SDN NFV Final v4

June 2015
An eBook from the editors of
FierceWireless
Strategies for SDN and NFV

2
Editors Note
SDN, NFV Rollouts to Escalate

Over the Next Five Years
Sponsored Content:
The Real Opportunity Behind

NFV and SDN
The Long (but Promising) Slog

for Software-Defined
Networking
Sponsored Content:
Operationalizing NFV
Requires a Holistic Approach
10
The Promise of OpenFlow

in SDN
14
The NFV Evolution Begins
17
AT&T and Domain 2.0: A Case

Study in SDN
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Editors Note
By Sue Marek
Editor-in-Chief /// FierceWireless
Editors Note
SDN, NFV Rollouts to
Escalate Over the Next
Five Years
Sponsored Content:
The Real Opportunity

Behind NFV and SDN
Operators globally are beginning to take a serious look at

software-defined networks (SDN) and network functions
virtualizations (NFV), two technologies that promise
to accelerate innovation and allow them to deploy new
services more quickly and efficiently.
But NFV and SDN represent a huge shift in how
networks are architected and many experts say this type
of shift only happens every 20 to 25 years. Globally,
Infonetics Research estimates that there will be about
20 to 30 operators that deploy SDN and NFV in their
networks this year and probably another 50 next year.
In the U.S. both AT&T and Verizon Communications
have talked about their plans to virtualize their networks,
with AT&T taking a particularly aggressive stance.
The company has said it plans to have 75 percent of its
target network virtualized by 2020 under its Domain
2.0 initiative.
The incentive for operators is strong. Studies like one
by Bell Labs Consulting and Arthur D. Little found that,
collectively, fixed line and mobile operators across 35

European countries could save $434 billion a year by
deploying SDN and NFV.
But operators are concerned about standardization and
some claim that without standards, the advancement
of SDN will be hindered. Chris Emmons, director of
network planning for SDN implementation at Verizon
said recently that the industry needs to build an
ecosystem to foster the development of standards. And
he called upon vendors to work on SDN software that
can segment different applications in the application
layer. He also warned that if the big vendors dont do this,
smaller, more nimble software vendors will do it instead
and potentially take the lead. If existing vendors dont
do it, the up-and-comers will do it, he said.
Standards development aside, the SDN and NFV train is
moving quickly. This FierceWireless ebook, Strategies
for SDN and NFV, takes an in-depth look at how SDN
and NFV are going to dramatically change the wireless
network and most likely the entire telecom business. n
The Long (but

Promising) Slog for
Software-Defined
Networking
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Requires a Holistic
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The Promise of
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The NFV Evolution
Begins
AT&T and Domain 2.0:
A Case Study in SDN
Strategies for SDN and NFV // June 2015
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SDN, NFV Rollouts to Escalate Over the Next Five Years

Cable, wireless and wireline providers are recognizing the need to virtualize their networks
so they can introduce new services and revenue streams.
By Mike Robuck
Editors Note
Five Years
Sponsored Content:

Behind NFV and SDN
There are big financial numbers floating around

when it comes to implementing network functions
virtualizations (NFV) capabilities and deploying
software-defined networking (SDN) by mobile, fixed
line and cable service providers.
Over the past few years, the telecom industry has
recognized the need to virtualize and streamline
networks in order to implement DevOps strategies
that will result in new services and revenue streams.
Collectively, NFV and SDN are a tall order and
represent an architectural shift in networks that only
comes along every 20 to 25 years.
A recent report by SDxCentral said that SDN, NFV
and other next generation initiatives would grow from
less than $15 billion in revenues this year to nearly
$105 billion by 2020. SDxCentrals study said that
the combined technologies would influence almost
80 percent of the purchasing decisions associated
with all networking revenue by the end of 2020, which

would impact virtually every customer within the
networking space.
While current NFV/SDN deployments are largely in
contained domains in existing architectures, the appeal
of more automation in networks and less reliance on
proprietary hardware is worldwide. A study in late
May by Bell Labs Consulting and consulting company
Arthur D. Little found that collectively fixed-line and
mobile operators across 35 European countries could
save a total of $434 billion a year by onboarding NFV
and SDN into their network domains.
NFV is an $8B Market

All of the big operators are heading towards this,
said Michael Howard, principal analyst, carrier
networks, Infonetics Research. For SDN and NFV in
carrier networks, we think there were 10 deployments
worldwide in March that were providing live services
The Long (but

Promising) Slog for
Software-Defined
Networking
Sponsored Content:
Requires a Holistic
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The Promise of
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A Case Study in SDN
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to their customers. Most of them are smaller, but

we think there will be 20 or 30 more this year and
probably another 50 next year so a lot of operators are
going to get into what amount to small trials with real
customers and then move to widen those trials.
For SDN and NFV in carrier
networks, we think there were 10
deployments worldwide in March
that were providing live services
to their customers.
MICHAEL HOWARD, PRINCIPAL ANALYST, CARRIER
NETWORKS, INFONETICS RESEARCH
Howard added that by 2018, the firm expects

carrier NFV to be an $8 billion market while carrier
SDN will be a $3 billion market. Thats kind of
the big picture. With NFV, somewhere around 80
percent will be software and about 20 percent will
be hardware. The hardware will be the servers, the
storage and the switches to run the NFV software in
the virtualized network functions plus the management
orchestration service chain, and all of the other new
NFV technologies that are used to deploy virtualized
networks, Howard said.
NFV/SDN Will Reduce CAPEX

