siliconindia | | December 20189With NFV, the cloud is not just a destination ­ it is also the toolkit for service innovation and revenue growth· All of today's telecom services delivered on demand ­ VPN, voice, managed firewall, managed security, and many others.· Innovative services ­ such as enterprise LTE and IoT gateways, for example, AWS Greengrass.· On-site managed micro cloud ­ gives the end-user a way to get out of the hardware business.· Store-in-a-box, office-in-a-box, school-in-a-box ­ provide an easy way to turn-up and manage self-contained sites with limited IT needs.· Rapid turnup of new sites ­ zero touch provisioning and wireless options.· End-to-end encryption ­ by virtualizing encryption, we can replace appliances and terminate connections in the public cloud.· Customized services ­ a software-centric approach using components and rapid development methods drastically lowers the cost and time required for custom services, making them more attractive to CSPs.What does NFV look like in practice?NFV enables users to realize the benefits of the cloud by replacing closed appliances with their choice of software that can be hosted anywhere in the network on their choice of open hardware.How far away is NFV?NFV is here now! Innovative CSPs like Verizon, Colt and AT&T are rolling-out NFV-based on universal CPE (uCPE) today, and Masergy has been doing so for three years! By virtualizing services and leveraging cloud technologies, these CSPs are gaining technological and commercial advantages. These advantages turn into customer wins ­ usually at the expense of CSPs who have not made the move to cloud technologies like NFV.What does it take to succeed in the NFV market?Sadly there are some `fake NFV' suppliers around. CSPs that want to succeed should look for partners who embrace the cloud vision. This means looking for partners who can provide the following:· Multiple server suppliers · Multitude of virtual network functions (VNFs) · Multiple third-party integrations· Multilayer and automated zero-touch provisioning· Advanced management and troubleshooting features· Innovative commercial models· Layered approach to securityNFV is About Using the Cloud to Deliver the CloudPeople talk about NFV as a way to cut costs or to drive new services. Those are important, but NFV is much broader. It is a way for CSPs to leverage cloud technologies to deliver advanced connectivity services. The most interesting services are related to the cloud, including cloud access and multi-cloud applications. With NFV, the cloud is not just a destination ­ it is also the toolkit for service innovation and revenue growth. Prayson Pate
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