This collaboration will be part of the reference NFV laboratory recently launched by Telefónica, which aims to help its ecosystem of partners and network equipment providers (NEPS) to test and develop virtualized network functions along with the upper layers of service orchestration.
Current telecommunications networks, composed of multiple closed and ad hoc hardware components, are becoming an obstacle to innovation in an increasingly digital and network-dependent world. To overcome this limitation, a group of leaders in the telecommunications industry, members of the ETSI (the European Telecommunications Standards Institute) NFV Industry Specification Group, have been working for some time to define a common architecture for network services, based on general-purpose commercial hardware and software network functions running on it. This new approach to network architecture can help reduce operating costs, promote interoperability, and provide a more open ecosystem so that telecommunications providers can more easily adapt and expand their network services.
In this lab, Telefónica will work with Red Hat and Intel to create an open source standards-based solution that helps prevent fragmentation and closed solutions in the industry while maintaining the level of performance and flexibility that communication service providers (CSPs) expect from existing proprietary hardware-based solutions.
The NFV Reference Lab will be based on the following technologies:
• Intel® Xeon® E5-2600 V2 Processor
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) hypervisor, well-regarded in the industry for its outstanding performance and configuration options;
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack platform, which provides the necessary tools to manage a large fleet of distributed hypervisors and virtual machines, with a focus on automation and integration options; and
• Switching equipment enabled for the use of OpenFlow.
Telefónica, Red Hat, and Intel will contribute engineering and innovation resources to the lab to conduct resource testing, in open collaboration with other partners and the open source community, so that these technologies reach the performance and functionality levels necessary to realize the vision of an “Open Digital Telco.”
Through its UNICA Infrastructure initiative, Telefónica has defined the reference architecture to drive the adoption of virtualized network equipment in its networks and equip them with virtualized, multi-vendor, and standardized resources. The NFV Reference Lab is a necessary step to give the UNICA project a multi-vendor approach and for its medium-term evolution.
