About vCloud NFV Reference Architecture

This reference architecture provides guidance for designing and creating a greenfield Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) platform. This version of VMware the vCloud^® NFV™ platform consolidates the experience gained in real world deployments with new product and solution capabilities. This way, the vCloud NFV platform supports communication service providers in realizing the goals of NFV - automating the deployment of network services, reducing network infrastructure costs, deploying network services quickly, and maintaining carrier grade service quality

vCloud NFV is compliant with the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV) Architectural Framework. The platform is based on VMware components that are tightly integrated and tested. Each of these components has numerous potentially valid configurations, but only a few of them result in a cohesive and robust functional system that meets business and technical requirements, and aligns with the ETSI NFV Architectural Framework.

The VMware vCloud NFV platform delivers the following ETSI NFV architectural components:

• NFV Infrastructure (NFVI)

• Virtualized Infrastructure Manager (VIM)

• NFVI Operations Management

These components, their interaction with each other, and the way in which they meet communication service provider requirements, are described in this reference architecture.

Audience

This document is written to guide telecommunications and solution architects, sales engineers, field consultants, advanced services specialists, and customers who are responsible for virtualized network services and the NFV environment on which they run.