THE PROGRAMMABLE CLOUD NETWORK€¦ · networks, operations support systems (OSS) and business...

THE PROGRAMMABLE CLOUD NETWORK A PRIMER ON SDN AND NFVSTRATEGIC WHITE PAPER

The evolution to Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Software

Defined Networking (SDN) is starting and will continue over time due to

the financial and operational benefits that result. Alcatel-Lucent is at the

forefront of the transformation to SDN and NFV, contributing to industry

groups and developing solutions that have the potential to create a revolution

in programmable cloud networking. This paper explores the key concepts

behind SDN and NFV, the state of the industry today, and the unique approach

Alcatel-Lucent is taking in each area to enable the programmable cloud network.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION / 1

SDN: WHAT IS IT? / 1

THE STATE OF THE INDUSTRY / 2

THE REALITY OF SDN / 3

ALCATEL-LUCENT AND SDN / 4

NFV: WHAT IS IT? / 5

NFV: SEPARATING THE REALITY FROM THE HYPE / 6

WHO IS INTERESTED IN NFV? / 7

WHAT IS NEXT FOR NFV? / 7

THE PROGRAMMABLE CLOUD NETWORK / 8

CONCLUSION / 9

ABBREVIATIONS / 10

CONTACTS / 10

The Programmable Cloud NetworkALCATEL-LUCENT WHITE PAPER

1

INTRODUCTIONNetwork Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Software Defined Networking (SDN) are considered by many to be the two forces that will shape the future of telecommunications networks:

• NFVinvolvesportingnetworkortelecommunicationsapplicationsthattodaytypicallyrunondedicatedandspecializedhardwareplatformstoavirtualizedcloudinfrastructure.

• SDNinvolvesincreasingthenetwork’sabilitytodynamicallyadapttotheneedsofapplicationsandservices;thatis,tomakethenetworkmoreprogrammable.

The two concepts are closely linked because the programmability of SDN will greatly enhance the performance and flexibility of NFV applications by allowing dynamic place-mentofresourcesandperformingthechoreographednetworkingtoconnectthem.

TheevolutiontoNFVandSDNisstartingandwillcontinueovertimebasedontherelativeeconomicbenefitsthatresultandtheabilitytotransformtoday’sprovisionednetworks,operationssupportsystems(OSS)andbusinesssupportsystems(BSS)intodynamicallyadaptivenetworksandsystems.

Alcatel-LucentisplayingaleadingroleintheevolutiontoSDNandNFV.Weareactivecontributorsinleadingindustryfora,includingtheOpenNetworkingFoundation(ONF),OpenStackandtheInternetEngineeringTaskForce(IETF)forSDN.WearealsoattheforefrontofNFV,havingbeenappointedasaboardmemberoftheEuropeanTelecommunicationsStandardsInstitute(ETSI)NFVIndustrySpecificationGroup(ISG)inrecognitionofourpioneeringvirtualtelco(vTelco)vision.

Inaddition,weareactivelydevelopingdifferentiatedsolutionssuchastheCloudBand™solutionportfolio,whichincludestheCloudBandManagementSystemandCloudBandNode,anoveldatacenterSDNsolutiondevelopedbyourventure,NuageNetworks,andacompanionWANSDNsolution.Combined,theseassetshavethepotentialtocreatearevolutionaroundprogrammablecloudnetworking.

BeforeweexploretheAlcatel-Lucentapproachtotheprogrammablecloudnetwork,itisworthwhiletotakeacloserlookatSDN,NFVandthecurrentstateofthesetechnologiesintheindustrytoday.

SDN: WHAT IS IT?SDNisanetworkvisionwithmanydifferentdefinitions.TheONFpioneeredtheearlywork,buthasarelativelynarrowdefinitionofSDNwiththefollowingessentialcharacteristics:

• Separation of control and data planes so that hardware forwarding plane elements can be controlled by a control plane residing on a separate general-purpose compute-basedelement.

• A logically centralized control plane to allow simple switching elements to share a commoncontrolelementthatismoreintelligentandmorecomplexthanindividualisolatedcontrolelements.

