Virtualization and Cloud executives share their predictions for 2016. Read them in this 8th Annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
Contributed by Prabhu Ramachandran, Director of WebNMS
Orchestration Implementation Drives Network Differentiation
1. Innovation trumps stability
Telecom network operators have always relied on technology
but have often taken a conservative approach, valuing somewhat inefficient
stability from antiquated systems over improvements through risky innovation.
This conservatism has tied telco networks to proprietary solution silos from
their equipment and IT vendors. Faced with a rising tide of user expectations
from the flood of OTT services, telcos have now shifted their priority to
streamlining their operations, improving the customer experience with
real-time, agile services. To shift toward this new operations model, network
owners will look beyond their traditional technology suppliers and seek out
innovation. In 2016, this innovation quest will lead telcos down new technology
paths, often along trails blazed by smaller, visionary vendors on a mission to
disrupt the status quo.
2. OEM orchestration evolves into pseudo-SDN
controllers
In 2015, telcos interest in multi-vendor service
orchestration solutions surged. Driven by this customer interest, many
equipment vendors have invested in their own software platforms to deliver
end-to-end service orchestration. This long list of vendor solutions includes
in-house developments at Alcatel-Lucent and Juniper as well as technology
acquisitions such as Cisco/Tail-f, Ciena/Cyan and Huawei/Amartus. In 2016,
despite the best of intentions, these OEMs will realize that their captive
technology will not satisfy the mandatory multi-vendor requirement. The
operators will look to ISVs to provide a true multi-vendor service
orchestration layer. Nevertheless, this layer will need to be integrated
through APIs with the network control plane. To minimize the integration costs
of their own equipment into this new architecture, the end-to-end OEM software
platforms will evolve into pseudo-SDN controllers that present the
orchestration layer with an open API that abstracts away their underlying
equipment. This will drive increased collaboration between OEM software and ISV
orchestration solutions in the coming year.
3. Virtual interoperability
To differentiate with Network Function Virtualization (NFV),
network operators need end-to-end, automated service provisioning and assurance
that unifies the geographic reach of their physical networks with the elastic
virtual machines hosted in the cloud. In the coming year, telcos will chain
orchestrated WAN network services, such as MEF Carrier Ethernet, with data
center SDN services. By flexibly chaining these dynamic services, telcos will
offer agile, assured business services that OTT providers without their own
network will find difficult to match. Longer term, dynamic service chaining
will drive the need for certified NFV interoperability - enabling an efficient
market for the exchange of network services.
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About the Author
With
over 14 years of experience delivering service provider software solutions,
Prabhu Ramachandran directs WebNMS, the
service provider division of Zoho Corporation. Prabhu leads strategic
marketing, product management, customer support, partnerships and professional
services for WebNMS. Leveraging the technology of the corporation's flagship
WebNMS Framework, Prabhu has expanded the business from its longstanding
leadership position in multi-vendor network and element management software
into vertical solutions for Carrier Ethernet, MPLS, broadband, LTE and
satellite networks. In 2012, Prabhu began driving WebNMS into network orchestration,
SDN, NFV and IoT/M2M platforms, all critical enablers for service providers to
grow profitable businesses. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Electronics and
Communication from Madras University, Chennai, India.
For more information about WebNMS, please visit http://www.webnms.com, and follow the company
on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/webnms and on Twitter @WebNMSTech.