NFV #6 – The Heat is On!

In mid-May, “NFV #6,” i.e. the sixth formal gathering of the ETSI NFV Industry Specification Group, will be held in Okinawa, Japan.  This will be first ETSI NFV meeting hosted in Asia, and one which is shaping up to be highly interactive and engaging.  Believe me when I say this, it’s not often you hear that about standards meetings!

After close to a year and a half of countless discussions, thousands of email exchanges and hundreds of conference calls, the push is on in ETSI NFV to prepare the next phase of documents for publication to industry later this year.  As Wind River’s lead on network functions virtualization (NFV), I’ve been actively engaged in the development of the “Resiliency Requirements” specification, the key deliverable of the Reliably &  Availability work group, led by Naseem Khan of Verizon.  I’ve also been closely following the progress of the other working and expert groups, including Software Architecture, Security, Management and Orchestration, Portability & Performance, and Infrastructure.  We are all collectively putting our experience, knowledge, and passion into the documents being developed.  Products such as the Wind River Carrier Grade Communications Server and Open Virtualization Profile are directly influenced by these specifications, so the time and resource investment is well spent.

NFV #6 will provide most groups with the final opportunity to meet face to face prior to a summer of largely editorial and cross group alignment updates.  The looming goal of publication for many specifications is targeted at Q3/Q4, so the heat is on!  Another topic that will surely generate considerable interest is the planned discussion on the future of the ETSI NFV group:  “How might the organization change?”, “Is a new leadership model required?“, “How often should conferences occur?”  When these questions were first tabled at NFV #5, discussion was fierce, with many people lining up to have their opinions heard.  Now that many have had time to reflect at length on these questions, lively, interactive discussion is sure to result.

I have no doubt that NFV #6 will be a memorable and important session for ETSI, and for the NFV industry as a whole.  We are together filling in the “white space” on the NFV canvas and Wind River continues to support and participate in this creative process.

Ron Breault is the Director of Product Management & Strategic Initiatives for the Networking group at Wind River.  He is currently focused on network functions virtualization (NFV) products, and leads Wind River’s contributions in the ETSI NFV Industry Standards Group.  Ron is a long time industry veteran, with over 20 years of experience developing and supporting carrier grade communications platforms.

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