As part of the release of ECOMP (Enhanced Control, Orchestration, Management and Policy) into open source, AT&T will later this year release the software it’s been using as part of the VNF on-boarding process called ICE for Incubation & Certification Environment.

That could influence ongoing efforts for the telecom industry to address the need for a common approach to bringing multiple virtual network functions into their networks.

As network operators move to commercially deploy network functions virtualization, they are being stymied by the multiple ways that vendors have created for on-boarding VNFs. Public statements from people such as Chris Rice of AT&T and David Amzallag of Vodafone have identified VNF on-boarding as a critical issue, and one that needs to be solved across the industry. (See AT&T’s Rice: Stamp Out NFV ‘Snowflakes’ and Vodafone: Desperately Seeking Cloud-Centric Tech.)

There are multiple standards development organizations (SDOs) looking at this process, including the MEF and the TM Forum, that are willing to work together on this process.

Speaking earlier this month at AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T)’s big 2017 tech statement at its flagship store in San Francisco, Rice said ECOMP, now an open source project under the Linux Foundation, will spell out what a VNF should look like, but there will need to be further action, including something such as ICE, to enable the on-boarding process to be streamlined and automated. (See Will ECOMP Be the Alpha MANO? )

Erik Sundelof, lead engineer on AT&T’s Domain 2.0 project, said in an interview at the same event that the ICE software, developed for D2, would be released into open source at mid-year. AT&T has used it so far to do 238 validations of VNFs, including 132 different VNFs — the difference in the number relates to iterations of the VNFs.

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