TelecomTV TelecomTV
  • News
  • Videos
  • Channels
  • Events
  • Network Partners
  • Industry Insights
  • Directory
  • Newsletters
  • Digital Platforms and Services
  • Open RAN
  • Cloud Native Telco
  • Telcos and Public Cloud
  • The Green Network
  • Private Networks
  • Open Telco Infra
  • 5G Evolution
  • Access Evolution
  • Edgenomics
  • Network Automation
  • 6G Research and Innovation
  • Security
  • More Topics
  • Network Partners
  • Industry Insights
  • Directory
  • Newsletters
  • |
  • About
  • Contact
  • |
  • Connect with us
  • Digital Platforms and Services
  • Open RAN
  • Cloud Native Telco
  • Telcos and Public Cloud
  • The Green Network
  • Private Networks
  • Open Telco Infra
  • 5G Evolution
  • Access Evolution
  • Edgenomics
  • Network Automation
  • 6G Research & Innovation
  • Security
  • Connect with TelecomTV
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Help
  • Contact
  • Sign In Register Subscribe
    • Subscribe
    • Sign In
    • Register
  • Search

News

News

NFV one year on: Hype or Hope?

Nov 13, 2013

Over the past year TelecomTV's Martyn Warwick has interviewed dozens of people in the know on both SDN (Software Defined Networking) and NFV, the two three-letter acronymns that together have dominated the network debate.

Taken together the two sets of approaches and techniques promise to completely reshape networks and the networking market so it’s hardly surprising that many companies and individuals feel the need to hold forth on the changes, many of them on our programmes.

I’ve pulled out four interviews, recently done at various events, that in different ways shine light on NFV and its apparent adoption by the industry. Our interviewees are:

Dor Skuler, VP & GM Cloud Business Unit, Alcatel-Lucent

Axel Clauberg, VP IP and Fixed Access at Deutsche Telekom

Eric Hanselman, Chief Analyst at 451 Research

Dr. David Amzallag, VP, Virtual Telecommunications and Cloudband CTO at Alcatel-Lucent

So has there been hype? Depends how you define hype. If you mean: “has there been a lot of noise?” certainly. If your “hype” means misplaced enthusiasm then no. There’s no evidence that puts NFV as a data point somewhere on the Gartner hype curve,

According to Dor Skuler progress with NFV has been huge since last year. He identifies three stages - Awareness, Experimentation and Execution. In some cases companies are already at the execution stage

“Actual NFV in the network is happening now. It actually took us by surprise as to how willing customers are to introduce NFV quickly,” he claims.

“Yes, there are still a lot of naysayers, but the tide is clearly shifting.”

For Axel Clauberg it’s really a done deal. All the operators, he says, are behind the NFV concept. They have to be because of the huge expected growth in capacity and traffic; its adoption is the only way forward.

“2015 is probably the right time for customers to be rolling out NFV in a concerted fashion,” he maintains. But there is still a job of work to do not to spread the word, but to clarify the word that’s already out there. “Go into a room of 100 people, ask them what NFV is and you’ll get 150 different answers back.”

Security is one push back that NFV advocates hear a lot about, but for Eric Hanselman it’s usually raised as a part of a broader concern over change itself. “It is perceived to be very risky so security comes up over and over again. But the real impediment is around the people/political issues. They've been silo'd for so long that it's the larger end of that challenge,” he says.

If anything our experts have become even more convinced over the past year that NFV is poised to completely rewrite the networking story. Dr. David Amzallag outlines his vision for management of the new network, enabled by NFV. In his view the outcome will be a single OSS controlling the entire network. And he doesn’t think it’s that far off.

Related Topics
  • Analysis & Opinion,
  • News

More Like This

5G Evolution

What’s up with… Dish and Amazon, Ericsson, Open RAN & 5G in Brazil

May 26, 2023

Network Automation

Towards the AI-native telco

May 26, 2023

Digital Platforms and Services

BT turns to 5G-powered ‘immersive spaces’ to give its Business unit a boost

May 26, 2023

Security

What’s up with… Ericsson, Chinese hackers, Viasat and Inmarsat

May 25, 2023

Digital Platforms and Services

GenAI fever gives Nvidia a boost

May 25, 2023

Email Newsletters

Sign up to receive TelecomTV's top news and videos, plus exclusive subscriber-only content direct to your inbox.

Subscribe

Top Picks

Highlights of our content from across TelecomTV today

1:17:33

From telco to techco: The impact of next-gen operations on skills, talent acquisition and retention

1:14:31

Achieving maximum operational efficiency: How service providers can best operate at speed and scale

1:14:20

Why data and APIs are key to implementing the vision of the digital services provider

TelecomTV
Company
  • About Us
  • Media Kit
  • Contact Us
Our Brands
  • DSP Leaders World Forum
  • Great Telco Debate
  • TelecomTV Events
Get In Touch
[email protected]
+44 (0) 207 448 1070
Connect With Us

  • Privacy
  • Cookies
  • Terms of Use
  • Legal Notices
  • Help

TelecomTV is produced by the team at Decisive Media.

© Decisive Media Limited 2023. All rights reserved. All brands and products are the trademarks of their respective holder(s).