Some of the frequently used abbreviations that are used in this guide are listed here with their descriptions.
vRAN
Virtualized Radio Access Network (vRAN) is an agile approach to RAN deployment and management that offers carriers the promise of improved operational efficiency and better flexibility.
NFV
Network Functions Virtualization - The process of decoupling a network function from its proprietary hardware appliance and running it as a software application in a virtual machine.
CNF
A Cloud-Native Network Function (CNF) is a containerized network function that uses cloud-native principles. CNFs are designed to run inside containers. Containerization makes it possible to run services and onboard applications on the same cluster, while directing network traffic to correct pods.
NFVO
NFV Orchestrator - Is a central component of an NFV-based solution. It brings together different functions to make a single orchestration service that encompasses the whole framework and has a well-organized resource use.
VIM
Virtualized Infrastructure Manager - Is a functional block of the MANO and is responsible for controlling, managing, and monitoring the NFVI compute, storage, and network hardware, the software for the virtualization layer, and the virtualized resources. The VIM manages the allocation and release of virtual resources, and the association of virtual to physical resources, including the optimization of resources.
Caas
The Container-as-a-Service (CaaS) provides a framework which allows you to make use of the services. Additonally, allows you to upload, organize, run, scale, manage, and stop containers by using container-based virtualization.
MANO
Management and Orchestration - Manages the resources in the infrastructure, orchestration, and life cycle operations of VNFs, CNFs, and Network Services.
Network Service
A Network Service is a collection of network functions: Virtual (VNF), Cloud-Native (CNF), or Physical (PNF); interconnected with virtual or physical links. It is managed by an NFVO. A network function exposes its functionality through external connection points.
SAM
The Service Assurance Manager (SAM) solution automatically correlates topology and event data from multiple managed domains to diagnose root-cause problems.
IP
The IP networks are composed of thousands of interconnected devices. Any outage can cause alarms on the console. To provide the actionable information must sustain service, management solutions must automate the function such as discovery, modeling, and RCA.
ESM
The Server Manager (ESM) works with the IP Manager and the SAM to discover, monitor, and analyze the availability and performance of the environmental and software elements.
BIM
Business Impact Manager (BIM) calculates the impact of network infrastructure and application root-cause problem events on business elements, and creates business impact notifications. The business impact notifications enable business enterprises to immediately identify disruptions and failures, and to prioritize the resolution of the infrastructure and application problems in accordance with their business impact.
NBI
The VMware Telco Cloud Service Assurance Northbond Interface (NBI) provides a REST based interface for integration of VMware Telco Cloud Service Assurance with other management systems and tools.
