A new industry initiative is underway for the development of Open Source software for Management and Orchestration (MANO) of Network Functions Virtualization (NFV). The group is sponsored by ETSI and its founders include BT, Canonical, Intel, Mirantis, RIFT.io Inc, Telefonica, Telekom Austria Group and Telenor.
Two of the key components of the ETSI NFV architectural framework are the NFV Orchestrator and VNF (Virtualized Network Function) Manager, known as NFV MANO. Additional layers, such as service orchestration are also required for operators to enable true NFV services. Open Source software can facilitate the implementation of an ETSI aligned NFV architecture, provide practical and essential feedback to the ETSI NFV ISG and increase the likelihood of interoperability among NFV implementations.
The new group, ETSI OSM, will deliver an open source MANO stack using accepted open source tools and working procedures. The activity will be closely aligned with the evolution of ETSI NFV and will provide a regularly updated reference implementation of NFV MANO. OSM will enable an eco-system of NFV solution vendors to rapidly and cost-effectively deliver solutions to their users.
“ETSI OSM complements the work of the ETSI NFV ISG and vice versa. It will provide an opportunity to capitalize on the synergy between standardization and open source approaches by accessing a greater and more diverse set of contributors and developers than would normally be possible”, says Luis Jorge Romero, ETSI Director General. “This maximizes innovation, efficiency and time to market and ensures a continuing series of conformant reference implementations.”
