VMware Offers Communications Service Providers the Fastest Path to OpenStack

At VMworld® 2017 Europe, VMware, Inc. announced VMware vCloud NFV-OpenStack, delivering the fastest path to deploying production NFV services on OpenStack. The new vCloud NFV-OpenStack platform includes VMware Integrated OpenStack-Carrier Edition, VMware’s new OpenStack Ocata-based distribution that is fully integrated, tested, and certified with VMware’s NFV infrastructure platform. Using VMware Integrated OpenStack as an NFV Virtualized Infrastructure Manager (VIM), network architects can easily deploy, upgrade, and operate an OpenStack cloud on top of VMware’s carrier-grade NFVI platform.

Additionally, VMware announced Vodafone Group Plc has selected VMware to support the operator’s global roll out of NFV (link to news release), and Dell EMC and VMware introduced a new pre-integrated and pre-validated NFV Solution that is OpenStack Ready (link to news release).

Facing unprecedented traffic growth along with rapidly evolving customer expectations, communications service providers (CSPs)are accelerating adoption of Network Functions Virtualization (NFV). Industry momentum for OpenStack in NFV deployments has continued gaining traction, with telcos seeing the potential for benefits that include use of open architectures, improved flexibility and pace of innovation for cloud-based networks, access to a global community of OpenStack developers and standardized northbound interfaces (NFV Orchestration, VNF-Manager). With the vCloud NFV-OpenStack Edition, VMware supports an open architecture for seamless integration and interoperability.

“The release of vCloud NFV-OpenStack Edition and announcement of VMware Integrated OpenStack-Carrier Edition is a major step forward in our NFV strategy, given the feedback we received from our customers,” said Gabriele Di Piazza, vice president of solutions, Telco NFV Group, VMware. “We are able to offer the fastest path to production OpenStack by providing what nobody else has in the market: the most reliable and rich NFV infrastructure based on VMware’s industry-leading virtualization software combined with the openness of standard OpenStack to be optimized with carrier extensions.”

OpenStack That’s Purpose-Built and Tuned for Carrier Requirements

VMware Integrated OpenStack-Carrier Edition has been developed specifically to address the requirements of CSPs deploying NFV-based network services on OpenStack. VMware vCloud NFV-OpenStack brings native support for container-based Virtualized Network Functions (VNF) through integrated container management, enabling VM and container-based VNFs to run on a single VIM. The solution leverages Ocata’s specific functionality to give CSPs tools to deploy NFV networks including:

• Multi-Tenancy and VNF Resource Reservation: provides resource-level tenant isolation and guaranteed resource availability for each tenant, enabling CSPs to deliver on infrastructure SLAs while securing tenants within the network and improved capacity planning.
• Dynamic and Elastic Scaling of Network Resources: allows CSPs to create elastic service constructs that can scalenetwork functions up or down, in and out based on usage patterns in order to respond to real-time network traffic conditions. This enables optimal resource management and lowering of capital and operational costs.
• Enhanced Networking Support and Platform Awareness (EPA): delivers carrier-grade, low latency data-plane performance, enabling CSPs to maintain network performance to deliver a high subscriber Quality of Experience while optimizing resource utilization through supported methodologies such as CPU Pinning, fine-grained NUMA placement settings, support for multiple NIC types and Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV).

VMware vCloudNFV OpenStack Accelerates and Simplifies Path to Production NFV

Leveraging VMware’s rich featureset for NFVIand VMware Integrated OpenStack-Carrier Edition, VMware vCloud NFV-OpenStack offers CSPs:

• Simplified OpenStack Installation and Deployment: VMware Integrated OpenStack-CE allows templated install and deployment of a complete OpenStack Infrastructure within the VMware vSphere® Web Client, leveraging advanced management capabilities through vCenter.
• Seamless OpenStack Upgrade Experience: Control Plane and Data Plane separation allows for zero network services downtime and service continuity during the OpenStack upgrade process. CSPs can keep up with the pace of innovation through fast upgrades and patching.
• Integrated Operations Management: through unique NFVI operational automation and Ceilometer integration, along with proactive and predictive analytics, issue isolation, root cause analysis and fast remediation capabilities. VMware vRealize Operations Manager™, Log Insight™, Network Insight™ integrated within vCloud NFV-OpenStack, provide operations monitoring, analytics, and a remediation platform via a single pane of glassthat reduces operational costs through fast Mean-Time-To-Understand and Repair (MTTU/MTTR).