Author: David Snow

As Principal Analyst for Service Provider Infrastructure, David is responsible for tracking the evolution and key developments within the IP Services Infrastructure market. His coverage areas include Hosted Multimedia Application Servers, IP Multimedia Subsystems (IMS), Mobile Softswitching, Policy Control, Service Delivery Platforms (SDPs), Session Border Controls (SBCs) and Softswitches.

Three Different Approaches to VNF Data Management Could Spell Trouble Ahead

by David Snow, posted in SDN/NFV, Vendor Transformation

Summary Bullets:

  • David Snow - Principal Analyst, IP Services Infrastructure
    David Snow – Principal Analyst, IP Services Infrastructure

    ‘Stateless operation’ is the result of taking all the state (or session) data out of an application and relocating it into some form of ‘shared data entity’ to enable easier VNF scaling, failover, upgrade and so on.

  • With at least three different approaches emerging, VNF data management may prove as much of a hindrance to NFV rollout as NFV MANO.

In a previous Network Matter blog post, we identified how ‘cloud native’ terminology is now being used to highlight the differences between simply converting existing physical network function-based software into VNFs and creating VNFs ‘designed for the cloud’ from the start. In “Microservices: How ‘Cloud Native’ Are Network Vendors Today?”, we looked at some of the unanswered questions around microservices. This blog takes the cloud native discussion a little further by discussing the issues around ‘stateless operation.’ Continue reading “Three Different Approaches to VNF Data Management Could Spell Trouble Ahead” →

Microservices: How ‘Cloud Native’ Are Network Vendors Today?

by David Snow, posted in SDN/NFV, Vendor Transformation
David Snow - Principal Analyst, IP Services Infrastructure
David Snow – Principal Analyst, IP Services Infrastructure

Summary Bullets:

  • ‘Cloud native’ is the new virtualization mantra, often used to highlight the characteristics of applications designed for the cloud from the start.
  • A host of smaller network vendors are already claiming to be ‘microservices-based,’ a key attribute of being ‘cloud native.’ Larger vendors need to be careful not to lag behind.

It could hardly have escaped anyone’s notice at the SDN World Congress in The Hague this October that ‘cloud native’ is the new mantra in describing virtualized network functions (VNFs). Hardly a discussion or presentation from either operator or vendor took place without mentioning the term at least once. Generally, the term ‘cloud native’ highlights the differences between simply converting physical network function-based software into VNFs and creating VNFs ‘designed for the cloud’ from the start. Continue reading “Microservices: How ‘Cloud Native’ Are Network Vendors Today?” →

The ‘Open’ Telecom Application Server (TAS): Helping Carriers Go ‘Beyond VoLTE’

by David Snow, posted in Net Transformation, Vendor Transformation
David Snow - Principal Analyst, IP Services Infrastructure
David Snow – Principal Analyst, IP Services Infrastructure

Summary Bullets:

  • Deploying just VoLTE makes little difference to carrier voice revenues or competitiveness; carriers now need ‘beyond VoLTE’ services differentiation.
  • Such service differentiation is sparking a new wave of vendor telecom application server (TAS) offerings and openness.

Nokia recently launched a new version of its TAS (see here), positioning it as a ‘beyond VoLTE’ offering. Nokia, however, isn’t the first to focus on the ‘beyond VoLTE’ business issue. Oracle Communications did something similar last year (see here), and in April, OpenCloud went as far as to produce a downloadable software package for ‘VoLTE service development’ on its own application server (see here). Continue reading “The ‘Open’ Telecom Application Server (TAS): Helping Carriers Go ‘Beyond VoLTE’” →

NFV MANO Standardization: Becoming an Ever More Public Affair

by David Snow, posted in SDN/NFV, Vendor Transformation
David Snow - Principal Analyst, IP Services Infrastructure
David Snow – Principal Analyst, IP Services Infrastructure

Summary Bullets:

  • AT&T’s decision to open source ECOMP and its selection of Amdocs as a partner illustrate that traditional standardization by cooperation behind closed doors is being superseded by public and open initiatives.
  • The number of operator-vendor-open source combinations for NFV MANO continues to increase. A shakeout is both inevitable and necessary to bring about multi-vendor VNF interoperability.

