What network function virtualisation (NFV) will mean for

service fulfilment
July 2015
Dean Ramsay

The main theme of this year’s TM Forum Live! event was network function virtualisation (NFV), and what the
OSS vendor community is doing to prepare its solution sets for the technology’s introduction. Many virtual
network function (VNF) proof-of-concept (PoC) exercises and trials are already underway worldwide. The
introduction of virtualised network environments into mature commercial communications networks will create
a physical–virtual hybrid network with a new set of challenges for communications service providers (CSPs).
This comment summarises the current state of thinking surrounding NFV, what it will mean for the evolution of
OSS and how far the industry is from introducing NFV in large-scale deployments.

Fundamental changes in OSS are required in order for CSPs to

benefit from NFV
For service fulfilment system vendors, the introduction of NFV has a significant impact on the design of their
traditional legacy fulfilment solutions, where a single stack can manage the fulfilment of services that span
legacy and virtual networks. However, in order to take advantage of the benefits of using a virtualised network –
and to realise operational flexibility and service agility – fundamental changes to the way that OSS work
together are required.

Orchestration layers in the OSS and network management systems are being introduced: these layers mediate
and control the provisioning flow between the various software systems in order to enable ‘zero touch’
automation on network orders, as well as facilitate customer service orders. In addition, systems that were
previously not required to work in real-time are being moved to a real-time state to allow provisioning flows and
dynamic network changes. Finally, CSPs are focusing on a service-orientated deployment strategy for NFV
(rather than a network- or platform-based strategy). As a result, service fulfilment functions will play a more
important role than they did previously, and could act as a potential bottleneck in the automated provisioning
process.

We predict strong growth in the addition of virtualised

environments to commercial networks
Commercial deployments of virtual networks remain limited and have not yet been proved for a scale of
millions of subscribers and network functions. However, we expect strong growth in the number of virtual
network deployments (see Analysys Mason’s Cloud computing, NFV and SDN: worldwide market sizing and
forecast 2014–2018). During this initial growth phase, we have been speaking to many OSS vendors that are
preparing for their service fulfilment portfolio to meet the challenges of the hybrid network, as well as to meet
the demands of their CSP customers that increasingly need to provide next-generation digital services, complex
bundled services and to operate within new and more complex value chains.

© Analysys Mason Limited 2015 July 2015

 What network function virtualisation (NFV) will mean for service fulfilment | 2

Figure 1: Next-generation OSS functional architecture

BSS BSS and service layer

APIs APIs

Service Service
vNGN-OSS fulfilment assurance

Service orchestration layer

Network orchestrators Network orchestrators

VIM NMS VIM SDN controller

Network VNFs EMS VNFs PNF
SDN-enabled PNF SDN-enabled

Source: Analysys Mason

What the CSPs and vendors are saying

We met several OSS vendors that are involved in PoC trials with CSPs that are integrating real-world
experience with the theories underpinning hybrid network environment service orchestration. Several common
themes emerged that have an impact on service fulfilment and OSS as a whole.

 Order management will be significantly impacted by the introduction of a service orchestration layer
because many of the functions of the order management system will be superseded by a new, more-
advanced counterpart in orchestration.

 ‘Zero-touch’ automation for OSS and network management functions will be essential in order to realise the
perceived operational and service agility benefits of deploying a virtualised network environment.

 Network analytics will continue to be critical to the development of service-led solutions that can
dynamically support rapid on-demand service creation in a constantly changing environment (in terms of
design, planning, optimisation and (de-)provisioning).

 Inventory systems must become near real-time.

 Vendors must develop multi-domain, multi-vendor and open solutions that can manage both physical and
virtual network functions.

 It is increasingly important to have a strong connection between service fulfilment and service assurance –
this will ensure end-to-end automation and orchestration.

Analysys Mason is conducting a series of in-depth studies on the impact of NFV and software-defined
networking (SDN) on the telecoms software market, including a focus on the service orchestration layer, how it
will change the face of service fulfilment and what vendors must do to remain competitive.

© Analysys Mason Limited 2015 July 2015