How NFV systems converge virtual network services at the edge

Think back to the days before smartphones, when people would carry around a variety of electronic devices, such as flip phones, digital cameras, MP3 players, fitness trackers, Nintendo game consoles, and more. Whenever you go out, you probably need a backpack to carry these electronic products. However, after modern technology has integrated all these functions into smartphones, some electronic products that once had a market size of billions of dollars have been ruthlessly eliminated. And 10 years ago, the same thing happened in the network industry, thanks to NFV systems.

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Functionality once delivered through discrete hardware is now encapsulated in software applications running as virtual appliances on servers, and server virtualization and containerization are the foundation of today’s enterprise software stack. What virtualization does for business applications is deliver network services in the form of NFV and virtual or universal customer premise equipment (known as vCPE and uCPE, respectively).

The rationale for using servers to run multiple network services is similar to the rationale for incorporating digital cameras, media players, and GPS devices into cell phones: it provides greater flexibility, convenience, performance, and manageability at lower costs by leveraging economies of scale and new technologies. Unlike smartphones’ low-power systems-on-chip (SoCs), imaging chips, and touchscreen displays, NFV systems and infrastructure leverage increasingly powerful server processors, switch chips, and solid-state storage devices, enabling the cabinet to accommodate more network applications and user sessions.

Software-defined networking (SDN) and functions benefit both operators and enterprises. Operators were the first to realize the benefits of NFV and have implemented most of the early NFV deployments. However, as enterprises redesign their networks using software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) to provide lower-cost, high-performance connections to branch offices, warehouses, and temporary workspaces, they are rediscovering the advantages of distributed infrastructure (edge ​​computing). These two trends, network function virtualization and edge computing, are now beginning to converge as edge infrastructure has emerged as a way to combine SD-WAN endpoints and other network services on a single piece of hardware.

Fast-growing market

Like most nascent trends, NFV edge hardware has no fixed or widely accepted boundaries. The imprecision of its semantics leads to different estimates of market size and growth rate. However, most network observers agree that its sales are rising rapidly.

The edge virtual networking market consists of three categories:

• NFV Infrastructure (NFVI) – This refers to the equipment within an enterprise data center or a carrier network, including the core, central office, and, soon, wireless base stations.
• A virtual client device that includes network applications and system software.
• Generic customer premises equipment or hardware that may be a dedicated device, a remote switch/router, or a small server. Small, low-power uCPE typically includes devices using SoCs (Arm, NXP/power, MIPS) or low-end Intel CPUs (Atom, Celeron).

A fundamental element of a network function virtualization setup, where virtual network functions (VNFs) are the building blocks within the NFV framework.

Together, these components provide a virtual implementation of network services, and their growth is exploding.

Network Function Virtualization is on the rise

Here is a look at the market developments for the components that make virtualized network services possible:

• IDC estimates that total revenue for network edge hardware and software will be approximately $800 million in 2018 for vCPE/uCPE and will grow at a CAGR of approximately 31% to nearly $3.2 billion by 2023.
• Another IDC report on the telecom virtual network function (VNF) market predicts that the market will grow by 45% to more than $16 billion by 2022.
• IHS Markit estimates that the uCPE market will reach $1 billion by 2022.
• Technavio predicts that the vCPE market will grow at an annual rate of 45% to reach approximately $3.6 billion by 2023.
• Although Gartner has not yet released revenue estimates, it predicts that by 2023, 65% of enterprises worldwide will have unified communications solutions deployed via SD-WAN, up from less than 10% in 2018. These will primarily be endpoints for telecom services, as only 10% of enterprises will implement premises-based network function virtualization services.

Granted, such high growth rates are typical of emerging markets built from scratch. However, there are several factors that will drive NFV, vCPE, and uCPE sales to multi-billion dollar proportions. These include:

• Telecom operators use edge infrastructure to build distributed software-defined networks to provide 5G capacity (via virtual radio access network technology), network services, and streaming content.
• Enterprises are adopting SD-WAN to replace traditional WANs and use a converged infrastructure to deliver network and application services. In fact, Gartner predicts that by 2023, 65% of enterprises will deploy virtual network services via SD-WAN, while further estimating that 30% of enterprise locations will rely entirely on Internet broadband circuits, compared to 10% in 2019.