• Network virtualization and slicingtoallowthenetworktoelasticallyscaleandadapt,andbesharedbymultipleentities,eachofwhichhasauniquenetworkview.

• Network application programming interfaces (APIs) to allow programming of networkresourcesbyapplicationsandservices.


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Figure 1. The ONF has defined a basic SDN architecture

TheONFdefinedanewprotocolcalledOpenFlowtoenabletheseparationandinterworkingofthecontrolanddataplanes.However,fewplayersintheindustryareadheringtotheONF’snarrowdefinitionofSDN.ThereisalsogeneralagreementthatSDNshouldbelessabout separation of the control and data planes and more about the programmability of networks.Itisacceptedthatsomeformofcentralizationofcontrolisappropriate,butopinionsdivergewidelyaboutthescopeofSDNandtheprotocolstobeused.

Therefore,inadditiontoONF,relatedstandardsarebeingdevelopedintheIETF,whichisworkingondatacenternetworkingandnetworkvirtualization,andintheOpenStackcom-munity,whichisdevelopingasetofAPIsthatarebecomingthede-factostandardforcloudresourcemanagementforcompute,storageanddatacenternetworkingmanagement.

Inthetelecomnetworkapplicationsandnetworkfunctionsvirtualizationspace,thedevelopmentofacommonindustryviewisledbythenewlyformedNFVIndustrySpecificationGroupinETSI.

THE STATE OF THE INDUSTRYTherearedisparateviewsintheindustryastothescopeofSDN.Thereisalsoalotofhype and misinformation in the industry and the media concerning whether SDN and NFVrepresentanevolutionorarevolution.

Alcatel-LucentandotherlargeequipmentvendorsseeSDNasanevolutionofthecurrentarchitectureandbelievethatthevaluepropositionofSDNcanoftenbeachievedthroughenhancementstoexistingprotocolsandsolutionstoachieverevolutionaryresults.New

Business Applications

APPLICATION LAYER

CONTROL LAYER

INFRASTRUCTURE LAYER

API API API

Control Data Plane interface (e.g., OpenFlow)

Network device Network device

Network device Network device

Network device

SDNControlSoftware

Network services


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entrants,includingventurecapital-backedstartups,tendtoadvocatearevolutioninthecurrentarchitecturedrivenbySDN,andaremorefocusedoncompletelynewsolutionsandprotocols.OperatorsarestilltryingtodecidehowbesttobenefitfromSDN.

Recenteventshavebroughtsignificantlyincreasedindustryattentionandcredibility toSDN.Forexample:

• Google’sannouncementoftheimplementationofitsdatacenternetworkbasedonSDNprinciplesingeneralandOpenFlowinparticular,followedbysimilarannouncementsbyNTT,NECandDell.

• VMware’sacquisitionofSDNpioneerNicirafor1.3billionUnitedStatesdollars,Brocade’sacquisitionofVyatta,Juniper’sacquisitionofContrailfor173millionUnitedStatesdollars,F5’sacquisitionofLineRate,andCisco’smultipleacquisitionsandinvestmentsinthisspace,includingCloupiafor125millionUnitedStatesdollars,Caridenfor141millionUnitedStatesdollars,andInsieme,aspin-outwitha750milliondollarbuy-backoption.

• LargeserviceproviderssuchasVerizon,DeutscheTelecomandAT&Tbeingvocal, ifnotspecific,abouttheirSDNintentions.

• EricssonandHuaweiprovidingdetailsabouttheirSDNimplementationsandroadmapsasafocalpointoftheirMobileWorldCongressannouncements.

Inthefollowingsections,weoutlinetheapproachthatAlcatel-LucentistakinginSDN,andtherationalebehindit.

THE REALITY OF SDNCloudserviceproviderstypicallyrundatacenterscomprisedofhundredsofswitches,thousandsofvirtualswitches(vSwitches),firewallsandloadbalancerstointerconnectthebladeserversandracks.Eachoftheseelementstypicallyrequiresprovisioningfromaseparatesystem,aswellasseparateoverlaynetworksandsystemstointerconnecttothestorageresourcesandtheWAN.Inthiscontext,theseparationofthecontrolanddataplanesanduseoftherelatedOpenFlowprotocoltocentralizeandunifycontrolofthisinfrastructureisattractiveandisaprimemotivationforSDNinthedatacenter.

