analyst at Interop Technologies, on NFV and its numerous benefits to MNOs.
Prior to the development of Network Function Virtualization (NFV), many telecom services were run on proprietary hardware that was not only costly, but difficult to scale to adapt to increased capacity demand. With NFV, MNOs can benefit from CAPEX savings and enhanced scalability to meet and exceed the expectations of customers. And when used as an enabler of cloud computing, MNOs can experience operational efficiencies and go beyond traditional telecom services with the private cloud, whilst the public cloud also helps to mitigate risks when trying out new services and enables a huge degree of agility that could lead to first-to-market competitive advantage.
So what is NFV?
The concept of NFV is deceptively simple. Instead of running core network functions on specialized hardware, entire classes of network node functions are redesigned to run in a virtualized environment using Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) hardware. This accomplishes two objectives simultaneously. First, COTS hardware is less expensive than specialized hardware, translating to an immediate CAPEX saving. Second, because the network functions are virtualized, they can be elastically scaled to meet fluctuations in demand. These objectives — the use of COTS hardware and demand-based scaling — are two of the central characteristics of cloud computing.
NFV and operational efficiencies
NFV and cloud computing can positively impact MNO operations in a few ways. MNOs may realize intrinsic operational efficiencies by deploying NFV-based, private cloud solutions within their own networks. By using a private cloud, MNOs will minimize their dependence on network functions running on proprietary hardware supplied by third-party vendors. In addition, the scalability afforded by NFV can result in increased operational efficiency by the reallocation of computing resources based on the current demand for particular services. In what is likely an oversimplification, a private cloud could be thought of as a pool of computing resources that can be dynamically assigned to various functions as needed.
Read the full article on: Computer Business Review. (cbronline.com)
