ADVA Optical Networking recently unveiled its Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) strategy – based on the ADVA FSP 150 Carrier Ethernet portfolio and some key Network Interface Devices (NIDs) – ADVA is focused on providing the network infrastructure part of the NFV equation, not in the core of the network, but out at the edge. We found out more about its plans just before Mobile World Congress.
Most of the strategic action so far with NFV/SDN has centred (reasonably enough) on the network core and functions that can be dragged into the data centre. These functions can conceivably include just about all the clever processing jobs required at the base station and so there’s been much talk of the Virtual RAN (virtual radio access network) where you strip the processing away from the antennas at the edge and use fibre to transport the whole signal back to a data centre where all the RAN functions are virtualised and running on white box servers – it’s a classic NFV application.
But as NFV gears up it’s pretty clear that it’s not going to be one-way traffic in functions from the edge to the core. Not everything needs, wants or is capable of being housed in data centre. Depending on the speed of the backhaul network, the mobile applications and the nature of the network itself, some functions are better staying at the edge and some functions are even better off being shipped out to the edge rather than left in the core.