SDN enables the separation of the control and data
planes to provide a centralized controller and a
centralized view of the network. NFV consolidates
various types of equipment onto server in order to
>> SDN, NFV Rollouts to Escalate Over the Next Five Years
apply data and control plane functions in fixed and

mobile networks, among other implementations. One
of the main goals of moving toward NFV/SDN is to
reduce the CAPEX costs that are associated with
proprietary hardware, but those hardware costs wont
totally disappear.
Paul Parker-Johnson, principal analyst for ACG
Research said that just the software part of the SDNenabled element purchases were projected to reach $4
billion to $5 billion across the data center, edge and
metro areas by the 2018-2019 time frame.
Even though the momentum and the relevance of
the software is tremendous, its part of an overall
evolution where everything has to work together.
While the software will be worth several billion dollars
in licensing revenues to the suppliers going forward,
it will also be sold in combination with network
infrastructure that has to be able to work with the
software and benefit from it, he said.
Sue Rudd, director of service provider analysis at
Strategy Analytics said that because margins continue
to fall for wireless service providers those companies
are looking at ways to save on operational costs.
Most of the benefits of SDN and NFV are going to
come from OPEX savings, she said. One of the things
that NFV does is it can spin up or spin down capacity
based on demand so you flatten the peak. There is going
to be a savings because when you get better utilization
youre not going to have to spend as much. n
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Editors Note
Five Years
Sponsored Content:

Behind NFV and SDN
The Long (but
Promising) Slog for
Software-Defined
Networking
Sponsored Content:
Requires a Holistic
Approach
The Promise of
OpenFlow in SDN
The NFV Evolution
Begins
A Case Study in SDN
Sponsored Content
The Real Opportunity Behind NFV and SDN

Launching revenue-generating services with flexible network services
By Peter Margaris, Head of Service Provider Product Marketing, F5 Networks
Service providers (SPs) continue to focus on

developing long-term network evolution plans to
accommodate an increasing wave of application
usage, a surge of new connected devices, and
continuously emerging data services.
While there is an enormous opportunity to increase
revenue growth by serving the growing numbers
of connected devices, service providers know they
must transform their fundamental service delivery
models to position themselves to profitably serve
the dynamically evolving marketplace. Softwaredefined networking (SDN) and network functions
virtualizations (NFV) will play a critical role in this
transformation, ultimately providing networks with
the flexibility and agility they need to efficiently
deliver new, differentiated services to consumers
and enterprises.
Various proof-of-concept trials have helped service
providers evolve the standardization of SDN and
NFV technologies. These trials have also exposed
technical challenges that providers can now
address, including management, orchestration,
and integration of network elements in these new
architectures. Service providers are still working
toward commercializing these network architectures network address translation, SSL-VPN, web
application firewall, DNS, and load balancing.
to find new competitive advantages, as well as new
ways to grow both top and bottom line revenues.
Virtualize for Business Results

Service providers now fully understand that SDN
and NFV architectures can provide much more
than just an opportunity to reduce CapEx and
OpEx. The real opportunity for service providers
is to provide high-availability network services that
can be easily provisioned and launched quickly
and efficiently, and that provide new benefits for
customers.
This is much more than just a technology
transformation, but also a business transformation.
Service providers can now implement usage-based
business models that can leverage networks which
can flex on demand, efficiently delivering customer
premises equipment from the cloud, as well as new
applications and services through an automated and
policy-driven process. With the network flexibility
and agility that NFV/SDN architectures provide
combined with self-service portals, enterprise
customers can consume hosted virtual network
services on demand, such as network firewall,
VNF Portability and Efficiency

Selecting orchestration and management platforms
that provide the functionality required for
efficient deployment and operation of virtualized
network infrastructure is important, but being
able to integrate a wide range of virtual network
functions (VNFs) to support different use case
scenarios is equally important for service providers
to be able to truly deliver customizable service
chains for customers that enable profitable new
business models. VNFs that are scalable with rich
sets of APIs are needed to plug and play with
high-level NFV orchestration systems and SDN
infrastructures.
There is a great deal of opportunity for service
providers who must now focus on commercializing
SDN/NFV architectures to directly enable
customers to consume new services. Expanding
their businesses into adjacencies can only be
possible with the flexibility and agility that these
new network architectures can deliver. n
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The Long (but Promising) Slog for Software-Defined

Networking
Carriers are finally beginning to investigate SDN, which may transform mobile networks.
But substantial hurdles remain for the very promising architecture.
Editors Note
By Colin Gibbs

Five Years
Sponsored Content:

Behind NFV and SDN
Software-defined networking has long been viewed as a

potentially transformative strategy for wireless carriers
and other network operators, enabling them to lower
capital and operational expenditures. While SDN is
well-positioned to play a role in next-generation mobile
networks, some major obstacles must be overcome
before it gains widespread adoption on a global level.
AT&T has been the most visible U.S. carrier on the
SDN front, making the architecture a key component
of its Domain 2.0 initiative. Verizon Wireless is also
pursuing SDN and recently named five vendors
Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco Systems, Ericsson, Juniper
Networks and Nokia Networks as its initial partners
in its quest to virtualize its network.
Saving Money, Making Money