The NFV management and network orchestration (MANO) market doesn’t take a break, even during the summer holiday season. The news that AT&T has selected Amdocs “to serve as integrator for companies adopting AT&T’s open source Enhanced Control, Orchestration, Management & Policy (ECOMP) platform” has highlighted the unusual ecosystem dynamics of NFV and the MANO ecosystem in particular. Rather than the usual press release format, where a vendor touts the fact that an operator has selected or deployed its solution, here we have an operator, a vendor and a yet unnamed open source software community all working together towards producing a solution which, it is hoped, will be adopted by all other operators.

Maybe, though, this isn’t quite as new as it seems. Continue reading “NFV MANO Standardization: Becoming an Ever More Public Affair” →

AT&T, Amdocs & Open Source ECOMP: Opening Pandora’s Box

by David Snow, posted in SDN/NFV, Vendor Transformation
David Snow - Principal Analyst, IP Services Infrastructure
David Snow – Principal Analyst, IP Services Infrastructure

Summary Bullets:                 

  • AT&T’s selection of Amdocs as integrator for its ECOMP platform has taken the market by surprise, although there have been indicators of collaboration between the two companies for several months.
  • Endowing Amdocs with the responsibility for managing ECOMP within an open source MANO group poses a risk that other vendors may shy away from contributing their software.

The news last week that AT&T has selected Amdocs “to serve as integrator for companies adopting AT&T’s open source Enhanced Control, Orchestration, Management & Policy (ECOMP) platform” seems to have met with relatively little market reaction. This may be due to something as mundane as the fact that this is the holiday season or perhaps that the many players in the NFV management and network orchestration (MANO) ecosystem are still digesting the impact of such news. From the Current Analysis perspective, we see AT&T’s move as very significant as our intelligence alert “AT&T Gives Amdocs a Key Role in Plotting ECOMP World Domination” indicates. Continue reading “AT&T, Amdocs & Open Source ECOMP: Opening Pandora’s Box” →

NTT DOCOMO’s vEPC Launch “Take 3”: Scoring 1 – 1 in the NFV MANO Vendor Stakes

by David Snow, posted in Net Transformation, SDN/NFV, Vendor Transformation
David Snow - Principal Analyst, IP Services Infrastructure
David Snow – Principal Analyst, IP Services Infrastructure

Summary Bullets:                 

  • Vendor jostling for limelight in DOCOMO’s flagship vEPC rollout has finally subsided.
  • At the end of the day, Ericsson and Netcracker came out best in the multi-vendor stakes.

Back in March, NTT DOCOMO commercially launched its national vEPC infrastructure and we made some comments in this blog of March 17 around the significance of this rollout in terms of being “multi-vendor”, “NFV” and “on time”.  In particular, we noted that DOCOMO had selected three vendors from an original cadre of six after several years of intense cross-vendor VNF/MANO/NFVI testing. Almost immediately, that statement was challenged by a Fujitsu announcement (flagging up its role in the project and fronting Nokia’s products), which we then summarized in the blog of April 7. That blog made some observations around VNFM procurement, but now that the dust has settled, what do we now know? Continue reading “NTT DOCOMO’s vEPC Launch “Take 3”: Scoring 1 – 1 in the NFV MANO Vendor Stakes” →

Ericsson and Nokia Celebrate Their Anniversaries; What Makes for Vendor Longevity?

by David Snow, posted in Vendor Transformation
David Snow - Principal Analyst, IP Services Infrastructure
David Snow – Principal Analyst, IP Services Infrastructure

Summary Bullets:                 

  • Nokia and Ericsson both celebrated company anniversaries; company longevity in telecoms is rare
  • The last decade has been particularly tumultuous and maybe Huawei is demonstrating a “third way”

