Study IDs Big Targets for VNFs

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Carrier Network Virtualization -- Carriers have big plans for virtual network functions (VNFs), according to research by IHS, but vendors need to make sure that their VNFs work across all of the different scenarios.

Michael Howard, senior research director, carrier networks at IHS, went over the various VNF use cases that were based on research by IHS Inc.

While the initial use case for VNFs was in data centers, Howard said during his presentation that carriers are looking at four areas for VNF deployments.

According to IHS research, 93% of the operators planned on VNF execution at "smart" central offices in edge data centers. Howard defined a smart central office (CO) as one that has some sort of data facility. Another VNF execution was universal customer premises equipment (uCPE) at customer sites, which 85% of the operators plan to do.

"That's a huge number," Howard said. "A lot of operators are working on it but we're not there yet."

Other VNF use cases included: 79% of the operators said they plan VNF execution in data centers near central offices, while the same percentage responded that they would put VNFs in data centers that aren't near central offices.

"What operators are telling us is 'we're going to execute VNFs in many places,'" Howard said. "So you vendors in the room [at the conference] have to make sure that the software works so you can execute VNFs in all of theses locations, maybe even for the same customer."

IHS's fourth global carrier survey also found that 100% of the responding operators planned on deploying SDN and NFV at some time.

— Mike Robuck, Editor, Telco Transformation