Unlocking the potential of SDN and NFV as next generation technologies

 

Right alongside SDN is Network Functions Virtualization (NFV). Found by operators to have sufficient performance for real-world network workloads, formal discussions to encourage industry-wide progress started in 2012, with the ETSI NFV Forum formed not long after. The result of this was that NFV quickly becoming a key trend of the telecoms industry – and one that is here to stay. 

 

So why have these two technologies in particular attracted so much interest, and so quickly? 

 

The need for them comes from operators’ networks needing to become more application-aware in order to adapt to the changing telecoms industry. With SDN, together with network programmability functions, communication between the network and upper-layer applications becomes bidirectional. Consequently, transparent traffic flows can be managed across the entire network, without specific knowledge on switching and routing protocols. Resource usage is always under control and infrastructure management becomes easy and cost-effective.

 

Meanwhile, NFV works by granting service providers the flexibility to move network functions from dedicated appliances to generic high-volume servers. The advances both bring include the centralization and simplification of the network, increased agility and more automation. Put simply, SDN enables networks to keep up with the speed of change. Increased efficiency flexibility, security and lower OPEX are also achieved. 

 

If at this point, SDN and NFV sound like the perfect solutions, caution should be taken before completely committing to them. As with all new technologies and software, problems exist, although that is not to say they can’t become overcome. 

 

One limitation in the development of SDN is the current lack of standardization, seen, for example, in the different technologies and hardware currently available for implementation. For many years, networking has enjoyed protocol standards; compliance with these standards means interoperability. This is what SDN currently lacks, meaning there is a risk that SDN will grow organically and become fragmented by individual interests and domain specific implementations.

 

Furthermore, for full development of SDN on service providers’ networks it is necessary to develop use cases that really allow aspects of the network, for example, Operations, to be simplified and deliver reduced OPEX. Conversely, only by identifying concrete cases of application, can we hope to see the first full implementation of SDN. 

 

One example on show at Mobile World Congress was Huawei’s open architecture for SDN/NFV. As one of the leaders in ICT solutions, Huawei has selected the open source SDN Open Networking Operating System (ONOS) as its platform on which to develop its SDN technologies. Conceived by the Open Networking Lab (ON Lab) towards the end of last year, ONOS focuses on technology development around carriers’ business scenarios and aims to enable agile service innovation and creation. The platform delivers a highly available, scalable SDN control plane featuring northbound and southbound open APIs and paradigms for a diversity of management, control, and service applications across mission critical networks. 

Speaking on the third day of the show, at a session titled ‘Thoughts on Operators’ Network Evolution to SDN’, Ayush Sharma, Strategic Vice President and Head of Carrier IP BU, at Huawei, explained the benefits of this. 

 

“ONOS is a modular and scalable architecture which allows providers to gradually migrate their existing networks to SDN,” he said. “It is more than just a platform, it is an open networking system designed to address the problems associated with SDN and NFV. 

 

“The benefits of this particular platform are numerous. Firstly, it is a community of service providers working on solutions f or service providers which means the problems and the solutions being developed are very practical. Secondly, the development is very controlled and the decontamination issues associated with other models are eliminated in ONOS. In a nutshell, we will use ONOS, develop use cases and run trials with these carriers and continue to contribute.”

 

Showing commitment to interoperability in its NFV approach too, Huawei launched an NFV open lab in Xi’an, China, earlier this year. This is dedicated to developing multi-vendor integration verification capabilities, expanding joint service innovations with customers, partners, industrial organizations and open source organizations and accelerating development of the open eco-system for NFV infrastructure, platforms and services.

 

Huawei’s own SDN/NFV solution helps simplify operators’ operations and management, facilitates innovation and improves the network utilization rate, as well as enabling the ICT-convergence transformation of the carrier network. Its NFV solution, meanwhile, offers a rich feature set which has led to Huawei being one of the leaders in this field. Both technologies, and cloud computing, are leveraged by Huawei’s SoftCOM architecture.

 

Open collaboration, such as ONOS, is the key to making SDN/NFV the success it has the potential to be. Although challenges still exist with both technologies, the general consensus is that the work to overcome them is not only worth doing but worth doing now. If the industry undertakes this work together, then the full potential of SDN/NFV looks set to be unlocked, achieving the complete network transformation that is needed for tomorrow’s telecoms landscape.