Network Function Virtualization (NFV): What It Is and How It Works

The newest concept that has emerged and is being discussed in the industry is Network Function Virtualization (NFV). It has rightfully taken its place as a significant development towards creating a more agile and cost-effective network infrastructure. NFV simplifies network and telecommunications infrastructure deployment and management, making it easier to collect and analyze data and improve business processes.

While the modern concept of NFV emerged in 2012, the roots of virtualization can be traced back to 1960, when virtual memory management was first made possible on mainframes. 

So what is Network Function Virtualization, and how does this cutting-edge technology fit into the industry's shift towards enabling more consolidated, open, and packet-based networks.

Explain Network Function Virtualization

Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is a cost-effective and efficient method for network operators to accelerate service deployment. It is achieved by separating functions like encryption or firewalls from dedicated hardware and migrating them to virtual servers.

By implementing NFV, service providers can use storage, and servers to run virtual machines that perform network functions. Consolidating multiple functions into a single physical server reduces costs and limits the need for on-site visits.

Moreover, if a customer requires a new network function, the service provider can spin up a new virtual machine to fulfill that function. It eliminates the need for deploying new hardware appliances across the network, as encryption software can be deployed on a standardized server or switch already in the network.

NFV offers network operators scalability and customization across the entire network by virtualizing network functions rather than the whole network. It reduces dependency on dedicated hardware appliances and improves network operators' flexibility.

Network Function Virtualization: Architecture

NFV offers an open architecture that provides flexible options for deploying an NFV solution. It consists of three layers that work together seamlessly to enable network service providers to deliver efficient and reliable services:

• Network Functions Virtualization Infrastructure (NFVi) - This layer includes the hardware and infrastructure software platform required to run network applications. It provides the necessary computing, storage, and networking resources to support the virtualization of network functions. NFVi can be deployed on various hardware platforms, including commodity servers, storage devices, and switches.
• Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) - They are software applications that deliver specific network functions, like security, routing, IP multimedia subsystems, video, mobile core, and more. They are deployed on top of the NFVi layer and can be quickly provisioned and scaled up or down in response to changing network demands. VNFs can be provided by different vendors and run on various hardware platforms.
• Management, Automation, and Network Orchestration (MANO) - MANO is the framework for managing and orchestrating NFVi and VNFs. It provides the necessary tools for efficiently deploying, managing, and scaling network services. MANO includes service orchestration, lifecycle management, and resource allocation.

Why Network Function Virtualization?

NFV technology enables the virtualization of network services over the cloud. The entire network service can be virtualized using virtual machines, eliminating the need for hardware infrastructure. This innovative framework allows for robust software installation across network locations and addresses many concerns in developing and advancing telecom service provider networks. These include:

• Vendor Independence and Hardware Flexibility

Legacy vendors typically offer their network functions on custom and dedicated hardware that is difficult and expensive to upgrade. However, with the adoption of NFV technology, network functions can be virtualized and run on COTS (commercially available off-the-shelf) hardware. This approach enables service providers to share hardware across multiple network functions, providing the advantage of software decoupling and the ability to build a flexible virtual infrastructure that saves space, power, time, and costs.

By leveraging NFV, service providers can mix and match vendors and functions for different features, post-deployment support models, software licensing costs, roadmaps, and more. This approach provides greater flexibility and choice for operators and can lead to cost savings, as service providers can avoid vendor lock-in and choose the best solution for their specific needs.

• Faster Service Life Cycle

Compared to physical hardware, Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) can be rapidly created and removed on-the-fly. The lifecycle of a VNF is much shorter and more dynamic since these functions are typically added when needed and can be quickly provisioned through automated software tools that do not require any onsite activity.

NFV technology helps network operators commission or decommission services with a button without needing physical shipping or delivery trucks. It leads to a dramatic reduction in deployment time, from weeks to minutes. The ability to quickly provision and decommission VNFs gives service providers greater agility and responsiveness to changing customer demands and market conditions.

• Rapid Deployment of Solutions

By decoupling software functionality from physical hardware, NFV technology enables operators to deploy new solutions and features into production rapidly. This approach eliminates the need for lengthy change requests or new appliances from legacy vendors, resulting in a faster and more agile deployment process.

Moreover, the flexibility of NFV technology supports the use of open-source tools and software services. This approach allows operators to leverage a wide range of software solutions, including those developed by the open-source community. By using open-source tools and software, service providers can reduce costs and accelerate innovation while maintaining the flexibility to choose the best solution for their needs.

• Elasticity and Scalability

Scalability is a top priority for service providers, as they need to meet new requirements and increase capacity as their network grows. However, traditional network equipment can be inflexible and costly to upgrade, requiring significant time and monetary investment. In contrast, NFV technology provides a flexible and scalable solution, enabling service providers to expand or reduce the resources used by VNFs quickly.

