GigaSpaces, VMware Get Together on New NFV Implementations
By It's easy to forget sometimes that network functions virtualization (NFV) is still a comparatively young technology, with modifications and improvements still going on. Recently, that improvement process saw a new step as VMware and GigaSpaces got together on a collaborative effort to step up standards-based orchestration in the NFV field.
The new collaborative effort features the Topology and Orchestration Specification for Cloud
Applications (TOSCA) platform on which Cloudify from GigaSpaces was built. Now, Cloudify supports VMware's vCloud NFV platform, and gives its customers a new option in terms of NFV orchestration with telco cloud systems. Actually putting NFV in place means that a substantial infrastructure needs to be established before it can get up and running, and with GigaSpaces' Cloudify system, that setup work becomes just a little easier to fire up.
Combining Cloudify and vCloud gives carriers access to the range of infrastructure tools VMware can offer, and allowing virtual network functions (VNF) systems to be introduced, and even over hybrid cloud systems. This includes things like automated lifecycle managers and other systems that smooth the way for implementation. Plus, GigaSpaces is preparing a whole new tool for NFV operations, branded as the VMware vRealize Operations Management Pack, a system that will provide not only infrastructure help, but also policy management tools, closed loop service remediation, and several other tools.
VMware vice president of solutions for its telco NFV group, Gabriele Di Piazza, commented “VMware is playing a central role in the evolution and adoption of FV by communications service providers.
We are pleased to see our relationship with GigaSpaces leading to robust open source orchestration solutions that offer our mutual customers choice in NFV foundational technologies.”
Several new developments in NFV have proven valuable for the companies that put such measures in place, and that's likely had several other companies looking seriously at bringing in NFV operations of their own. That's put some additional demand on NFV infrastructure installation, and VMware and GigaSpaces getting together to produce a new solution that makes it easier to put such installations in place is a rational move. The two companies each have some excellent positions for NFV infrastructure, so combining the two should produce a new and attractive package that will give the firm a competitive edge that likely won't be easily duplicated by competitors.
VMware and GigaSpaces should come out of this quite positively, and its customers should likewise welcome this new competitive effort. It will be interesting to see if anyone else follows suit in a bid to take a larger chunk of this still-growing market.
Edited by Maurice Nagle