The Open Network Automation Platform (ONAP) Project has unveiled its first platform release, ONAP Amsterdam, to help service providers with ongoing efforts to virtualize their networks.
Amsterdam aims to deliver a unified architecture for end-to-end, closed-loop network automation, according to the group.
Providing a new service delivery lifecycle for teleco, cable, and cloud providers, ONAP said it’s the first open-source project to bring together the majority of operators (end users) with the majority of vendors (integrators) to build a real service automation and orchestration platform.
“Amsterdam represents significant progress for both the ONAP community and the greater open source networking ecosystem at large,” Arpit Joshipura, general manager of Networking and Orchestration at The Linux Foundation, noted in a statement. “By bringing together member resources, Amsterdam is the first step toward realization of a globally shared architecture and implementation for network automation, based on open source and open standards. It’s exciting to see a new era of industry collaboration and architectural convergence – via a healthy, rapidly diversifying ecosystem – begin to take shape with the release of ONAP Amsterdam.”
In recent months ONAP’s community reached a “tipping point” Joshipura told Wireless Week in October, with more than 55 percent of global mobile subscribers participating through member companies that have joined the community.
The first ONAP release details two initial use cases. The first is VoLTE (Voice Over LTE), which enables voice to be unified onto IP networks. The second use case is residential vCPE. Communication service providers can quickly add new services on-demand to residential customers for new revenue streams, and keep up with competition, since all services with ONAP are provided in-network, the group said.
“In six short months, the community has rallied together to produce a platform that transforms the service delivery lifecycle via closed-loop automation,” Mazin Gilbert, ONAP Technical Steering Committee (TSC) chair, and VP of Advanced Technology at AT&T Labs, said. “This initial release provides blueprints for service provider use cases, representing the collaboration and innovation of the community.”
The unified architecture provided in the Amsterdam release includes code from open-source ECOMP and OPEN-O to deliver design-time and run-time environments within a single, policy-driven orchestration platform, according ONAP.
Common, vendor-agnostic models are key, which allow service providers to rapidly design and implement new services utilizing best-of-breed components, even within existing brownfield environments.
ONAP is also able to manage and orchestrate both virtualized and physical network functions.
The community said member companies representing all corners of the ecosystem (vendors, telecom providers, cable and cloud operators, NFV vendors) are already leveraging ONAP for commercial products and services, and Amsterdam code is also integrated into proof of concepts.
Even though the first release has just come out, ONAP isn’t wasting any time getting started on the second release, dubbed Beijing, which is scheduled to hit during the summer 2018.
Beijing will focus on enhancements around scale, stability, security, and performance. It will also feature more use cases to support service provider needs, key 5G features, and inter-cloud connectivity.
Filed Under: Infrastructure