NFV service orchestration platform targets carrier deployments
Oracle Communications recently unveiled its Network Service Orchestration Solution, targeting one of the greater challenges facing mobile network operators as they make plans toward virtualizing parts of their operations using network function virtualization and software-defined networking technology.
Oracle stated that the solution is part of its broader orchestration framework that is designed to analyze “network performance information, evaluates the network’s operation against predefined policies and business rules, and can trigger the appropriate action to automatically modify the behavior of services, network functions and virtualized infrastructure.”
Oracle last year unveiled its Application Orchestrator, which it said was designed to manage the life cycle of virtualized infrastructure, as part of the push into NFV.
In describing the product’s functions, Oracle said the platform also “fulfills and extends” the role of the NFV orchestrator as defined by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute NFV Industry Standards Group, which is the body responsible for setting NFV-related standards. ETSI recently released documents relating to the completion of “phase one” work on establishing a NFV framework, including an infrastructure overview; an updated architectural framework; descriptions of the compute, hypervisor and network domains of the infrastructure; management and orchestration; security and trust; and resilience and service quality metrics.
ETSI announced late last year that its NFV plans had entered “phase two” following the completion of an organization meeting in Arizona. Phase two work is set to include growing interoperability across the NFV ecosystem; specifying reference points and requirements that were defined in phase one; growing industry engagement to ensure that its NFV requirements are met; and clarifying how NFV intersects with other standards, including software-defined networking and open-source initiatives.
Analysts have expressed the importance of service orchestration in fulfilling the promise of network virtualization, noting the need for operators to have automation in place to handle managing NFV and SDN deployments.
“While network virtualization promises to streamline operations in the long run, the short-term effect actually may be an increase in complexity when configuring and managing hybrid networks,” explained Dimitris Mavrakis, principal analyst at Ovum, in connection to the Oracle announcement. “This will require sophisticated orchestration of network services, network functions and underlying infrastructure enriched by analytics and triggered by policy rules. Such a holistic approach to orchestration, like the one outlined by Oracle, is critical for CSPs to deliver the anticipated business benefits from their NFV investments.”
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