However,thereisanadditionalissue:theneedtosimultaneouslysupportthousandsofcustomers,eachofwhichneedsitsownvirtualprivatenetwork(VPN)toconnectvirtualprocessingandstoragecomponents.EachVPNmustbeisolatedfromothertenants’resources,yetbeabletodynamicallyscaleandadapttothecustomer’schangingdemandsatdifferenttimesofthedayormonth,forexample.

Thisso-calledmulti-tenancyrequirementcannotbeadequatelymetwithtraditionaltechniques,suchasmanuallyprovisionedEthernetvirtualLANs(VLANs),duetothelimitedscalabilityofsuchsolutions.Conversely,Layer3-basedapproachesthatallocateprivatesubnetstoeachtenantallowbetterscaling,butdonotalloweasymigrationofprocessesduetotheattendantchangeinIPaddressthatwouldtypicallyoccur.

Consequently,newsolutionsarerequired.AmoreholisticapproachtodatacenterSDNcanprovidetherightfoundationalelements,specifically:

• Managementofcloudresourcestosupportend-to-endapplicationsneeds,includingcompute,storageandnetworkinadistributedandfullyautomatedenvironment.


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• Completeautomationofnetworkingconnectivity,bothinthedatacenterandtotheWANbydynamicallycreatingandreconfiguringvirtualprivateLayer2andLayer3networkswithwebscale.

• APIsthatenablecloudconsumerstoconstructandmanagetheirownvirtualnetworksofresourcesthroughtechnology-agnosticnetworkabstractions.

These foundational elements are the basis of the approach Alcatel-Lucent is taking for datacenterSDN,asdescribedinthefollowingsection.Inaddition,theroleofSDNoutsidedatacentersisbeingevaluatedtoallowmoredirectanddynamicpolicy-basedcontroloftheall-IPnetworkinfrastructure,includingtheoptical,accessandcustomerpremisesequipment(CPE)domains.

Theincreasedvirtualizationofthetelconetworkwillresultinamuchmoredynamicenvironmentwhereapplicationsandservicescanbeinstantiated,scaledandmovedonthefly.Increaseduseofanalyticswillenableoperatorstosurgicallyanddynamicallyoptimizethenetworkandallowenterprises,contentprovidersandenduserstorequestspecificnetworkservicesondemand.Asaconsequenceofthesetrends,theIPandtrans-portinfrastructuremustbeabletoadaptmuchmorerapidlytochangingconnectivityneedsthanitdoestoday.MeetingthatrequirementistheessenceofSDN.

ALCATEL-LUCENT AND SDNGiventhemanydifferentdefinitionsofSDNthatexist,itisfirstimportanttospecifywhatismeantbySDNinthecontextoftheAlcatel-Lucentvision.Alcatel-LucenthasdefinedSDNasfollows.

A software defined network (or function) is one that allows automatic and dynamic programming of network services by applications,allowingmodificationandcon-sumptionofnetworkresourcesondemand.Thisisenabledby:

• Abstraction of network functionstoprovidesimple,application-levelprogramming ofthenetworkcontrolplanes.

• Modification of the forwarding path of the network (through the abstracted control plane) by changing forwarding entries to optimize a) the network path or allocated capacity,orb)specificfloworpacketforwardingrules,includingmodifyingtheflowmarking,queuing,priority,bandwidthallocationandpolicing.

Alcatel-LucentbelievesthataprimaryvalueofSDNwillcomefromautomatingthedatacenternetworkandtheassociatedWANdeliverynetworkwiththefollowingattributes:

• Supportoftruemulti-tenantdatacenternetworkswithinter-tenantandinter-processsecurity.

• SeamlessanddynamiclinkingofthedatacentervirtualLANsandIPsubnetswithVPNsintheWAN.

