‘Cloud-Native and Verticals’ services – 5G-PPP projects analysis’

White Paper, in which 5G-TRANSFORMER has contributed, is now available to download here:

5GPPP Software Network WG White Paper 2019

Abstract

As part of the 5G-PPP Initiative, the Software Network Working Group prepared this white paper as a follow-up of 2018 Cloud-Native transformation white paper to analyze how 5G-PPP projects1 interpret Cloud-Native design patterns and identify adoption barriers. The Software Network Working Group conducted a survey to collect technical inputs from 5G-PPP Phase 22 and Phase 3 3 projects on their:

    – supported vertical use-cases,

    – adopted virtualization technologies,

    – followed architecture patterns.

Results are two-fold:

    1) Projects are clustered according to their architecture patterns:

a. Most project prototypes evolved from ETSI MANO relying on an Openstack VIM exclusively to include Kubernetes – on bare metal and public cloud – as a new VIM in parallel to Openstack.

b. Meanwhile, they kept orchestration intelligence centralized in a VNFM-like box.

c. Therefore, only a few of them fully exploited Kubernetes as a complete autonomous platform with its own orchestration intelligence able to host both Containerized Network Functions and classical VM-based VNFs.

    2) Analysis:

a. We acknowledge a reluctance for using fully Cloud-Native design provided by e.g. Kubernetes. This reluctance has been analyzed to extract the underlying reasons motivating projects to select this intermediate step where Kubernetes is considered only as a VIM. These reasons are presented as the barriers to adopt the Cloud-Native patterns.

b. These barriers are essentially the lack of standard and technological maturity, implying human adaptation resistance.

For further information, visit the 5GPPP website: https://5g-ppp.eu/white-papers/