Boost digital transformation via Network Function Virtualization

Be prepared for the change and increase in demand for bandwidth

One area where organisations are struggling to come to terms with this tsunami of change and need for transformation, is the data strain that hits networks and networking. It impacts the B2C or B2B space, large or small enterprises—if you are running a business or organisation of any size, it’s likely you have one or more networks. In fact, you most likely own or use networks in some form, and networking most likely underpins the bulk of systems and technologies your organization uses.

Network technologies are going through such fundamental change today, at every single layer -physical or logical, administratively, operationally, in compliance and or governance, be it standards now emerging such as 5G, or the shift to cloud “everything” and Software Defined Infrastructure, and the brave new world of DevOps, Automation and Orchestration.

Change is taking place at an exponential rate throughout every aspect of networking, this change and increase in demand for bandwidth is something that none of us can stop but all of us need to be prepared for.

Overcome barriers to NFV adoption with the series of free eBriefs

A key and fundamental shift too few have yet to become familiar with in the space of network technology is, Network Function Virtualization (NFV). We need to better understand - what it is, where it fits, what value it brings, how to use it, when and where to use it, and perhaps most importantly the urgent need to be adopt and adapt to the use of NFV, as well as the need to be commercially ready to leverage NFV.

Making the change to 5G & NFV can feel overwhelming. Organisations are having to answer questions such as “Will the promise of an agile network at lower cost come true?”, and “What are the steps?”, “What barriers can you expect & how do you overcome them?”.

The team from Ericsson have just launched a new series of free e Briefs, aimed at assisting you in your endeavors to overcome barriers to NFV adoption & transformation. In this exciting new series of e Briefs from Ericsson Digital Services, you’ll find a collection of seven individual PDF eBook documents, each uniquely tailored and designed to help you overcome barriers to NFV adoption and accelerate your transformation.

Subject matter experts across the Ericsson team have authored a unique collection of key insights, knowledge and learnings gained from working with the early adopters in networking and telecommunications, both customers and services providers/operators, and divided their learnings and insights into a set of key topics that they feel should be key considerations for all organizations when it comes to NFV deployment.

Examples of these topics include; key points around - how to approach NFV, how organizations should look to leverage cloud, a number of the key issues and focus points to consider when VNF performance tuning and what to consider when securing VNF, through to thoughts and insights around how your organisation should best go about the challenge of developing your migration plan to reap the full benefits of 5G and the Internet of Things.

The first seven of the series have already been published, and they include:

• eBrief 01: From NFV trial to commercial operation
• eBrief 02: Follow the early adopters
• eBrief 03: Invest in NFV management and orchestration
• eBrief 04: Consider a pre-integrated solution
• eBrief 05: Software-define everything
• eBrief 06: Cloud native
• eBrief 07: Optimizing VNF performance
• NFV deployment

This eBrief series on NFV, one of the first of its kind, delves deep into the core of the current challenges being faced by communication service providers as they move towards a more seamless automated platform that is future ready.

The need to familiarize yourself with NFV

No matter what market, industry sector, or business/organisation you might be a part of, you will indeed gain a great deal from these NFV eBriefs from Ericsson, and they are available right now for free from the Ericsson Digital website.

As we saw with fundamental technology shifts such as the Internet itself, web 2.0, social media, mobile computing and the emerging technologies such as 5G and network slicing, NFV is and will be a ground shift we all need to be familiar with. We need to fully understand what’s required to be ready and able to use it, leverage it, and for operators, telcos and service providers—the challenge to commercialize it is already one of the biggest technical and business challenges they face in this exciting time in human history.

Kick off the NFV conversation with Ericsson's team

As you download and read each of these eBriefs, I highly recommend you share them within your teams, from the boardroom down, as NFV is already a key technology topic, there will be no avoiding it. NFV is being designed and built into the DNA of networks, and technologies on which those networks and services traversing said networks will route. NFV should be a standing agenda item for many organizations as they prepare to use and leverage it as an enabling technology.

And when you are ready to kick off a conversation around any of the exciting challenges around NFV, the team at Ericsson are ready willing and able to assist you. In fact Ericsson have via the NFV eBrief series webpage put out an open invitation for you to reach out to them no matter what your questions—their team are there to help when you are ready.

The team from Ericsson will be on available at the Network Function Virtualization/Software Defined Network conference in The Hague, being held through October 8th to the 12th, to answer any questions you might have. And please do join the conversation via my Twitter feed for more information about this as it comes to hand, as well as details on how to join an upcoming live Twitter chat on #NFV during the event, moderated by yours truly—I look forward to seeing you there.

Related Links:

Also, view our NFV demo: "Ericsson software-defined infrastructure" and earlier podcast episodes:

• Transmissions from Tomorrow' podcast by Dez Blanchfield on NFV with Mats Johansson.
• Transmissions from Tomorrow podcast by Dez Blanchfield on NFVi with Lars Mårstensson.