Like a growing number of their worldwide
counterparts, the two largest U.S. carriers are hoping to

leverage SDN and NFV to lower costs by increasingly
focusing on software and minimizing investments in
pricey hardware. But theyre also beginning to consider
how they can implement these strategies to generate
revenues as well, according to Peter Margaris, head of
service provider product marketing at F5 Networks, a
developer of application delivery services.
Theres been a shift among carriers, Margaris
said. Theyre trying to figure out actual business
cases they can apply these new networks for
providing virtual application services to enterprise
customers, for example, or enabling customers to selfprovision services. Theyre really trying to figure out
how to apply these technologies to give themselves
the ability to introduce new services they can actually
profit from.
The Long (but

Promising) Slog for
Software-Defined
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Requires a Holistic
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The Promise of
OpenFlow in SDN
The NFV Evolution
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A Case Study in SDN
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Early Opportunities: Backhaul and

the IoT
Some of these opportunities are likely to come from the
Internet of Things, which is spawning a wide variety of
connected devices that typically dont require as much
data as a smartphone or a tablet, Margaris noted. The
IoT may lead to a lot of devices that are not just lowbandwidth devices but also low ARPU, he continued.
Carriers are looking at SDN and NFV architectures
to support those kinds of devices. I think they are
looking for ways to leverage these architectures to
leverage new business models.
Another segment where SDN seems particularly
appropriate for wireless carriers is in backhaul the
delivery of data between the cell site and the core of the
mobile network. A 2013 study by Strategy Analytics on
behalf of Tellabs estimated SDN could save carriers $9
billion by 2017 by enabling them to dynamically manage
traffic and backhaul bandwidth. Those savings are likely
to be realized through use cases such as SDN-driven
Wi-Fi offloading and video redirect, and SDN-enabled
cloud RAN.
Where we have had SDN controller success on the
wireless side, it has been in automating the process
of backhauling from towers, said Joe Cumello, chief
marketing officer at Cyan, which was recently acquired
by Ciena for its SDN and NFV capabilities. The first
use case weve been forced to tackle is backhaul for
towers. Absolutely we see that as a way for us to pry
open the (wireless) market.
>> The Long (but Promising) Slog for Software-Defined Networking
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The Reluctance of Incumbent Vendors

The development of standards for any emerging
technology is often a major obstacle, and SDN is no
different: Several protocols are in various stages of being
developed for SDN and NFV, some of which integrate
with each other more efficiently and effectively than
others. The more quickly the industry can settle on just a
few key standards, the more quickly SDN and NFV will
gain adoption.
Editors Note
Five Years
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And while the large incumbents in the telecom gear

segment seem to be moving toward SDN to one
degree or another, anyway its worth noting that they
risk losing their dominance as carriers move toward
virtualized networks. Indeed, Ericsson may have
signaled some vulnerability last fall when an employee
wrote on the companys Research Blog that he was
starting to hear doubts about SDN and NFV.
Where we have had SDN
controller success on the wireless
side, it has been in automating
the process of backhauling from
towers.
JOE CUMELLO, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER AT CYAN
People are starting to say that NFV isnt going to cut

it for high-performance applications, James Kempf of
Ericsson Research continued, or perhaps even at all.

Behind NFV and SDN
The Long (but
Promising) Slog for
Software-Defined
Networking
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Requires a Holistic
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The Promise of
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That kind of reluctance from established vendors

appears to have hindered the market in these early
days of SDN, Cyans Cumello opined. The wireless
operators, they have to wait until those large vendors
come out with the technology because they have so
much installed base. I think Ciscos been aggressive,
but when it comes to other large suppliers, those guys
have talked about this technology being important. But
as far as we can tell we havent seen much in the way of
deployments with them.
New Business Models

And as often is the case in the tech industry, the
technology itself might not be the biggest hurdle.
Instead, the carriers biggest challenge is likely to be

restructuring their businesses to adapt to supporting
the services and applications that run on virtualized
networks.
The one thing I see is that service providers are really
wanting to push this forward, more so than the vendors,
Margaris said. I think thats a driving force weve never
seen before. But operating these networks, thats the
tough thing, because they need to transform their talent
pool. That might be the trickier part now. How they
have their operations set up, how they operate their
networks today, its very much around the networks of
the past. Theyre going to need to revamp their business
processes entirely. n
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Editors Note
Five Years
Sponsored Content:

Behind NFV and SDN
The Long (but
Promising) Slog for
Software-Defined
Networking
Sponsored Content:
Requires a Holistic
Approach
The Promise of
OpenFlow in SDN
The NFV Evolution
Begins
A Case Study in SDN
>> The Long (but Promising) Slog for Software-Defined Networking
Sponsored Content
Operationalizing NFV Requires a Holistic Approach