• Full,webscalevirtualmachine(VM)mobilitywithinandacrossdatacenters.

• Enablementofthirdpartiestorequestnetworkresourcesandaffectnetworkbehavior.

• Theabilitytocontinuouslyoptimizecloudnetworkdeploymentsbymonitoringnetwork,compute and storage utilization and applying sophisticated multidimensional analytics andpoliciestoprovidetherequisiteservicelevelagreements(SLAs).


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Tothisend,wehavelaunchedauniquesetofSDNproductsfordatacenternetworking,ledbyourventure,NuageNetworks1.Inaddition,weareinvestingintheCloudBandCloudManagementSystem,whichprovidesanopen,analytics-drivensolutionforcomputeandstorageresourceoptimization.Inshort,CloudBandenablesthecreationofafullydistributedcloud,includingseamlessapplicationon-boardingandlifecyclemanagement,andthecreationofcloudandnetworkspecificationpoliciesthatallowtheNuageNetworkssolutiontoprovidetherequirednetworkautomation.Italsooffersefficient,automatedandeasy-to-deploycloudnodesthatallowforplug-and-playcreationofdistributedcloudenvironments.

Outsidethedatacenterenvironment,wearecurrentlyinvestigatingsolutionsforusecasesthatrequirerapidadaptationofthenetwork.Theideaistosupportdynamicnetworkslicingthatwillallowoperatorstoresellnetworkcapacitytodifferentservicesandserviceproviders,includingwebservicesproviders,enterpriseservicesproviders,strategicindustriesandconsumers.Thiswillbethesubjectofaforthcomingwhitepaper.

WenowconsiderfurtherthetopicofNFV,whichbuildsonthesesolutionelementstocreateamoreefficientandscalablesetoftelecommunicationsapplicationsandservices.

NFV: WHAT IS IT?NetworkFunctionsVirtualizationaimstoimprovethescalability,adaptabilityandeconomicsofnetworkapplicationsbyusingstandardITvirtualizationtechnologyto consolidatethemanydifferentnetworkequipmenthardwareplatformsthatareoptimizedforasingleapplicationontoindustry-standardhigh-volumeservers,switchesandstorage.

Usingcloudorchestrationplatforms,thesevirtualizedapplicationscanthenbeinstantiatedin,ormovedto,variouslocationsinthenetworkasrequiredbydynamicallychangingdemand,withoutincurringthetimeorcostrequiredtoinstallnewdedicatedequipment.Inaddition,NFVfostersinnovationbyallowingunprovenservicestobedeployedquicklyusingafastfailmodel,incurringverylittlefinancialrisk,whileprovidingopportunitiesfornewsourcesofrevenue.

AsforSDN,itisusefultodefinewhatcomprisesavirtualnetworkfunctionasforeseenbyAlcatel-Lucent.

A virtual network function is a software instance of a network function that leverages standard IT virtualization technology to run on a general-purpose computing, storage and network infrastructure,ratherthanonverticallyintegratedhardwareandsoftwareplatformsdedicatedtoparticularfunctions.Thegoalisto:

• Enable improved economics through consolidation of functions and automated operations.

• Support the flexibility and agility necessary to adapt to dynamically changing usage demandsandrapidlyevolvingdeploymentneeds.

• Optimize performance by distributing functions to locations in the network that candelivertherequiredqualityofservice(QoS)intermsoflatency,bandwidth andotherrequirements.

1Seehttp://www.nuagenetworks.net/press-releases/nuage-networks-introduces-2nd-generation-sdn-solution-for-datacenter-networks-accelerating-the-move-to-business-cloud-services/


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TheNFVapproachhasthepotentialtoprovidesignificantbenefitsfornetworkoperatorsandtheircustomers.Benefitsinclude:

• Reducedcapitalandoperatingexpenditures(CAPEXandOPEX)foroperatorsthroughreducedequipmentcosts,spaceandpowerconsumption.

• Reducedtime-to-markettodeploynewnetworkservicesandcriticalsecurityupgrades.

• Theabilitytoflexiblyscaleup,scaledownorevolveservices.

