Network Function Virtualization (NFV) / Telco Cloud

To date, there has not been a single killer use case identified for OpenStack clouds. However, in the service provider industry, namely communication service providers, OpenStack has clearly been a major disruptor. In a survey conducted by Heavy Reading in 2016, it was reported that 86% of global telecommunication providers consider OpenStack essential or important to their business. Furthermore, the survey showed that telcos were accelerating adoption of NFV to increase business flexibility and speed as well as reducing costs while using OpenStack as the NFV IaaS platform. Almost 2 years later, we are seeing major telecommunication and service providers, such as AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, China Mobile, Reliance, and Verizon, all using NFV as the infrastructure of choice in production.

What is NFV?

The OpenStack Foundation describes NFV as simply a new way to define, create, and manage network functions and services by replacing dedicated...