How Network Virtualization Will Revolutionize Telecommunication Infrastructure

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It’s a disruption that some have likened to the industrial revolution.

The evolution of the Internet of Things is changing the world in ways many of us could never have expected. We stand at the edge of a future defined by connected technology, self-driving vehicles, and artificial intelligence-driven solutions that tackle everything from data analytics to medical assistance. A future where everything is more streamlined, more convenient, and more efficient than ever before.

This is an exciting era, but it’s also an incredibly challenging one for the telecommunication industry. Modern telecom providers must now grapple with immense demand and complexity both internally and externally. The diverse range of endpoints represented by an IoT-defined landscape is not only vastly-distributed in geography but also generates an incredible volume of data.

According to analyst International Data Corporation (IDC), by 2025 we can expect to see 41.6 billion connected devices. Between them, they will generate approximately 79.4 zettabytes of data.

Existing network infrastructure simply isn’t built for this type or volume of demand. If telecom providers are going to keep pace with the times, they need to evolve past it. They need something more flexible, resilient, and scalable than traditional networking hardware is capable of providing.

Network virtualization provides an incredibly compelling solution here, one which rests at the core of developments such as 5G.

What is Network Virtualization?

Traditional networks are tied directly to the physical hardware that supports them. A virtualized network isn’t. Instead, network resources are abstracted from networking hardware and virtually provisioned as-needed.

In the telecom space, network virtualization may manifest in a few distinctive yet highly-complementary ways.

Traditional network virtualization pools the resources in an existing network, allowing it to be treated and provisioned as if it were a single entity. It can be either external, combining several networks or segments into one, or internal, connecting software containers on a network server.
Software-defined networking (SDN) virtualizes the control functions of a network, separating them from the packet forwarding functions. This allows a large, distributed network created from many distinctive components to be treated (and managed) as one entity.
Network functions virtualization (NFV) virtualizes specific network resources. It’s designed to provide the functionality of appliances such as routing, switching, load balancing, and so on without the need to purchase and deploy specialized hardware.

NFV is the likely the one you’re most familiar with, as it has its roots in the telecom space. Specifically, it was introduced in Network Functions Virtualization — an Introductory White Paper, released by a coalition of telecom operators at a 2012 conference in Darmstadt, Germany. The group, known as the Network Functions Virtualization Industry Specification Group, is still active today, and functions as part of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute.

NFV is highly-modular, allowing virtualized appliances and nodes to be dynamically merged and spun up to provide whatever resources are needed at a given time. It also pairs quite well with the distributed nature of modern telecommunications networks, as individual NFV functions can be positioned and re-deployed as-necessary. Finally, when paired effectively with virtualization and SDN, it allows for a level of flexibility and scalability which would otherwise be impossible.

How Is Network Virtualization Changing the Telecommunication Space?

Through the effective deployment of virtualization technology, telecom operators can dynamically scale with and adapt to rapidly-changing resource requirements, the emergence of new technology. This allows them to more readily support highly-distributed networks of endpoints and sensors. In addition to offering greater power and reliability, network virtualization also has the potential to reduce costs by eliminating the need for specialized architecture or constant network reconfiguration.

Instead, generic hardware can be used to support a wide range of functionality and resource demands.

Addressing the Incoming Challenges of Network Virtualization

For all the benefits it offers, network virtualization is anything but simple to deploy. Particularly given that, in the near future, virtualized infrastructure will likely need to run side-by-side with traditional networking hardware, its deployment can create a great deal of architectural complexity. Managing this complexity and optimizing the myriad working parts to work side-by-side with each other requires experience in each specific type of virtualization technology.

This is in addition to the expertise necessary to support and understand IoT devices.

Given that the IT industry is already suffering from a talent shortage, demand for individuals with the above skills is incredibly high, and will only increase in the coming years as more telecom providers make the shift towards virtualized networks. TD Madison can help in that regard. As the trusted recruitment partner of the cable and telecom industry for three decades, we’ll help you find high-caliber senior executives and specialists with precisely the skills needed for your organization to evolve.