NFV vendors of the world unite! Or maybe work together?

Interoperability is top customer concern, says Light Reading

Light Reading, the insider’s publication for the comms industry, is calling on vendors to join the world’s first interoperability tests for Network Function Virtualization (NFV).

The online magazine has teamed up with the European Advanced Networking Test Center, based in Berlin, as its test partner to evaluate "which products can be installed together to support next-generation virtualized New IP networks,” Light Reading’s CEO and co-founder Steve Saunders writes in a blog post.

According to Saunders, NFV is the fundamental enabler of next generation communications networks - and incumbent vendors are all onboard with the concept.

But interoperability is a huge concern for big telcos and other customers, and they need to know that products from different vendors will work together. Otherwise they are vulnerable to the bad old days of proprietary lock-in.

“Without interoperability, service providers won't have the freedom to choose the best virtual network function (VNF) from one company and deploy them with core NFV infrastructure (NFVi) from another,” he writes.

Light Reading is optimistic that vendors will accept its formal invitation to join the independent validation programme.

To make decision-making a little easier, the publication is offering to conduct the tests “at cost only”. The fees are $15,000 to sign up and $9,000 for one week of evaluation of two NFVIs and one function.

And as we are talking interoperability here as opposed to application performance, Light Reading may be in a better position to avoid spats with their clients - unlike vendors in the server and storage worlds. ®