Cisco, Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia form NFV Interoperability Testing Initiative

Cisco, Ericsson, Huawei, and Nokia have signed a memorandum of understanding to create the NFV Interoperability Testing Initiative (NFV-ITI). The effort will aim to promote the use of network functions virtualization (NFV) in multivendor environments by aligning the industry on generic principles for NFV interoperability testing and support for "specific customer situations."

The NFV players say the initiative has become necessary as a wide variety of standards bodies and industry groups have attempted to tackle interoperability testing from different angles. Groups and test activities cited in the NFVI-ITI announcement include the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) NFV Testing WG, OPNFV testing, Network Vendor Interoperability Testing (NVIOT) testing, and the New IP Agency (NIA) interoperability testing.

The NFVI-ITI will seek to complement these efforts by testing interoperability configurations of commercial NFV platforms that are actually used in the communication service providers' networks. It will recommend generic principles, including interoperability test cases, test criteria, processes, methods, guidelines, templates, and testing tools. The group members say they also will apply best practices from all existing interoperability testing activities in the industry, such as the NVIOT forum efforts. The NFV-ITI founders assert the new initiative shall be well-aligned with the ETSI NFV Industry Specification Group and the OPNFV project.

The four vendors say they welcome others to join the group.

For related articles, visit the SDN/NFV Topic Center.

For more information on high-speed transmission systems and suppliers, visit the Lightwave Buyer's Guide.