Cable Going Cloud Native

Virtualization challenges

For cable operators, the prospect of Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) is based on greater efficiencies and opportunities for business innovation. Fundamentally, virtualization is about scaling operations and capital investments more efficiently to agilely deliver network services. Multiple system operators (MSOs) are beginning to realize the power of cloud scalability and new operating efficiencies through the virtualization of their network functions. The initial promise of virtual network functions (VNFs) has been lacking. Replicating and porting code from a physical appliance to a virtual machine without addressing the underlying software architecture resulted in a false start for what was supposed to be a networking revolution. Lessons have been learned, and the lift and shift of existing code to be wrapped in virtual machines has proven to be a clunky and inefficient use of compute power and resources. It tends to miss the business objective of virtualization, which is to achieve greater CapEx and OpEx efficiencies.

The search for a solution

Rapid technological changes create challenges for service providers that cannot be quickly resolved in a solution that relies on manual intervention. Too often the dependency of the underlying infrastructure has impeded the efficient deployment of a VNF, adding to system integration time and costs. As a result, MSOs are looking to cloud native technology to open new revenue opportunities and realize OpEx savings with process automation. To fully realize the flexibility that virtualization promises, the underlying software applications for network functions must be architected to support any infrastructure and fully automate deployments and lifecycle events such as service creation, transparent software upgrades, dynamic scalability, and simple recovery. An API-driven NFV model gives MSOs the ability to combine applications from different sources, support new functionality, and install patches quickly. Using this model can greatly expand the amount of innovation providers and the telecom community at large can achieve.

MSOs need a way to scale services while reducing their operating expenses automating and simplifying their network operations. Automation and simplification can help MSOs bring services to market more quickly and optimize their physical footprints by decoupling services from proprietary and dedicated network hardware. A cloud native approach to virtualization provides the fundamental building blocks for operators to design, develop, and build applications, services, and features, which can be composed for scale and achieving their objectives.

Cloud native considerations in the cable headend

The virtualization of cable headend functions come with a unique set of considerations that must be addressed to achieve the full potential of cloud native technology. Virtualizing the cable headend has a major prerequisite: a digitized access network. VNFs are not suited for an analog world. Remote PHY is the solution for migrating from analog to digital and preparing for virtualization. Once you remove the PHY functions from the cable headend and switch to digital fiber, CMTS platforms effectively become software processors with Ethernet running in and out.

Virtualizing CMTS functions is a logical step in migrating to the cloud and delivering services from a data center, where they become more flexible, resilient, and scalable. You no longer have to restrict CMTS functions to a hardware-dependent platform. Instead, you can rely on Moore’s Law for continuous improvements in processing speeds, capacity, and cost-per-bit with cloud computing. At the same time, outside plant equipment becomes simpler and less expensive to operate and maintain.

Other headend hardware-based services will also follow suit and take advantage of the microservice composability that cloud native functions afford. Traditional video and voice services will make the transition from dedicated headend hardware to digital IP-based services. Subscriber services will ultimately transform through new agile and automatable processes that can deliver higher-level services composed from a tailored set of microservices.

The cnBR operates in both singular and blended environments, where operators can mix and match their physical CCAPs and then augment and or replace them with their cloud native counterparts. The cnBR brings web-scale resiliency, elasticity, scalability, and feature velocity to the cable access network.

Decouple services from infrastructure

Cisco provides industry-leading, standards-based network virtualization capabilities to decouple services from infrastructure dependencies. Using open standards and interfaces, you can design services and applications at a high level and provision them in the same way. The services and applications are independent of the devices or last-mile networks that will deliver them.

Now, you can begin provisioning services that used to be entirely separate infrastructures, such as CMTS, Metro Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and others. The services are just different applications running on the same unified network. You can address the entire heterogeneous environment, including physical and virtual devices and equipment from multiple vendors through a single orchestration layer that abstracts the underlying complexity. You can draw on NFV and SDN to make the access network more automated, economical, resilient, and elastically scalable. Elements of the access network that used to require complex dedicated infrastructures become interchangeable cloud resources that can be repositioned and scaled up and down as business needs dictate.