CableLabs, Aricent collaborated on the platform built on the Kubernetes and Docker container model
Cable research organization CableLabs and design and engineering company Aricent have been collaborating on an open-source network function virtualization platform aimed at enabling a cloud-native environment for lab and development work where developers can focus on their applications, rather than the underlying virtual infrastructure. The SNAPS-Kubernetes NFV platform will make its debut this week at a CableLabs conference in Colorado.
According to a CableLabs blog entry by Randy Levensalor, lead architect for wired technologies, the release of SNAPS-Kubernetes is the latest in a series of CableLabs open-source projects that seek to accelerate and simplify the adoption of NFV among cable network operators.
Despite the progress that the telecommunications industry has made overall in implementing NFV and software-defined networking, the two organizations said, “cable operators still find it challenging to deploy the latest ‘cloud-native’ technologies because of the operational complexity associated with configuring and maintaining an array of software-defined infrastructure. In addition, new services such as streaming video, gaming and entertainment or industrial IoT applications, depend on highly differentiated network, compute and storage requirements.”
“SNAPS can accelerate adoption of Virtual Network Functions by bootstrapping and configuring a cloud platform for developers so they can focus on their applications,” wrote Shamik Mishra, assistant vice president for technology and innovation at Aricent, in a blog entry on the projects. Aricent contributed to the platform development and also co-created the preceding SNAPS-OpenStack and SNAPS-Boot projects with CableLabs.
“When we started working towards building the SNAPS-Kubernetes project, we considered the significant challenges facing MSOs and developers. We wanted to create a solution that helps developers build a feature-rich cloud native environment rapidly,” Mishra wrote.
Aricent and CableLabs said that the new SNAPS-Kubernetes platform allows cable MSOs to “adopt a de facto standard container model for network functions and micro-services in the head-end, and developers can consume a managed platform that abstracts away complexity so they can on-board innovative and cloud-based applications without the hassle.”
Levensalor said that according to CableLabs’ TCO analysis, cable operators with a virtual Converged Cable Access Platform, core distributed access architecture and Remote PHY technology should see about 89% operating cost savings in power and cooling, a 16% decrease in their rack space footprint and a more than 1,000% increase in throughput.
“The use of cloud-native technologies, including Kubernetes, should provide for even lower overhead and an even better-performing network virtualization layer than existing virtual machine (VM)-based solutions. It should also improve total cost of ownership (TCO) and quality of experience for end users. A few operators have started to evaluate Kubernetes, and we hope with SNAPS-Kubernetes that even more members will be able to begin this journey,” wrote Levensalor.
Aricent will be demonstrating the platform this week at the CableLabs Summer Conference in Keystone, Colorado.
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