Are CNFs, VNFs?

The answer is yes. Our recent report “The VNFO – Ripe for Change” says this loudly and clearly.

Pardon the atrocious image. But I hope it encapsulates the dilemma appropriately.

It is important to reiterate the reasons for including containers under VNF and in essence, Kubernetes under VNFO.

Both VMs and containers are virtualization methodologies. Thus, network functions synthesized using VMs and containers qualify as VNFs.

In VNFs orchestrated by containers are sometimes referred to as cloud-native NFs (CNFs). Insight Research has also employed this term as early as 2020. Over time however, we have observed that the usage of CNFs is neither consistent nor uniform.

Most ‘traditional’ MANOs such as ONAP, OSM and all proprietary offerings now support containers and Kubernetes. Containers are thus one more means towards achieving the end-objective of VNFs.

In such situations, Insight Research finds it more appropriate to use VNF as an umbrella term and under this term, refer to VM or container as the specific virtualization methodology.

The question then arises – where would we slot NFs orchestrated by containers encapsulated in VMs? Answer is containers. Similarly, NFs orchestrated by VMs encapsulated in containers are slotted under VMs.

Kaustubha Parkhi Principal Analyst, Insight Research

RELATED BLOGS

What ails 5G-SA?

Posted: August 11, 2022

      Our recent report “Virtual Core – Gateway to the “Real 5G”; brought out one thing very clearly – 5G SA is clearly taking longer than anticipated.  The reasons are many – telco ennui with the constant architectural flux without commensurate returns being the main one. Telcos have had their fingers burnt with the seemingly never-ending … Continue reading What ails 5G-SA?

5G, Spectrum Continuity, Spectrum Pricing and AGR … and a freewheeling chat with Vikram Tiwathia of COAI

Posted: October 19, 2020

        Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson are the joint winners for the Nobel Prize for Economics this year for their work “for improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats.” As we understand, the duo is credited with seminal work associated with the efficacy of the auctioning mechanism … Continue reading 5G, Spectrum Continuity, Spectrum Pricing and AGR … and a freewheeling chat with Vikram Tiwathia of COAI

SDN, NFV and Indian Telcos

Posted: October 21, 2018

      I returned with useful insights from the SDN-NFV India earlier this month. There were two discernible trends – optimistic solution vendors and cautious telcos. Indian telcos are worried about the following: Indian telcos, including the largest ones, are genuinely concerned about the solidity and stability of SDN and NFV products. Telcos think … Continue reading SDN, NFV and Indian Telcos