By Mark Bieberich, Senior Director, SDN/NFV Strategy, NEC/NetCracker SDN/NFV Solutions
The communications industry is still in the early

stages of bringing NFV-based applications to
market. Although many vendors have announced
solutions or built ecosystems to create virtualized
applications, the market is negligible and will
remain so until real progress is made towards
operationalizing NFV, i.e. implementing ondemand, cloud-based environments for creating,
fulfilling and assuring NFV applications.
elements needed to automate NFV application

fulfillment and assurance and generate revenue
from those applications. Without automation,
operators will not be able to improve time to market
and service agilitytwo key goals of implementing
NFV.
A closed-loop environment ensures proactive, realtime learning of customer and network behavior
through advanced monitoring and analytics.
Although NFV and SDN are fundamentally shifting This allows it to update the policy engine, which
the way communications service providers (CSPs) provides instructions to the orchestration platform
operate and compete, operationalization cannot
to fulfill and assure services on demand. Closedbe accomplished through technology alone. CSPs loop automation is critical for virtualized services
must develop rich ecosystems for open networks
for which service-level agreements may change
and application development, embrace across-the- dynamically based on end-user application policies.
board cultural change and align cross-functional
objectives. Therefore, players throughout the NFV Industry Ecosystem
value chain must contribute to operationalization
Operationalizing NFV extends beyond the
with holistic approaches that incorporate
technology, industry ecosystem and organizational capability of any one operator, vendor, open source
group or standards organization. An architectural
innovation.
shift this significant requires cohesion among all of
these groups. Unsurprisingly, at this early stage of
Technology
NFV adoption the activities among key ecosystem
Among the most important technological
groups are disjointed. There are too many
advancements in NFV is creating a closed loop
competing agendas among standards organizations;
among three essential functions: end-to-end service open source efforts are progressing but many lack
orchestration, policy management, and real-time
maturity for the communications market; and
and offline network monitoring and analytics.
too many vendors are resisting the inevitability of
Taken together these functions encompass the
openness.
Operators are holding back investment until an

ecosystem is more fully formed and works to their
advantage. Ideas for remedies to this problem
are not in short supply but all must start with the
same premise: each group in the ecosystem must
work across boundaries and contribute to each
others missions to accelerate NFV innovation and
adoption.
Organizational Alignment
Compared to previous architectural shifts, like the
migration from TDM to IP, network virtualization
is not an overlay deployment but an integration of
solutions throughout the network and operational
stacks. Therefore the number of internal
stakeholders with vested interest in NFVs success
is large and diverse, making alignment across key
groups difficult to achieve.
Within CSPs, CTO, CFO and CIO groups often
have divergent objectives that impede adoption
and confuse broader NFV business cases. The
first step in addressing this problem is establishing
cross-functional, dedicated NFV organizations that
anticipate how virtualization will change corporate
cultures.
Operators that have taken these steps are not
only leading in bringing virtualized services to
market; theyre influencing the direction of NFV
technologies and standards in their favor. n
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The Promise of OpenFlow in SDN

OpenFlow offers lots of opportunities for SDN developers, but real world deployments
are moving slowly.
Editors Note
By Jason Bovberg
Five Years
Sponsored Content:

Behind NFV and SDN
OpenFlow has gained traction in the software defined

networking (SDN) space by enabling more effective use
of network resources than is possible with traditional
networks. OpenFlow is particularly strong in
applications such as virtualization and next-generation
IP-based mobile networks.
Over the past few years, SDN has evolved beyond the
formal definition of separate control and data planes.
As use cases have developed, it has become clear
that businesses are looking for increased flexibility,
agility, scale, and programmability in their networks.
In the data center world, this is driven by the need to
deliver cloud infrastructure and accelerate application
deployment.
OpenFlow grew out of the idea that most switch/
router hardware supported a flow tablebased system
and that a common abstraction for modeling the flow
table could be built in software on a wide variety of
fixed-function switching devices, whether physical or

virtual, said Mark Carroll, CTO of HP Networking.
As SDN has evolved, we learned that flow tables are
only a tiny percentage of the software capabilities of
modern switching devices and that we needed a similar
abstraction layer for the rest of the solution to become
disaggregated (mix and match hardware and software
from competitive multi-vendor ecosystem).
The Long (but

Promising) Slog for
Software-Defined
Networking
As a result, extensive work has been done in

SDN organizations such as the Open Networking
Foundation (ONF) to define abstractions for the
configuration and management of commodity
switching elements, and that has expanded the range of
automated solutions that can be built with SDN.
The Promise of
OpenFlow in SDN
At the same time, the goal-posts have moved. In the

early days of the clean-slate work at Stanford, Carroll
said, one could assume that the software operating
system for a switch and the resulting APIs for

A Case Study in SDN
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Requires a Holistic
Approach
The NFV Evolution

Begins
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control and management planes were permanently

installed at the equipment manufacturer and changed
rarely, if ever, during the lifecycle of the device. In
recent years, this has changed.
OpenFlow Evolution
APIs are becoming stable and more full-featured, and

controller software solutions are likewise becoming
more robust consumers of OpenFlow services,
he said. Cisco and VMware continue to focus on
proprietary alternatives to protect market share. More
importantly, with regard to SDN management of the
forwarding plane, operators are slowly beginning
to experiment with greater autonomous control of
physical routing services by OpenFlow controllers
not just the internal service networks of OpenStack or
other virtualization platforms.
For some time now, the ONF Extensibility Working

