New Version of Cloudify Launches with Fully Open vCPE Solution Delivered through TOSCA-based, Orchestration-First Platform

Cloudify announced that the open-source Cloudify software platform announced last week is already in use by several carriers via an early access program to manage virtual network functions (VNFs) across multiple cloud environments. Cloudify 4 allows carriers to move from VNF concept to production faster and with open source tools.

Cloudify is an open source multi-cloud management software platform. The latest version —Cloudify 4—shipped last week with new features that present a direct threat to legacy cloud management platforms (CMPs) used by enterprises. These legacy CMPs—such as RightScale and CloudForms—are showing their age now that orchestration-first approaches like Cloudify have matured, adding CMP features and enhanced performance in the latest version. 

New Open vCPE
This week at NFV World Congress, Cloudify is launching a new Open vCPE (virtual customer premises equipment) services solution. The open, multi-tenant service portal allows carriers to configure and deploy VNFs, build network service chains and on-board new VNFs in days where previously weeks or months were required.

The Cloudify Open vCPE solution is designed to reduce risk by lowering the initial investment and speeding the time to deployment and revenue generation. It first optimizes the existing physical environment by moving the configuration processes into a self-service model. Operators then begin to gradually plug in new VNFs and infrastructure. This approach frees users from having to change the entire infrastructure environment before moving to automation and generating value.

The solution is based on an actual carrier deployment in which it delivers a custom vCPE/SD-WAN (software-defined wide area network) solution. It integrates with the carrier’s existing CPE stack as well as OSS and BSS systems. The project was delivered from contract to production in three months and at a fraction of the cost of alternative solutions.

The solution demonstrates that generic, open source cloud orchestration makes it possible to eliminate hardware vendor lock-in, via a vCPE/SD-WAN engine that is dynamically configured to simplify the setup and deployment of any new remote branch connection automatically upon registration. This includes Day 1 and Day 2 post-deployment operations. Cloudify orchestrates complex topologies and simplifies deployment, service chain and VNF swapping while in production.

The Cloudify Open vCPE solution includes key features such as:

●     Generic VNF configuration toolkit (e.g., Netconf, YANG)

●     Cloud-native service chaining

●     Custom multi-tenant portal

●     Simple VNF onboarding toolkit

●     Open and standards-based solution

Business value delivered by the Cloudify Open vCPE solution includes:

●     Optimization of shared physical resources

●     Full automation of the end-to-end service lifecycle

●     Reduction of VNF licensing costs

●     Leveraging existing skillsets for network configuration and management

●     Faster deployment of new services

Cloudify Supporting the Linux Foundation’s ONAP Project

NFV is a major undertaking—technically and operationally. Even powerhouse carriers like AT&T and China Mobile understand they can’t go it alone. For this reason, Cloudify is a founding sponsor of the ONAP project as a means to collaborate across the industry to address the challenges of broad NFV adoption, working together to find standards-based solutions. The Cloudify open source project was born as an open source project and has been an active member in several open initiatives, including OpenStack, Open-O, the Linux and Apache Foundations, OASIS TOSCA and ETSI.

Source: Cloudify media announcement