Operators looking at virtualising RAN functions can use the NFV framework to simplify the deployment and orchestration of RAN components
The ETSI Industry Specification Group for Network Functions Virtualisation (ISG NFV) has just published its specifications of Release 5 first drop as version 5.1.1. This release has several studies that enhance the Network Functions Virtualisation framework from new support for vitrualised RAN, multi-tenancy in NFV and Green NFV.
ETSI’s new study items include multi-tenancy support in NFV for managing resources and traffic across different tenants, the integration of Dyncast for optimising data flows based on network status, and power consumption and energy efficiency in NFV deployments. They also cover virtual network function (VNF) configuration options, the application of service-based architecture (SBA) in NFV management, enhanced container networking, virtualised RAN (vRAN) use cases, and an analysis of gaps between ETSI specifications and open source projects like ONAP and Kubernetes.
This is important for operators because by virtualising RAN functions, operators can dynamically allocate and scale resources based on demand. And as virtualisation streamlines network management and operations, the NFV framework subsequently simplifies the deployment and orchestration of RAN components.
ETSI’s NFV framework already provides the necessary architecture to support advanced use cases and maintain performance as 5G networks expand. Support for vRAN allows operators to build more flexible, efficient, and scalable networks – not least because with vRAN, operators can reduce reliance on proprietary hardware, lowering both capex and opex. This shift towards software-based solutions makes the network more cost-effective to deploy, maintain, and upgrade.
ETSI’s NFV Release 5 introduced features like multi-tenancy, which allows multiple operators to share the same infrastructure securely. This can be especially useful for operators looking to optimise resource usage across different tenants, ensuring isolated management and traffic separation.
New capabilities
Enhancements in Release 5 enable several new capabilities and features in NFV and extend Release 4 features – for example enhancements to support NFV for vRAN, extending the possible VNF configuration options, the study the applicability of the SBA design in NFV-MANO, gap analysis regarding the relationship with open source activities, like also enhancements in the NFV framework to support Physical Infrastructure Management (PIM).
ETSI said PIM and Container Infrastructure Service (CIS) Cluster Management (CCM) can support the management of CIS clusters which serve as the underlay of both cloud-native environments and virtualised resource environments. In addition, in Release 5 additional topics have been investigated to further support both virtualised and containerised deployments (like e.g., 5GC), NFV connectivity, NFV for 5G, VNF generic OAM and PaaS Services, and certificate management.
Stage 3 specifications have also been enhanced to support Flexible VNF and closed the gap with open source in ETSI GR NFV-IFA 051 such as ONAP, OpenStack Tacker and Kubernetes. In addition, stage 3 started to enhance NFVI capacity management for CIS cluster and VNF Configuration studied from ETSI GR NFV-EVE 022.