Group has been extending the OpenFlow protocol
to address new applications, and at the same time it
has been adding capabilities to allow the protocol
to be extended by others (inside or outside ONF).
The latest version of OpenFlow (1.5.1) allows SDN
developers to define their own extensions to address
OpenFlow grew out of the idea
many new network applications including, for
that most switch/router hardware
example, SDN for optical and electrical circuit-based
supported a flow tablebased
transport networks, said Ben Mack-Crane, ONF
system and that a common
specification area co-director and principal architect at
Huawei. These extensions can be defined and used by abstraction for modeling the flow table could
be built in software on a wide variety of fixedcommunities of interest without requiring any change
function switching devices, whether physical
to the OpenFlow specification.
or virtual.
As with any software application, the size of these

communities of interest will vary from custom
applications to applications that are deployed in a
large number of SDNs. Thus, OpenFlow provides a
common framework within which the extensibility
mechanisms enable SDN developers to address varied
problems and markets independently.
Patrick Hubbard, Head Geek at SolarWinds, said
his company sees hardware vendors such as HP and
Juniper Networks improving support for OpenFlow.
>> The Promise of OpenFlow in SDN
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Editors Note
Five Years
Sponsored Content:

Behind NFV and SDN
The Long (but
Promising) Slog for
Software-Defined
Networking
Sponsored Content:
Requires a Holistic
Approach
MARK CARROLL, CTO OF HP NETWORKING
The Promise of
OpenFlow in SDN
The keyword, however, remains slowly. OpenFlow realworld deployment still hasnt caught fire, as uneven
vendor support, complex deployment for admins, and
continued convergence into VM platforms decreases
the number of deployed routers and switches.
The NFV Evolution

Begins
A Case Study in SDN
Carroll envisions an OpenFlow roadmap. In the next

3 to 5 years, I think we can expect strong commercial
share:
availability of interoperable switches based on

OpenFlow 1.x, combined with NETCONF and Open
vSwitch Database Management Protocol (OVSDB)
support. Also, expect incremental network features
based on overlay-style SDN services and a reduced
emphasis on standardizing device/flow-table protocols.
HPs millions of OpenFlow-enabled ports in the
existing network will allow new SDN services without
forklift. In 5 to 10 years, well see switches with more
programmable device interfaces, ONF standardization
of a next-generation wire-protocol that enables far
more programmable and extensible hardware devices,
and an increased emphasis on service-level APIs.
considering a purchase of switches with a network

boot loader for installing the switch operating software.
You can get both OpenFlow and non-OpenFlow
personalities from a variety of emergent vendors. SDN
services will be provided by software developers with
deep knowledge of OpenFlow 1.x. These solutions will
work with limited hardware choices due to differences
among standards-compliant switches. In the longer
term, operators should focus on buying services
independent from controller/device wire protocol.
The SDN controller platform and resulting software
ecosystem will become the focus of system designers,
rather than the details of the wire protocols, which will
be abstracted away from the consumer APIs.
Operator Impact
For operators that have the resources to experiment,
OpenFlow is an interesting technology, especially for
those with transport-focused rather than data-focused
networks. In the data center, switching and routing is
becoming increasingly virtualized, and the physical
network infrastructure requires less maintenance after
initial installation or major redesign. For transportfocused operators, said Hubbard, convergence is
more limited and demarcation between specialized
hardware is more common. In those cases, automated
configuration and ideally self-configuring service
networks can provide considerable benefit for both
cost management and business agility.
ONF is looking at how we can

make it easier for operators to
evaluate application-specific
OpenFlow requirements and
determine whether particular vendors
offerings meet these requirements.
BEN MACK-CRANE, ONF SPECIFICATION AREA CODIRECTOR AND PRINCIPAL ARCHITECT AT HUAWEI
Operators will begin to see SDN solutions that not only

rely on the base OpenFlow protocol but also include
packages of technology-specific or application-specific
In the short term, said Carroll, operators should deploy extensions. Thus, the requirements for a particular
switches with OpenFlow capability based on the
SDN application might include a subset of the features
most recent versions of the 1.x evolution. Its worth
defined in the OpenFlow specification with the
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Editors Note
Five Years
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Behind NFV and SDN
The Long (but
Promising) Slog for
Software-Defined
Networking
Sponsored Content:
Requires a Holistic
Approach
The Promise of
OpenFlow in SDN
The NFV Evolution
Begins
A Case Study in SDN
share:
addition of extension features defined by developers

addressing that specific application area.
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conformance tests that can be used to certify product

offerings for commonly deployed SDN applications.
In the end, operators will simply have more options

I always recommend that operators than ever before, and they will need to understand
and evaluate a range of technology choices. I always
focus on the problems theyre
recommend that operators focus on the problems
looking to solve with an SDN
theyre looking to solve with an SDN solution and let
solution and let that drive their
that drive their decision-making process, said Mike
decision-making process.
Cohen, director of product management for open
MIKE COHEN, DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT MANAGEMENT FOR source policy-based solutions at Cisco.
OPEN SOURCE POLICY-BASED SOLUTIONS AT CISCO
Beyond OpenFlow, several new standards have

emerged as SDN building blocks, such as VXLAN,
ONF is looking at how we can make it easier for
BGP-EVPN, and Opflex, which have had an even
operators to evaluate application-specific OpenFlow
larger impact on SDN, Cohen said. Looking further
requirements and determine whether particular
on the horizon, theres also an early technology called
vendors offerings meet these requirements, said
P4, which offers a new programming language for
Mack-Crane. This could include developing with
network switches. Its dubbed by some as OpenFlow
operators input protocol conformance requirements 2.0. While largely academic at this point, it offers some
for some common SDN applications. Ultimately, there interesting new capabilities in how packet parsing and
might be an opportunity to define application-specific matching can be controlled by software. n
Editors Note
Five Years
Sponsored Content:

Behind NFV and SDN
The Long (but
Promising) Slog for
Software-Defined
Networking
Sponsored Content:
Requires a Holistic
Approach
The Promise of
OpenFlow in SDN
The NFV Evolution
Begins
A Case Study in SDN
share:
FierceWireless
The NFV Evolution Begins
NFV will give operators operational efficiencies but the transition away from hardwarecentric networks is challenging.
Editors Note
By Mike Robuck
Five Years
Sponsored Content:

Behind NFV and SDN
Thanks to network functions virtualizations the

migration to next-generation networks is underway, but
there are still some potholes to navigate along the way.
NFV is a key element in the move away from integrated,
hardwarecentric solutions to software-based network
functionality across virtual and standard hardware.
Working in tandem with software-defined networking
(SDN), NFV reduces CAPEX costs and streamlines
networks to provide a centralized view. With NFV,
service providers can ditch proprietary hardware by
using standard servers and accelerate time to market
for new services and revenue streams, according to
Don Clarke, chairman of the European Standards
Telecommunications Institutes (ETSI) NFV Network
Operations Council.
Software networking enables an unprecedented level
of operations automation as demonstrated in the cloud,
said Clarke, who is also principal architect at CableLabs.
Significant infrastructure efficiencies can be achieved
by re-use of hardware resources and the ability to

dynamically scale in/out as network demand changes.
NFV enables operators and vendors to take advantage of
open source software for common components, enabling
focus on differentiation. Open source simplifies the
journey for integration.
But Clarke noted, to obtain these benefits, operators
need to design networks in a new way similar to cloud.
This requires new skills and new organization, which
requires time and investment.
Other big drivers for NFV and SDN also include
service agility and operational efficiencies, according
to Infonetics Researchs Michael Howard, principal
analyst, carrier networks.
The automation of different parts of the network
reduce operational expenses, Howard said. Operators
in the main have somewhere between, if I generalize,
10 percent and 13 percent of their annual revenues
The Long (but

Promising) Slog for
Software-Defined
Networking
Sponsored Content:
Requires a Holistic
Approach
The Promise of
OpenFlow in SDN
The NFV Evolution
Begins
A Case Study in SDN
share:
spent on CAPEX, and then 50 percent, 60 percent or

70 percentit depends which study you look atare
operational expenses. The big target is operations
expense. So operators are looking for ways to more
efficiently invent new services, deploy new services,
and charge for new services. By putting the necessary
changes in the network, when the customer wants to buy
a new service it can be done fairly automatically.
Software networking enables an
unprecedented level of operations
automation as demonstrated in
the cloud.
DON CLARKE, CHAIRMAN OF THE EUROPEAN STANDARDS
TELECOMMUNICATIONS INSTITUTES NFV NETWORK
OPERATIONS COUNCIL
For wireless carriers in particular, theres NFV-related

work occurring for the virtualization of the radio access
network (RAN), the evolved packet core (EPC), IMS
and assets in data centers.
Of all of the use cases that apply specifically to wireless
operators, the one case that is getting the most attention
from the service provider and technology community
is the virtualized evolved packet core, said Mark
Bieberich, senior director of SDN & NFV strategy at
NEC/NetCracker.
As mobile traffic continues to proliferate and become
more dynamic, virtualized EPC was one of the first
proof-of-concept (PoC) demonstrations picked and
>> The NFV Evolution Begins
FierceWireless
approved by the ETSI NFV Working Group as a NFV

use case that could deliver immediate benefits.
In order to connect calls or data beyond the point of
the cell tower, operators have built out EPC networks,
which connect the cell tower mobile backhaul links
to the core of the Internet, Bieberich said. Whats
getting virtualized is the core of the network. I would say
over the last two years thats where the operators have
focused their attention when it comes to virtualization.
Bieberich added that by year-end he thinks we will begin
to see virtualization solutions deployed.
Editors Note
Five Years
Sponsored Content:

Behind NFV and SDN
The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry

Solutions (ATIS), which is the North American
counterpart to ETSI, recently published eight interprovider use cases for service providers. The use cases
for ATIS network functions virtualizations (NFV)
Forum included virtual network operator (VNO);
cooperative, cloud-based CDN; roaming; efficient
home-routed VoLTE roaming and enterprise voice/
collaboration arrangements.
The Long (but

Promising) Slog for
Software-Defined
Networking
In some ways perhaps the CDN use cases might be

more accessible in the short term, said ATIS Senior
Technology Consultant Iain Sharp. I think one area
where we see some relevance in the scenarios were
showing is into 5G. I think when you start looking at 5G
systems that its pretty much assumed that NFV will be
the platform that theyre built on top of.
The Promise of
OpenFlow in SDN
NFV: Its a process
Sponsored Content:
Requires a Holistic
Approach
The NFV Evolution

