Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV) is an effort to utilize server
virtualization in conjunction with industry standard servers, network
hardware switches and storage hardware to achieve significant time and
costs reductions in the Telecommunication industry. ETSI [1] has a group
(NFV ISG [2]) that is trying to develop guidelines and frameworks around
NFV (note: not standards). They have published a White Paper [3] which
makes very interesting reading.
Among other things, the group identifies
"The NFVI (Network Functions Virtualisation Infrastructure), which
provides the virtual
resources required to support the execution of the Virtualised Network
Functions. It includes
Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) hardware, accelerator components where
necessary, and
a software layer which virtualises and abstracts the underlying hardware."
This software layer is assumed to be a form of IAAS software. Currently
the group members use OpenStack as an example, but it should be our (the
CloudStack community) goal to popularize and encourage the adoption of
CloudStack as well.
The white paper [3] also goes on to say:
"
We are interested to
ensure that the Open Source community actively
engages in NFV to help create
virtualised network capabilitiesŠ
...we intend to actively collaborate with existing reference
open-source initiatives in the areas relevant to NFV, as well as to
encourage and support new ones
aligned with the NFV goals, especially when addressing new issues
identified by the NFV community."
One way to improve visibility and collaborate actively with this community
is to have a liaison with the ISG.
The liaison can contribute to the activities of the various working groups
(e.g., Management and Orchestration MANO WG) and convey the activities
and requirements of the NFV ISG back to the CloudStack community.
If the community is OK with the Liaison idea, then we could solicit
volunteers on this list to act as the Liaison(s)
Comments?
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETSI
[2] http://www.etsi.org/technologies-clusters/technologies/nfv
[3] http://portal.etsi.org/NFV/NFV_White_Paper2.pdf
