Telefonica(BMAD:TEF; NYSE:TEF) has announced plans to work with Red Hat and Intel to create a virtual infrastructure management (VIM) platform based on open-source software running on standard Intel-based servers. This work will become part of Telefonica's recently created Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) Reference Lab aimed at helping their ecosystem of partners and network equipment providers (NEPs) test and develop virtual network functions along with upper service orchestration layers.
Current telecommunications networks, composed of a myriad of closed hardware appliances and ad hoc equipment, are becoming a constraint for innovation in an increasingly digital and network-centric world. To overcome this situation, telecommunications industry leaders, as part of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) NFV Industry Specification Group, are working to define a common framework architecture for network services based on standard virtualized commercial off-the-shelf hardware running the network functions in software.
Enrique Algaba, Network Innovation and Virtualization Director - Telefonica I+D-Global CTO, said, "For NFV, we need to avoid closed and non-interoperable environments, which would hamper its widespread adoption. For that purpose, we have launched the Network Functions Virtualization Reference Lab, where Telefónica, along with key players from the industry, is working to enhance baseline virtualization technologies from the open-source community and contributing them back to the upstream community, to avoid technological fragmentation."
This novel approach can help reduce operational costs, promote interoperability, and provide a more open ecosystem to make it easier for telecommunications providers to adapt and expand services.Telefonica will work with Red Hat and Intel to create a solution based on open-source standards to help prevent fragmentation and lock-in while maintaining the level of performance and resilience communications service providers (CSPs) have come to expect from their existing hardware-centric solutions.