Begins
A Case Study in SDN
With NFV-related commercial deployments beginning,

as well as proof-of-concept trials moving towards field
share:
FierceWireless
trials, the transition to virtualized networks is happening. fees, as well as providing professional services to
implement NFV/SDN.
But there are still some sticking points.
Both Infonetics Howard and NetCrackers Bieberich
cited the proliferation of standards bodies as one area
that still needs sorted out. Howard said that almost by
definition standards fly in the face of agile deployments
due to the time it takes to get them in place. While
organizations such as ATIS and ETSI are working to
further refine NFV use cases and interfaces, operators
are moving forward with their best effort NFV/SDN
deployments by using open source software.
The big problem for all operators, and the bigger they
are the bigger the problem, is that there are existing
networks and you just cant build a brand new network,
Howard said. You have to fit the new technology into
existing networks or you overlay it without disturbing
the existing networks because the bigger the carrier the
more revenue they have and that means the more risk
whenever they change their main networks. Theres
lot of revenue bearing traffic on existing networks, and
carriers have to be very careful to not disturb that as they
roll out new services.
While service providers will be able to cut back on some
hardware CAPEX going forward, the vendors are no
doubt looking forward to increased software licensing
Editors Note
Whats getting virtualized is the

core of the network. I would say
over the last two years thats where
the operators have focused their
attention when it comes to virtualization.

Five Years
MARK BIEBERICH, SENIOR DIRECTOR OF SDN & NFV

STRATEGY AT NEC/NETCRACKER

Behind NFV and SDN
Aside of technical challenges, ATIS Sharp said theres

also human skills and process challenges for operators
when it comes to the virtualization of networks.
Its also methods, procedures and operations as well
as pricing models and contract changes because you
can start to do things like lease software with a limited
right to use rather than buying chunks of hardware that
has embedded software, said Tom Anderson, principal
engineer, Cisco Mobility CTO, and co-convener of the
ATIS NFV Forum. The license models change how
you buy software. n
Sponsored Content:
The Long (but

Promising) Slog for
Software-Defined
Networking
Sponsored Content:
Requires a Holistic
Approach
The Promise of
OpenFlow in SDN
The NFV Evolution
Begins
A Case Study in SDN
>> The NFV Evolution Begins
share:
FierceWireless
AT&T and Domain 2.0: A Case Study in SDN
AT&T is blazing a trail as it transitions to a virtualized network that focuses on software

rather than hardware. But its aggressive strategy isnt necessarily appropriate for every
carrier looking to leverage a new network architecture.
By Colin Gibbs
Editors Note
Five Years
Sponsored Content:

Behind NFV and SDN
AT&T is moving boldly into software-defined

networking, vowing to virtualize 75 percent of its
target network by the year 2020 under its Domain
2.0 initiative. Verizon Wireless is ready to follow suit
although perhaps not as aggressively and its likely that
Sprint and T-Mobile will eventually do the same. Indeed,
a 2014 survey from Infonetics Research found that an
overwhelming 97 percent of carriers plan to deploy SDN
at some point, but the architecture is still very much in
the trial and experimentation stage.
Mobile network operators in the U.S. arent exactly
known for betting big on cutting-edge technologies and
strategies, of course. So why is a behemoth like AT&T
taking a lead with SDN?
Were moving from hardware-centric network
appliances to much more software-, virtualized-network
functions, said Andre Fuetsch, AT&Ts senior vice
president of Domain 2.0 architecture and design. The
big motivation is really around building more flexibility,

building more speed, and reducing cost.
And AT&T is uniquely positioned to move into
SDN, Fuetsch claims, because it focuses as much
on developing innovative technologies as it does on
providing traditional mobile services to its wireless
customers.
Traditionally, in our industry segment, were operators;
were not viewed as software companies, Fuetsch said,
pointing to AT&T Labs, the telecoms research and
development division. We take a very long view. We
see the shift to becoming a software company being
really key. This is much more like what the Web-scale
companies have been doing.
Starting slowly
The Long (but

Promising) Slog for
Software-Defined
Networking
Sponsored Content:
Requires a Holistic
Approach
The Promise of
OpenFlow in SDN
The NFV Evolution
Begins
A Case Study in SDN
AT&Ts plans are unquestionably ambitious, but the

early stages of its SDN network will take time. The
share:
company said it plans to virtualize only five percent of

its network this year as it lays the foundation for the
broader SDN deployment. The transition has already
proved fruitful, however: AT&T processes 190 billion
Domain Name System queries per day and recently
suffered an outage at a California-based DNS facility that
handles consumer wireline traffic. But most of its DNS
lookups now occur through automated virtual machines
running in the cloud, and the system automatically
routed queries to an alternate location. It ramped up
without a hiccup, a senior AT&T executive wrote on
the companys Innovation Blog.
We take a very long view. We see the shift
to becoming a software company being really
key. This is much more like what the Webscale companies have been doing.
ANDRE FUETSCH, AT&TS SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF
DOMAIN 2.0 ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN
The carrier claims the transition to SDN will also enable

it to add capacity more rapidly and issue network
upgrades more quickly and efficiently than through
traditional, hardware-centric architectures. More than
2,000 AT&T employees are charged with transitioning
to the new, software-centric architecture. This year
AT&T launched its first SDN-enabled network service,
an offering branded Network on Demand that provides
a way for customers to increase or decrease their
bandwidth as needed in near real time. Its virtualizing
mobile network functions starting this year with its
Connected Car applications and MVNO services.
>> AT&T and Domain 2.0: A Case Study in SDN
FierceWireless
Its also virtualizing its enterprise and consumer VoIP

