Small Cell Forum Publishes Network Function Guide Release 8

IoT and 5G are predicted to work hand-in-hand in the near future, and Small Cell Forum (SCF) has announced Release 8, a guide that details “technical and commercial best practice for operators planning to deploy Network Function Virtualization (NFV),” according to VanillaPlus.com. The site said that small cell virtualization “will be a key enabler of 5G HetNets, enterprise services and [IoT].”

SCF’s Release 8 aims to:

• explore the benefits of IoT, including scalability, agility, cost reduction and network slicing.
• combine experience of today’s real-world deployments of NFV technology with small cells, which will be “invaluable in building out the networks for the future.”
• provide a stepping stone to network slicing, which allows virtualized network resources to be ready for on-demand technology and wholesale connectivity business models and multi-operator sharing.
• provide an open interface specification (network functional application platform interface) that splits the small cell into physical and virtual components. This will link physical and virtual that can be “transported over the packet ethernet connections widely available in enterprise, urban and campus deployments.”
• contain documents to “accelerate commercial adoption of virtualized small cells, including details of network architectures, management, transport performance requirements impact on deployment and operations.” 

Virtualization “allows network functions to be separated from the radio, and run on commodity hardware, including the Cloud.” Resources can then be scaled by number and type of mobile services.

Small Cell Forum Chair David Orloff tells VanillaPlus.com “The benefits to the mobile industry of virtualization are clear, with a range of major advantages including cost reduction, scalability and the ability to offer a broad range of new services. However, as with many new technologies, the threat of fragmentation is very real. Small Cell Forum is in the vanguard of this movement and the experience from this sector is invaluable to the wider industry, particularly in light of 5G and IoT.”

November 10, 2016