GigaSpaces today launched a new program to help telecom service providers and operators of large networks sidestep the hurdles commonly faced when implementing virtualized network functions (VNFs) in the cloud-native, scale-out architectures that many operators are moving to. The program integrates these VNFs with the open source Cloudify management and orchestration (MANO) platform widely used by telecoms.

Cloudify presented demos of solutions developed via the Partner Program at VMworld EU in Barcelona last week, and in booth C4 at OpenStack Summit Barcelona this week.

The Cloud Native VNF Partner Program adds to Cloudify’s record of integrating with popular VNFs to make them cloud-native. The program deploys VNFs to a wide selection of popular networking platforms. It also makes it possible for these VNFs to scale more easily via common APIs and enables visibility into additional devices in larger environments, all through a single modeling language—the Topology for Orchestration and Specification for Cloud Applications, or TOSCA standard—and dashboard.

Cloudify continues adding VNF providers to integrate their technologies into this cloud native ecosystem. Providers of VNFs, or even non-virtualized network functions that need to be virtualized, can partner with Cloudify via the Onboarding Program to make their network services cloud-native and ready for quick deployment by telecom service providers and other large network operators, who have neither the resources nor interest in doing this work themselves.

Cloud Native VNF Partners

Versa Networks and Athonet are two leading VNF providers working with Cloudify via the program to deliver cloud-native functionality. They have integrated Cloudify with multiple VNFs in their portfolio to meet the diverse use cases that telecoms require and are supporting Cloudify in the launch of the Onboarding Program.

Versa is known for its SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide-Area Network) and vCPE (virtual Customer Premises Equipment) technologies, which the company architected and built for the cloud using Versa Director VNFM technology and other tools. Cloudify plugs into this technology and provides the complementary NFVO functionality in the ETSI (European Technology and Standards Organization) MANO architecture, providing extensibility and full-service lifecycle management.

Cloudify has integrated with both the Versa vCPE and SD-WAN VNFs. This integration enables service providers to configure the VNFs using Versa’s dynamic VNF identity technology and Cloudify, the only open source, TOSCA-based MANO platform that supports all clouds, containers and non-virtualized infrastructure.

Cloudify deploys the infrastructure the Versa VNFs will run on, then contacts Versa Director and provides the identity and configuration for each VNF. This in turn enables Cloudify to configure external systems such as routers in a brownfield environment through Netconf/YANG or other protocols in use. In addition, Cloudify enables integration with OSS and BSS through a single pane of glass, and provides post-deployment features such as healing and scaling on these systems, which were previously impossible to manage in a dynamic environment.

Athonet, a provider of vEPC and vIMS VNF technology, has integrated its products with Cloudify for simple and rapid deployment on a customer’s private cloud. You can see these capabilities running on VMware’s vCloud Director with Cloudify’s Manager.

Working with Athonet and VMware, Cloudify has integrated with Athonet’s suite of VNFs. This makes possible the management and orchestration of voice services over LTE via the IP Multimedia Subsystem network. Specific profiles for control and media planes are enabled by an Evolved Packet Core, which unifies voice and data on an IP transport. This partnership demos the orchestration of Athonet’s IMS and EPC services using a simple TOSCA blueprint executed by the Cloudify Orchestrator on top of VMWare vCloud environment. The solutions runs on commodity Intel hardware.