NFV technology offers many benefits, including increased flexibility in network service provisioning, improved scalability and automation, and faster deployment of new services. With NFV, service providers can efficiently ensure elasticity by offloading the workload of a VNF and spinning up a new instance to implement the same network function, thereby sharing the load with an existing VNF.

• Lower Energy Consumption

One of the critical benefits of NFV is its ability to reduce energy consumption in network operations. The power management features of standard servers and storage, workload consolidation and location optimization, NFV can help service providers achieve significant energy savings.

For example, NFV allows service providers to focus the workload on fewer servers during off-peak hours, such as nighttime, so that all other servers can be switched off or put into energy-saving mode. It can substantially reduce energy usage, resulting in lower operational costs and a smaller carbon footprint.

• Amorphous Service Offering

An NFV-enabled deployment is not a one-time design and deployment solution. Instead, it offers the flexibility to adapt to changing market demands and to provide targeted services that meet those evolving needs. By leveraging elasticity and deployment agility, network operators can rapidly shift the location and capacities of network functions, achieving workload mobility that enables them to respond quickly to changing demands.

• Operational Efficiency and Agility

NFV is automation-friendly, enabling M2M (machine-to-machine) tools to their fullest potential. These tools automatically detect when a network function requires more memory or other resources, reducing downtime and enhancing network maintenance activities. 

For example, when a VNF requires maintenance, NFV allows spinning up a new instance to replace it temporarily, enabling In-Service-Software-Upgrade (ISSU) and ensuring 24/7 self-healing networks. It minimizes operational losses due to network outages and provides smooth, uninterrupted customer service.

Network Function Virtualization: Use Cases

NFV has a wide range of applications, making it an attractive solution for service providers seeking to improve their networks. Some of the leading NFV applications include:

• Content Delivery Networks

A CDN, or content delivery network, is a network of servers distributed across different locations to provide end users with fast and reliable content delivery. It is widely used to deliver various types of online content, such as web applications, streaming media, media files, documents, software, and even security-related applications. CDN operators generate revenue by charging content owners for their services and paying a hosting fee to ISPs and network operators for using their infrastructure.

• IP Multimedia Subsystems

IMS, or IP Multimedia Subsystem, is a standards-based architectural framework that delivers secure and reliable multimedia communications services over IP networks. With IMS, various devices and networks can be unified into a single infrastructure, standardizing the implementation and management of next-generation mobile networks. The IMS core includes several key components, including the Call Session Control Function, Home Subscriber Server, Media Resource Functions, Signaling Gateway, and Media Gateway Control Function, which provide a robust control layer.

• Network Monitoring

Network monitoring is a crucial aspect of network management that involves constantly checking networking devices and components such as firewalls, servers, routers, switches, and VMS for faults and failures. When any discrepancy is detected, an alert is triggered to notify system administrators via email or SMS, allowing them to take prompt action to improve or rectify the issue. By optimizing performance, ensuring high availability, and minimizing downtime, network monitoring helps keep networks running smoothly and efficiently.

• Video Servers

Video servers are crucial in delivering video content through various devices, mainly in two critical applications: broadcasting and security surveillance. For surveillance purposes, a video server captures video using one or more analog or digital inputs, allows network connectivity for analog components to digitize and stream the video over an IP network, and provides users access to it via a mobile app or a web browser. For broadcasting, it offers a bidirectional platform to record and ingest video from external sources, stores the video, enables editing, and transfers the final output to multiple video streams.

• Security Accelerator Functions

In recent years, significant technological advancements have led to the development of more advanced security tools for protecting virtual and physical assets. It has paved the way for centralizing and virtualizing security functions like intrusion detection and prevention systems, firewalls, spam protection systems, virus scanners, and more. For instance, virtual firewalls are now widely used as NFV solutions for securing virtual machines. As technology evolves, we can expect more security functions to be virtualized, providing greater flexibility and scalability for network security.

Conclusion

While NFV is a relatively new concept, it is widely anticipated to become an increasingly popular alternative to the traditional network infrastructure in the coming years. NFV is already transforming traditional networks into software programmable domains, making them more straightforward to operate and easier to maintain and facilitating the convergence of IT and telecoms. This convergence is expected to revolutionize network operations, paving the way for the creation of new services and even new business models.

According to a report by MarketsandMarkets, the global network function virtualization market size is expected to grow from $12.9 billion in 2020 to USD 36.3 billion by 2025 at a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 22.9%. This growth is driven by the increasing adoption of cloud services and the growing demand for data center consolidation and virtualization technologies. For the adoption of virtualization technologies, professionals with expertise in network virtualization are required. Therefore, taking a network function virtualization course could be a smart career move, especially if you are interested in networking or IT.

Skill-Lync's network function virtualization course is an online program designed to comprehensively understand NFV technology and its applications. Talk to our experts to get your free demo.