• Theabilitytotrialanddeployinnovativenewserviceswithlowerrisk,andthereforewithsuperiorreturnoninvestment(ROI).

• Theabilitytocustomizenetworkfunctionstomeettheuniqueneedsofspecificcustomers.

NFV: SEPARATING THE REALITY FROM THE HYPEThenatureofthegainassociatedwithNFVistwodimensional,asdepictedbythetwoaxesinFigure2.Ononehand,therearetheperformancegainsassociatedwiththeincreasedautomation,sharingandelasticityofcloud-basedsolutions,whichwetermdynamiccontrolgain;ontheotherhandthereareCAPEXandOPEXsavings,whichwetermcostgain.

Figure 2. Virtualizing different network functions brings different benefits

Source: Alcatel-Lucent internal analysis

AsshowninFigure2,inamajorityofcases,serviceproviderswillbenefitfromthevirtual-izationofnetworkfunctions,evensomefunctionsthatperformreal-timepacketprocessingandwhosecurrentimplementationusesdedicatedhardwaredevicessuchasapplication-specificstandardproducts(ASSPs)andapplication-specificintegratedcircuits(ASICs).Importantly,implementingthesamefunctionsongeneral-purposeprocessors(GPP)mayincreaseCAPEXduetothehighernumberofserverbladesthatwouldberequired.However,theincreaseinCAPEXmaybeoffsetbyOPEXsavingsandautomationgains.

Thereare,however,notableexceptions.Ouranalysisshowsitisunlikelythatvirtualiza-tionofhigh-performanceroutersorEthernetswitcheswillbecosteffectivebecausethedataplaneprocessingfunctionalityofGPPsistypicallyonlyontheorderof1to2Gb/spercore.Thisspeedpalesincomparisontothenetworkprocessorunit(NPU)orASIC-basedpacketprocessingthroughputof400to640Gb/savailabletoday.

COST SAVINGS

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• Elastic scale

• Resource pooling

• Radid deployment

• Location optimization

COST (TCO)

• CapEx

• OpExCore

Routers

EdgeRouters

PacketGateways

Elements andNetwork Manages

AnalyticsPlatform

MediaServers

OrchestrtationFunctions

Service CreationFunctions

Control PlaneFunctions

CPE

NetworkApps

NetworkAnalyticProbes

EthernetSwitches

MediaGateways


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Inaddition,anynetworkingequipmentthatisdefinedbyauniquephysicallayertech-nology—non-Ethernetphysicallayertechnology(PHY)suchasdigitalsubscriberline(DSL),passiveopticalnetwork(PON),radiofrequency(RF)radioaccessnetwork(RAN)andcoherentoptical—whichtypicallybenefitfromdigitalsignalprocessing(DSP)componentsarenotstrongcandidatesforvirtualizationastypicalGPPsdonotperformthesefunctionsaswellasaDSP.

Severalothernetworkfunctionsareinagreyzone.Forexample,virtualizationofprod-ucts,suchasmobilegateways,thatareprimarilyfocusedonpacketforwardingcouldresultincostsavingsincertaindeploymentscenarios,forexamplewhentheamountoftrafficisrelativelysmall,butnotrealizeanysavingsforhigherthroughputapplicationswithlargeamountsofvideotraffic.Inthelattercase,virtualizationcouldonlybejustifiedbydynamiccontrolgainbenefitssuchastheabilitytoroll-outnewservicesfaster,ortoelasticallyscalethemtomeetchangingdemandpatterns.

WHO IS INTERESTED IN NFV?Sevenoftheworld’sleadingtelecomsnetworkoperatorshavecreatedanewgrouptopro-motevirtualizationofnetworkfunctions.AT&T,BT,DeutscheTelekom,Orange/FranceTelecom,TelecomItalia,TelefonicaandVerizonhavesincebeenjoinedby70othernetworkoperators,telecomequipmentvendors,ITvendorsandtechnologyproviderstocreatetheETSIIndustrySpecificationGroup(ISG)forNetworkFunctionsVirtualization(NFV)andleadthetelecommunicationsindustryonthistransformationjourney.

