Does NFV Signal the End of “Speeds & Feeds” Product Comparisons?

David Snow
David Snow

Summary Bullets:

  • At first sight, NFV looks to remove some of traditional benchmarks of telecom product comparison: performance and capacity metrics.
  • In reality, nothing has changed. Now, it is a VNF’s capability to manage the NFVI through the VNFM that is going to count.

While not a quant house, Current Analysis is well known for both qualitative and quantitative product comparisons, and for the latter, it uses an extensive repertoire of product metrics, often somewhat disparagingly referred to as the “speeds and feeds.” While NFV is some way off, or will never happen, for some market segments (e.g., the IP and optical core; see “Specialized Network Devices Will Not Be Going Away (Anytime Soon)”), a new picture is emerging in the more NFV-intensive zones of the service and control layers. Continue reading “Does NFV Signal the End of “Speeds & Feeds” Product Comparisons?”