Features and use cases

In addition to the cost benefits of using commodity components, the main benefit of a converged virtual network infrastructure is the flexibility to run multiple services on a single piece of hardware. The software-based design also makes it possible to combine multiple VNFs into so-called service chains, allowing the SD-WAN endpoint to terminate at an IP voice session border controller or firewall.

The most popular VNFs for enterprises of all sizes include:

• SD-WAN.
• Firewall (usually using next-generation software that adds deep packet inspection, layer 7 filtering, and intrusion prevention systems).
• Routers and switches.
• Application delivery controller for Layer 3 to Layer 7 load balancing.
• Media servers and content delivery/caching.
• Session Border Controller (VoIP management and security over the public Internet).

NFV System Products

The focus of NFV and vCPE is to decouple network hardware from software to provide the flexibility to use any processor architecture and system design capable of running a virtualization or container stack. This adaptability makes it impossible to compile an exhaustive list of NFV products, as any computer can run virtual network services, whether it is a 4U and 4S with more than TB of memory or a Raspberry Pi using an Arm SoC with DDR memory. Nevertheless, system vendors have responded to the growing interest in converged virtual services by releasing products targeted at network edge environments.

The following are the mainstream products currently available:

(1) The Cisco CSP 5000 Series includes 1U and 2U 2S systems based on UCS C220 and C240 ​​servers and a version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux customized for NFV applications. The Cisco CSP 5000 system supports a variety of Cisco VNFs, including:

• Cloud Services Router 1000V and XRv 9000 routers.
• Adaptive Security Virtual Appliance (ASAv).
• Firepower Next-Generation Firewall.
• Virtual WAN Application Services (vWAAS).

(2) Nexus 1000V Virtual Security Gateway and Virtual Hypervisor Module

The Cisco ENCS 5000 is a hybrid computing router platform for enterprise edge deployments. ENCS integrates Cisco's virtual integrated services router, integrated SD-WAN software, vWAAS, ASAv and virtual wireless LAN controller, as well as support for the vendor's NFV infrastructure software platform.

• Cisco HyperFlex Edge hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) is a series of 1U, 2S servers supporting up to 128 GB of capacity and three to eight hard drives designed for edge applications, including NFV.
• The ClearFog CX LX2K and CX CN9K COM Express type 7 networking platforms are small form factor SoC-based systems with 100 and 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) interfaces designed for uCPE applications using an embedded Linux kernel.
• Dell Virtual Edge Platform (VEP) 4600 is a uCPE product that supports SD-WAN and other VNFs. It can be used as a scalable 1U system with 2x10 GbE and 4x1 GbE, or as a small appliance with 2x10 GbE and 6x1 GbE. The VEP product supports VMware ESXi and Velocloud (SD-WAN), Versa (SD-WAN) and Adva integrated network virtualization platforms.
• The Dell PowerEdge R640, R740xd or VxRail D-Series are 1U HCI systems suitable for NFV workloads when paired with VMware vCloud NFV (vCloud edition that includes NSX-T and optimized network applications).
• HPE Edgeline Converged Edge Systems are a series of 1U, 2U and blade servers that are primarily intended for remote offices and harsh environments (via ruggedized hardware). Similar to the Dell product, Edgeline does not include an NFV stack, but supports the same VMware software or other Linux/OpenStack networking platforms.
• Lanner vCPE/uCPE platforms are x86-based appliances available in either rack-mount or desktop configurations with up to 16 10GbE ports and optional Wi-Fi and LTE connectivity that have been validated with many VNF products.
• Lenovo ThinkSystem Edge servers (SR655, SR650, SR630, and SE350) are validated as Intel Select Solutions for NFVI, with models optimized for network workloads in remote offices, mobile edge, and carrier core.

Why are enterprises interested in edge NFVI?

Enterprise interest in edge servers using NFVI is driven by four factors:

• There is a growing preference for using SD-WAN over broadband rather than traditional data circuits for long-distance connections.
• Widespread availability of virtual software appliances for SD-WAN and other network services.
• Processing power is available in compact, 1U systems that can run virtual machines or container stacks hosting multiple applications.
• Infrastructure management software that enables centralized management, monitoring, and governance of distributed systems under a single interface.

Together, these factors provide enterprises with the flexibility to consolidate network services and enterprise applications on the same NFV system and hardware, which can improve the performance, efficiency and scalability of remote infrastructure compared to traditional dedicated network hardware.