Alcatel-LucentandCiscoaretheonlyvendorswhoareontheNFVmanagementteamhelpingtodrivethevision,strategyandimplementation,togetherwiththefoundingoperators.WewereawardedourleadershippositionintheNFVISGduetoourpioneer-ingworkoverthelasttwoyearsontheconceptofthevirtualtelco(vTelco)andthesubsequentdevelopmentoftheenablingCloudBandplatform.WehaverecentlybeenaskedtochairtheSecurityDefinitionandArchitectureGroupoftheETSIISGaswell— afurtherreflectionofourleadershipinthisdomain.

WHAT IS NEXT FOR NFV?Alcatel-Lucent’scurrentfocusintheserviceproviderspaceistobuildstrongstrategicrelationshipswiththeNFVoperatorsandtohelpthemrealizethisfuture.Acombinedcompute,storageandnetworkconnectivitycloudmanagementandorchestrationplat-formisnecessaryineveryNFVimplementation.

Asaresult,ourCloudBandsolutionhasallowedustodevelopstrongrelationshipswithmanyTier1operatorsgloballyandweareworkingwiththemtodeployproofsofconcept,livetrials,andtocreateNFVlabsastheybegintheirNFVjourney.Eachoperatorisintheprocessofidentifyingthefirstapplicationsorfunctionstovirtualizeandweareactivelyhelpingquantifythebenefitsineachcasetoensuretherightchoicesaremadetoachievetheirspecificgoals.


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THE PROGRAMMABLE CLOUD NETWORKTheAlcatel-Lucentvisionforthefutureoftelecommunicationsnetworksisbasedonthreepillarsthatcombinetoformtheprogrammablecloudnetwork,anevolutionoftheHighLeverageNetwork(HLN)visionthatreflectsthenewcloudnetworkreality:

1.Acollectionofvirtualizednetworkelementsimplementedongeneral-purposecomputeplatformsandrunningoverahighlyefficientandreliableIPandtransportinfrastructure.

2.Anend-to-endcloudmanagementsystemproviding:

a. Automation,orchestrationandoptimizationofcomputeandstorageresourceswithpre-integratedcloudnodes.

b. Serviceon-boardingusingaPlatformasaService(PaaS)layerforNFVandothercloudapplications.

c. Carrier-gradereliability,securityandanalyticsforfullSLAsupport.

d. Integrationwithournetworkconnectivitysolution(NuageNetworks)foroptimaluseofcompute,storageandnetworkresources.

3.Apolicy-drivenSDNsolutiontoenabledynamicprogrammingoftheunderlyingnetworking infrastructure for automated data center networking with seamless WANinterworkingandacrossthetelconetworkatlargethroughseamlessnetworkchoreography.

TheessentialarchitectureisshowninFigure3.ThekeycomponentsofthisvisionaretheCloudBandCloudManagementSystemandNuageNetworks’SDN-basednetworkingsolu-tion.Theresultingsolutionhasthepotentialtocreatearevolutionincloudnetworkingbyprovidinganopen,massivelyscalable,multi-tenantplatformcombiningcomputeandstorageorchestrationwithseamlessnetworkservicechoreographyforauniquelyflexibleandefficientcloudinfrastructure.Thissolutioniscomplementedbythevirtualizationroadmapforourportfolio(availableuponrequest).OurIPmultimediasubsystem(IMS)andMotivesolutionsareamongthefirstofourproductstobeofferedinafullyvirtualizedform.

Figure 3. Alcatel-Lucent combines SDN, cloud orchestration and NFV

1830 PSS 7750 SR7950 XRS

VIRTUALCOMPUTE

VIRTUALSTORAGE

CLOUDBANDNODE

CLOUDBANDMANAGEMENTSYSTEM

NUAGENETWORKSVSP

NETWORKVIRTUALIZATION &

AUTOMATION

PROGRAMMABLE CLOUD NETWORK API

CLOUDORCHESTRATION &

AUTOMATION

VIRTUALSWITCHES

MAN/WAN

IT SERVICESPaaS, IaaS

APPLICATIONSERVICES SaaS

NVFAPPLICATIONS


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CONCLUSIONSDNandNFVhavethepotentialtoprofoundlytransformourindustryinthecomingyears,andAlcatel-Lucentisattheforefrontofdrivingthischangebybringingthedatacenterouttothenetworkandthenetworkintothedatacenter.

