RIFT.io today announced the general availability of RIFT.ware 4.1,
the industry's first and only open-source solution, which harnesses the
best aspects of cloud computing, software defined networking, and
network functions virtualization to deliver a complete, yet open,
network service virtualization (NSV) platform. RIFT.io is also
announcing the availability of the commercial version of RIFT.ware 4.1,
with full support and maintenance from the company.
RIFT.ware
leverages the economics and capabilities of hyperscale public and
private clouds to solve the complexity of virtualizing network functions
and services. RIFT.io's solution approach is through highly scalable
management and orchestration (MANO) capabilities using open source,
model-driven, standard descriptors, which fosters industry-wide
innovation and prevents single vendor lock-in.
This aligns with
the industry momentum behind an open platform for developing and
deploying virtual network functions (VNFs), according to Caroline
Chappell, a principal analyst at Heavy Reading who recently published a
report on the subject entitled "Accelerating NFV". In the
report, Chappell identified a distinct market opportunity to reduce the
cost of VNF development, enable VNF vendors to bring virtualized network
function to market faster and overcome the challenges with the current
approach.
"Fragmentation of NFV technology, management and
automation approaches is slowing the appearance of virtual network
functions and constraining choice," Chappell said. "A common platform
that supports the development and deployment of VNFs reduces the time
and cost associated with their creation or migration and removes a major
barrier to NFV implementation. The open source nature of such a
platform will be key to industry acceptance, as will its alignment with
NFV MANO requirements."
The new RIFT.ware version is compliant with ETSI standards
and delivers sophisticated orchestration and automation of virtual
network functions and services at scale. RIFT.ware is a modular platform
designed for enterprises, service providers, and network function
developers to on-board VNFs quickly and design network services in a
user-friendly manner. RIFT.ware is designed to simplify the operation of
virtual networks and help any company create a roadmap for first
virtualizing, then automating and building massively scalable,
cloud-ready communications applications.
RIFT.ware 4.0 has been
available for download as part of the Early Adopter Program since
December for select customers and partners for trials, proofs of concept
(POC), and lab testing. On February 29th, RIFT.ware 4.1 is being released under Apache Public License 2.0 to all customers, partners, and other SDN/NFV vendors.
Further,
making RIFT.ware 4.1 available as an open source project offers
significant opportunities to accelerate development of VNFs, foster
innovation, and develop new RIFT.ware functionality, which will spur NSV
market adoption. RIFT.ware empowers SPs and network application
builders to easily test VNFs, and best determine how to integrate
RIFT.ware as part of their overall NFV/NSV platform and OSS/BSS
strategies. RIFT.ware ecosystem partners such as Benu Networks can also
reduce development time and costs, which will expand the addressable
market for their virtual network solutions.
"Benu Networks is
proud to partner with RIFT.io to deliver network solutions that embrace
open, cloud technologies," said Dino Di Palma, CEO, Benu Networks.
"Partnering with RIFT.io has accelerated our development of solutions
for the connected home, helped us build a more robust, scalable virtual
network application and expanded the market for our solutions."
RIFT.ware 4.1 will be available for download at www.riftio.com.
RIFT.io will be demonstrating RIFT.ware 4.1 and cloud-ready partner
solutions during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Feb. 22
through 25 in Hall 7, Stand 7N73.
"As consumers of networking
services evaluate their strategy for virtualized network services, they
want the same openness, flexibility, and scalability enjoyed by
enterprise IT and hyperscale data centers," said Tony Schoener, CEO,
RIFT.io. "We founded RIFT.io and built RIFT.ware with a singular focus
on delivering a truly open platform, available to everyone, that
delivers full lifecycle management, orchestration, and massive
scalability to virtual network functions, applications and services."