CSPs want multi-vendor interoperability not vertically-integrated "solutions" from one outlet

• Colt says interoperability is fundamental as far NFVi is concerned
• Fully separates NFVi from orchestration to ensure independence
• The CSP doesn’t want a vertically integrated NFV platform from a single vendor
• Colt builds NFVi into telco nodes: physical, virtualisation and management

Javier Benitez says interoperability is fundamental to Colt as far NFV infrastructure is concerned and that means the new network must be supported by a multitude of investors. To ensure that Colt can avoid vendor-lock in the company has made the strategic decision fully to separate NFV infrastructure from orchestration to ensure independence. He stresses that Colt is neither looking for nor wants an NFV platform that comes vertically integrated by a single vendor. He says Colt requires interoperability to be available from an NFV perspective, the functional perspective and from the orchestration perspective.

To build the future-proof NFV network and to ensure that it is fully distributed, Colt's infrastructure has two distinct elements. The first is 'universal CPE' for the enterprise and customer premises with limited computing resources. The second is to build NFV infrastructure into telco nodes. This second element has three components comprising, firstly, the physical infrastructure (made up of commodity hardware in terms of compute, network and storage resources), secondly, the virtualisation of those physical items and, thirdly, a cloud manager (which typically will be OpenStack).

Filmed at: SDN NFV World Congress 2018, The Hague, Netherlands