Virtual network functions (VNF) are deployed as virtual machines (VMs) in a network functions virtualization (NFV) architecture. Individual VNFs are built on top of an NFV infrastructure (NFVI), including a virtual infrastructure manager (VIM) to allocate resources like compute, storage, and networking efficiently among the VNFs. The framework for managing NFVI and provisioning new VNFs is defined in the Management, Automation, and Network Orchestration (MANO) elements defined by NFV.
With the inclusion of an associated management function to coordinate resource allocation and the orchestration functions for the management of the NFV infrastructure, deployment of network functions as VNFs were viewed favorably over the deployment of applications in virtual machines.
Ribbons’ extensive Virtual Network Functions (VNF) portfolio consists of cloud-native VNFs that deliver scaleable, secure real time communications in the telco cloud. Ribbon VNFs deliver on the true tenets of NFV supporting full virtualization, elasticity, scalability, automation and geo-distribution. VNFs can run on multiple different telco cloud virtualization infrastructures and hypervisors.