Theuniquenessofourapproachcanbesummarizedasfollows:weviewthecloudasawidelydistributedmultivendorinfrastructureconsistingofdatacentersofallsizeslocatedthroughoutthenetwork,withdynamicallyoptimizedVMplacementandotherresourceallocation,basedonthenetworkstatusandthespecificneedsoftheapplicationanditsusers.

Efficientnetworkmanagementiscriticaltothisdistributedcloudenvironment.Alloftheothersolutionsonthemarketuseanorchestration-basedapproachforcompute,storageandnetworking.Consequently,theyuseatraditionalconfiguration-basedapproachtothecriticalnetworkingportionofserviceconfiguration.

Incontrast,Alcatel-Lucenthasdecoupledthenetworkingportionandhasimplementedapolicy-baseddistributedservicerouting-typeapproachtodatacenternetworking.Inourarchitecture,computeorstorageresourcesareinstantiatedbythecloudmanagementsystem,whichresultsinautomatictriggeringofarequesttoacentralizedpolicyserverfornetworkingservices.ThesenetworkingservicesarethenautomaticallychoreographedbyassociatingtheflowwithneworexistingLayer2andLayer3+forwardinglabelsandrulesthatallowthedatacenternetworktoconnecttotheWANroutingandVPNinfrastructure.ThisapproachresultsinseamlessconnectivityfromtheVMallthewaytotheenduser.

Alcatel-LucentrecognizesthattorealizethebenefitsofNFV,anopen,multivendorcloudplatformthatunderstandsthespecificneedsofvirtualizednetworkfunctionsisrequired.Withthisplatform,serviceproviderscanautomatedistributedcloudmanagement.Theycanalsoautomatethefulllifecycleofnetworkfunctions,interfacingwithanSDNcomponenttoaddressthenetworkingneedsofthesefunctions.

WithAlcatel-Lucentastheirpartner,networkoperatorscandeployacomprehensivesolutioncomprisedofaleadingcloudmanagementsolutionforNFVandanovelauto-matedapproachtoSDN.

www.alcatel-lucent.com Alcatel, Lucent, Alcatel-Lucent and the Alcatel-Lucent logo are trademarks of Alcatel-Lucent. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. The information presented is subject to change without notice. Alcatel-Lucent assumes no responsibility for inaccuracies contained herein. Copyright © 2013 Alcatel-Lucent. All rights reserved. NP2013051357EN (June)

ABBREVIATIONSAPI application programming interface

ASIC application-specific integrated circuit

ASSP Application-specific standard product

BSS business support system

CAPEX capital expenditure

CPE customer premises equipment

DSP digital signal processor

ETSI European Telecommunications

Standards Institute

GPP General-purpose processors

HLN High Leverage Network

IETF Internet Engineering Task Force

IMS IP multimedia subsystem

ISG Industry Specification Group

NFV Network Functions Virtualization

NPU network processor unit

ONF Open Networking Foundation

OPEX operating expenditure

OSS operations support system

PaaS Platform as a Service

PHY physical layer

PON passive optical network

QoS quality of service

RAN radio access network

RF radio frequency

ROI return on investment

SDN Software Defined Networking

SLA service level agreement

VLAN virtual LAN

VM virtual machine

VPN virtual private network

vSwitch virtual switch

vTelco virtual telco

CONTACTSFor further information please contact:MarcusWeldon,[email protected]

MarkClougherty,[email protected]

PeterBusschbachCoreNetworksCTOPartnerPeter.Busschbach@alcatel-lucent.com

DavidAmzallag,[email protected]

THE PROGRAMMABLE CLOUD NETWORK€¦ · networks, operations support systems (OSS) and business...

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