architecture including VoLTE and combining those
offerings to run on a single network.
An industry-wide transition
And while AT&Ts transition to SDN is still very
much in its infancy, the carrier is already enjoying some
financial dividends. Its capital expenditure in 2015 is
expected to be roughly $18 billion, down from $21
billion last year. That decrease can be traced not only to
a lesser need for traditional telecom hardware but also to
AT&Ts newfound ability to extract pricing concessions
from legacy vendors that find themselves threatened
by the emergence of SDN and NFV architectures. So
incumbent vendors such as Adtran, Cisco Systems and
Juniper Networks must strike a difficult balancing act as
AT&T and other carriers embrace SDN and NFV: They
must continue to develop and market traditional telecom
equipment as they move to leverage newer technologies
and strategies.
All vendors must show their commitment to SDN/NFV;
that much has been made clear, wrote Jason Marcheck,
research director for Current Analysiss Service Provider
Infrastructure Service, in a recent post. Vendors that
cant demonstrate a sustained commitment to this road
will fail. Some will die. Likewise, all vendors need to
demonstrate the wherewithal to prod, help, and in
many cases, facilitate organizational change within the
operators.
Many carriers, many strategies
Editors Note
Five Years
Sponsored Content:

Behind NFV and SDN
The Long (but
Promising) Slog for
Software-Defined
Networking
Sponsored Content:
Requires a Holistic
Approach
The Promise of
OpenFlow in SDN
The NFV Evolution
Begins
A Case Study in SDN
Meanwhile, the eyes of the telecom world are on

AT&T as it moves into the SDN/NFV era. But while
share:
it may be the most visible carrier pursuing the new

architecture, analysts warn that its strategies and tactics
arent necessarily applicable to other service providers
and other markets. Few telecoms around the world can
match AT&Ts deep pockets, and most are likely to
embrace the new technologies more circumspectly.
Jarich, vice president of Consumer and Infrastructure

Services at Current Analysis. Operators, meanwhile,
cannot let lofty orchestrated service-enablement NFV
goals get in the way of single use-case investigations;
nor can they ignore the need for those use cases to be
linked into broader service-enabling platforms going
forward.
Vendors need to engage with carriers on the

If this all sounds like a complex dance, thats because
orchestrated, business-focused aspects of NFV
(potentially leading with them) but be prepared to start it is, Jarich concluded. But the payoff promises that
its a dance worth learning. n
smaller and support narrow use cases, wrote Peter
FierceWireless
Editors Note
Five Years
Sponsored Content:

Behind NFV and SDN
The Long (but
Promising) Slog for
Software-Defined
Networking
Sponsored Content:
Requires a Holistic
Approach
The Promise of
OpenFlow in SDN
The NFV Evolution
Begins
A Case Study in SDN
>> AT&T and Domain 2.0: A Case Study in SDN

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June 2015

An eBook from the editors of

Strategies for SDN and NFV

SDN, NFV Rollouts to Escalate

The Real Opportunity Behind

The Long (but Promising) Slog

The Promise of OpenFlow

The NFV Evolution Begins

AT&T and Domain 2.0: A Case

Thank you to our sponsors:

An eBook from the editors of

The Real Opportunity

Operators globally are beginning to take a serious look at

collectively, fixed line and mobile operators across 35

The Long (but

Strategies for SDN and NFV // June 2015

An eBook from the editors of

SDN, NFV Rollouts to Escalate Over the Next Five Years

The Real Opportunity

There are big financial numbers floating around

with all networking revenue by the end of 2020, which

NFV is an $8B Market

The Long (but

Strategies for SDN and NFV // June 2015

An eBook from the editors of

to their customers. Most of them are smaller, but

Howard added that by 2018, the firm expects

NFV/SDN Will Reduce CAPEX

apply data and control plane functions in fixed and

The Real Opportunity

Strategies for SDN and NFV // June 2015

The Real Opportunity Behind NFV and SDN

Service providers (SPs) continue to focus on

Virtualize for Business Results

VNF Portability and Efficiency

Strategies for SDN and NFV // June 2015

An eBook from the editors of

The Long (but Promising) Slog for Software-Defined

SDN, NFV Rollouts to

The Real Opportunity

Software-defined networking has long been viewed as a

Saving Money, Making Money

counterparts, the two largest U.S. carriers are hoping to

The Long (but

Strategies for SDN and NFV // June 2015

Early Opportunities: Backhaul and

>> The Long (but Promising) Slog for Software-Defined Networking

An eBook from the editors of

The Reluctance of Incumbent Vendors

And while the large incumbents in the telecom gear

People are starting to say that NFV isnt going to cut

The Real Opportunity

Strategies for SDN and NFV // June 2015

That kind of reluctance from established vendors

New Business Models

An eBook from the editors of

Instead, the carriers biggest challenge is likely to be

The Real Opportunity

>> The Long (but Promising) Slog for Software-Defined Networking

Strategies for SDN and NFV // June 2015

Operationalizing NFV Requires a Holistic Approach

The communications industry is still in the early

elements needed to automate NFV application