A humorous tweet from CMO Barry French of Nokia a few weeks back referred to Ericsson as being “the new kid on the block” as Ericsson celebrated “140 years of innovation”. Nearly a year ago, Nokia also had an anniversary; “Nokia at 150: from pulp mill to the programmable world”.  This drew attention to a game that is periodically played between competing companies – the game of longevity.  Continue reading “Ericsson and Nokia Celebrate Their Anniversaries; What Makes for Vendor Longevity?” →

NTT DOCOMO’s vEPC Launch – The Plot Thickens

by David Snow, posted in Net Transformation, SDN/NFV, Vendor Transformation
David Snow - Principal Analyst, IP Services Infrastructure
David Snow – Principal Analyst, IP Services Infrastructure

Summary Bullets:                 

  • Late to announce its participation in NTT DOCOMO’s commercial vEPC launch, Fujitsu/Nokia pushes the projects VNFM count up to at least two.
  • More than ever before, the VNFM is attracting serious attention with carrier options for VNFM procurement multiplying.

A couple of weeks back, on March 9, NTT DOCOMO commercially launched its national vEPC infrastructure and we made some comments in this blog of March 17 around the significance of this rollout in terms of being “multi-vendor”, “NFV” and “on time”.  In particular, we noted the fact that DOCOMO had selected three vendors from an original cadre of six after several years of intense cross-vendor VNF/MANO/NFVI testing. Almost inevitably, that statement was challenged by a subsequent vendor announcement and a number of calls to Current Analysis from “the other three”. Continue reading “NTT DOCOMO’s vEPC Launch – The Plot Thickens” →

NTT DOCOMO’s vEPC Launch: It’s Not Often That “Multi-vendor,” “NFV” and “On Time” Come Together

by David Snow, posted in Net Transformation, SDN/NFV, Vendor Transformation
David Snow
David Snow

Summary Bullets:

  • Two and half years ago, NTT DOCOMO embarked on a foundational NFV infrastructure project, which was commercially launched this month.
  • Selecting three vendors from the original six, DOCOMO made multi-vendor interoperability and resilience key tenets of its solution, just as NFV originally envisioned.

It was almost exactly two and a half years ago, at the SDN & OpenFlow World Congress 2014 in Dusseldorf, when NTT DOCOMO committed to roll out its national vEPC infrastructure by the end of fiscal 2015, i.e. March 2016. On the ninth of this month, that indeed happened. Continue reading “NTT DOCOMO’s vEPC Launch: It’s Not Often That “Multi-vendor,” “NFV” and “On Time” Come Together” →

MWC16: Open Source Steps in to Unblock NFV MANO

by David Snow, posted in SDN/NFV
David Snow - Principal Analyst, IP Services Infrastructure
David Snow – Principal Analyst, IP Services Infrastructure

Summary Bullets:                 

  • Mobile World Congress saw not one, but two, new open source MANO initiatives launched
  • While a true open source is a massive step forward for telecom, MANO may end up in a state of “openkill”

With general consensus that, for the first time in three years, MWC16 was not dominated by operator or vendor NFV messaging, it’s not true to say that there wasn’t any significant NFV activity – far from it. What was particularly intriguing though, was that the significant NFV activity was around open source MANO.

Six months ago, open source MANO was considered an “interesting experiment” and confined to Telefonica’s research for the UNICA project.  However, since then, the concept has gathered significant industry support.  First, in December last year, OPNFV announced that it intended to “remove scope constraints” and consider addressing the parts of MANO above the VIM, and a few weeks ago at Mobile World Congress, two new open source MANO initiatives were launched, the Open Source MANO (OSM) Community, under the auspices of ETSI, and the Open-Orchestrator (Open-O) Project, under the Linux Foundation. You can follow the links to see which operators and vendors are involved in each; but that’s not the subject of this post. Continue reading “MWC16: Open Source Steps in to Unblock NFV MANO” →