Huawei to build testing lab for NFV and SDN

Huawei is building a testing lab to help spur the adoption of network-functions virtualisation (NFV) and software-defined networking (SDN) technologies by telecoms companies.

The firm said its Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV) Open Lab would stimulate innovation, development and collaboration around NFV, SDN and other cloud computing technologies. It said the lab would ensure NFV offerings and carrier grade infrastructure are compatible with emerging NFV standards and with the Open Platform NFV source (OPNFV).

The NFV Open Lab will have three sites, located in China, Germany and the US. Efforts will be focused on the integrating telecom NFV/SDN and cloud technologies, testing, technical showcases and certifications for the emerging NFV industry.

Huawei is putting its full weight behing NFV, which it believes will “break the isolation of traditional telecommunications networks, shorten innovation cycles, reduce operating costs and create an open industry chain”.

A report by analyst firm Infonetics Research forecasted the market for global carrier SDN and NFV hardware and software to grow from less than $500 million in 2013 to more than $11 billion in 2018, with NFV accounting for the majority of the market.

"For three years, the telecom industry has been abuzz over SDN and NFV, with anticipation and hard work developing the vision, goals, architectures, use cases, proof-of-concept projects, field trials, and even some commercial deployments," said Michael Howard, Infonetics Research co-founder and principal analyst for carrier networks.

By 2018, SDN and NFV software will account for three-quarters of the overall revenues in the SDN and NFV market, according to Howard.