AT&T claims containers and micro-services bolster SDN and NFV efficiency
AT&T continues to be one of the more vocal and proactive telecom operators in terms of work being done with network virtualization technologies, including software-defined networking, network functions virtualization and cloud platforms.
The company made a bold statement late last year when it announced plans to control more than 75% of its network using software architecture by 2020, and has since followed up the announcement with updates on its progress. The latest includes the announced expansion of its SDN-based Network on Demand service and that it had tapped NFV and SDN to bolster its Gigapower broadband service.
That progress has not come without some hurdles along the way, which the telecom operator touched on in a recent blog post.
Andre Fuetsch, SVP of architecture and design at AT&T, explained that traditional methods of running multiple virtual network functions on a single server required each function to have its own “virtual machine” that adds a new operating system the hypervisor needs to manage. The increased number of software layers, in turn, require processing power that takes away from the efficiency gains provided by moving toward virtualization.
Fuetsch recently participated in RCR Wireless News’ weekly NFV/SDN Reality Check video show where he provided an update on AT&T’s virtualization progress, including targeted market segments for virtualized platforms, challenges AT&T has seen in its SDN and NFV deployments, and future challenges the telecom operator feels need to be tackled in order for broader virtualization deployments.
To tackle the issue, Fuetsch said AT&T is turning to “containers,” which he describes as a “dedicated software compartment for a virtualized network function.” The containers can be run directly on the server’s operating system, eliminating the need for a hypervisor and separate virtual machine, which allows for greater efficiency.
In addition to containers, Fuetsch said AT&T is using micro-services architecture to connect across multiple containers to access the resources needed by the VNFs “when and where they need them.” These connections are triggered by preset policies and run through a cloud environment to allow for a quicker activation of needed containers.
“This technology is very new,” Fuetsch said. “But we’re already running live tests internally. We’ll be bringing this capability into our network soon.”
As part of that testing, AT&T is also looking to provide an open standard for containers that would allow for writing a VNF once and having it run in any environment. To that end, Fuetsch cited AT&T’s recent joining of the Open Container Initiative and the Cloud Computing Foundation, both spearheaded by the Linux Foundation.
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