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Nokia Unveils ETSI-based 'Open Templating' for Automated VNF Lifecycle Management

Nokia Unveils ETSI-based 'Open Templating' for Automated VNF Lifecycle Management Image Credit: Nokia

Nokia has unveiled what it claims as industry's first complete templating system for VNF lifecycle management, designed to streamline and automate VNF onboarding, integration and lifecycle management processes.

 

According to Nokia, today's methods for managing VNF lifecycles - instantiating, monitoring, repairing, scaling, updating and backing-up - are costly, cumbersome and time-consuming. To address this, Nokia has developed an open templating system, aligned with the latest industry standards and open-source tools, to streamline these processes.

The template specifications allow service providers and VNF suppliers to take advantage of the automated lifecycle management capabilities of the Nokia CloudBand Application Manager, enabling them to integrate more VNFs faster while reducing the cost and time required to manage VNFs in the cloud. 

Nokia's open templating system builds upon the ETSI NFV specifications (IFA011 and IFA014), Topology and Orchestration Specification for Cloud Applications (TOSCA) specifications and OpenStack tools. It provides key functionality to service providers, including VNF definitions for better integration and added support of complex structures, and eliminates the need for customization when providing VNF information to a generic VNF Manager and NFV Orchestrator.

By supporting both Nokia and third-party VNFs, the system gives service providers a much wider selection of virtualized network services they can offer subscribers.

Nokia is currently collaborating with fellow members of ETSI and TOSCA to complete development of VNF templating standards to benefit the entire industry.

Ron Haberman, head of Nokia's CloudBand product unit
One of the goals of NFV has been to foster an open ecosystem of VNF suppliers to give service providers maximum choice in the capabilities they integrate, and to offer subscribers the best available services. By creating an open system that improves the management of VNFs, we aim to make it easier for service providers to quickly add new value-added services to differentiate their offerings, generate new revenue opportunities, and deliver better user experiences.

Caroline Chappell, principal analyst at Analysys Mason
VNF onboarding is one of the major challenges the industry must solve to ensure the long-term success of NFV. This will require a standards-based approach that automates the onboarding process and minimizes its complexity. 

Author

Ray is a news editor at The Fast Mode, bringing with him more than 10 years of experience in the wireless industry.

For tips and feedback, email Ray at ray.sharma(at)thefastmode.com, or reach him on LinkedIn @raysharma10, Facebook @1RaySharma

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