Virtualizing Telco Networks
Achieve Genuine Innovation by Governing Your Data

02 INTRODUCTION
Build your virtualized
telecommunications network
with NetApp and you will
gain a proven carrier-grade
approach to data availability,
performance, security, and
management.

Removing the traditional network silos
The telecommunications industry has always depended on proprietary
hardware appliances. This has resulted in silos in which carriers have been
forced to unsustainably spend billions year after year. These silos have also
prevented carriers from innovating in line with market demand, anchoring
them to extremely long deployment cycles for new network services.
All of this has contributed to unbearable corporate debts and to a lack
of competitiveness towards over-the-top service companies.

Only now, communication service providers (CSPs) are
tackling this issue by virtualizing their telecommunications
networks and look into new software-defined and cloud-
like frameworks with network function virtualization (NFV).

New Business Models
Matters as Much as Economics
Embracing

Choice
Broader software
ecosystem
Economics
Powerful for
organizations with
large networks
Innovation
No specialty hardware,
more competition
Savings
Eliminate costly
hardware upgrades
Flexibility
Do things faster by
deploying new services
as software-only

07 INTRODUCTION
Solved Operational Challenges
Effective end-to-end management within
Data Fabric enabled by NetApp®.
Gained Service Availability
Unlimited data mobility across sites for business
continuity and sustained service quality.
Accelerated Transformation
Leverage cloud partner know-how and
ready-to-apply solutions.
Reduced Risks
Proven real-world deployments of infrastructures
for NFV and SDN.
Key
Benefits
with NetApp

08 CONTENT
Contact
Learn more about
NetApp's Telco and NFV
business in EMEA
Page 49
Data Management
Data in NFV cloud-
based environments
Page 16
Challenges
Deploying NFV:
Needs and operational
challenges
Page 09
Network & Cloud
Network meets cloud:
NetApp value to CSPs
Page 27
Success Stories
Virtualized EPC,
STB, video streaming,
and CDN storage
Page 41
Products & Solutions
The carrier delivery
options determine
NetApp’s products
Page 37

Challenges
Deploying NFV:
Needs and operational
challenges
Page 09

10 CHALLENGES
1. Unproven products or solutions
The move to NFV and software-defined networks (SDN) confronts
carriers with a world of new products and solutions, and with an
increasing number of suppliers they can choose from. The solutions
available today are generally not mature enough because still in a
developing stage, and this lack of maturity is reported to be one of
the main inhibitors for the adoption of NFV by the carriers. Other
concerns address the complexity of end-to-end provisioning in both
virtual and physical worlds and the need to reskill the
telecommunications staff.

02
2. Unknown resource needs
All CSPs have one thing in common: They are often
completely in the dark when it comes to determining
the amounts of computing, networking, and storage
resources they will need to enable their network
transformation. Testing and implementing technologies
for NFV and SDN, and aligning everything to business
models, takes its time and often exceeds the forecasted
resources. What starts as a proof of concept is very
likely to evolve unforeseeably and dynamically. Carriers
are then forced to rearchitect their solutions on the fly
and risk increased costs.
11 CHALLENGES

3. Massive transformation
Carrier networks can consist of hundreds or even thousands of large
central offices (COs) and points of presence (PoPs). Turning to a NFV
infrastructure means to transform most of them into data centers of
adequate sizes and decide for either a centralized or a distributed NFV
use case deployment. Carriers will also need to make sure that their
platform of choice can provide redundancy across all locations to ensure
business continuity and to dynamically rearrange data allocation.
This part of the journey poses not only a massive task from a planning
perspective. It also means significant operational challenges before an
effective end-to-end management becomes real.
12 CHALLENGES

4. Operational challenges 1/2
The new NFV framework is mostly
about increased agility. However,
carriers need to ensure also that
the products or solutions they
deploy can live up to carrier-grade
levels. In a nutshell, deploying NFV
is not simply a matter of ripping
and replacing network hardware.
It requires a holistic view for a
process with many implications.
13 CHALLENGES

+ Brings operational challenges in terms of relation-
ships and changes in physical and virtual worlds
+ Needs to reflect the hierarchies in a distributed
multitier network
+ Requires a fully virtualized and integrated infra-
structure stack to support carrier-grade reliability,
similar to the availability, performance, and quality
of service (QoS) of physical deployments
+ Needs a totally new set of skills of the carrier staff
14 CHALLENGES
4. Operational challenges 2/2

5. Towards a DevOps model
The operational challenges outlined earlier
demand that carriers adopt a DevOps-oriented
organization. Only an ongoing and integrated
process of continuous development and
continuous deployment can deliver on the
agility promises of NFV and SDN. Only when
their developers and operators work hand in
hand, CSPs can innovate and adapt to customer
demands and market conditions much faster.
15 CHALLENGES

Data Management
Data in NFV cloud-
based environments
Page 16

Importance of data management
in addressing these challenges
17 DATA MANAGEMENT
Virtualization in general and NFV in particular brings
consolidation and choice especially in the hardware
arena. Coupled with commoditized hardware,
virtualization promises to reduce costs quickly, but
does not provide any added value by itself. What does
that mean for carriers? Whatever functions CSPs want
to virtualize they will need different resources in
different qualities and amounts to work properly and
meet QoS requirements. Depending on the use cases,
it is the data management that impacts the speed,
scalability, and availability of a service.
speed
scalability
availability

18 DATA MANAGEMENT
Let’s have a look at a real-world scenario, a virtualized content delivery
network (CDN) to illustrate the value add of data management.
Basically, the virtualization of
CDN functions, including
analytics, policy management,
and on-net/off-net streaming,
is applicable to a NFV and SDN
deployment across the data
centers within a carrier network.
However, the biggest challenge
is to dynamically allocate
resources closer to the network
edge to optimize cost savings
and subscriber QoS. For this,
service providers will need a
management solution that
allows on-demand, scale-out
and scale-in resource caching at
peak hours. Only then it is
possible to achieve a superior
customer experience as well
as traffic optimization on
controller- and cache-node
level.
Importance of data management
in addressing these challenges

19 DATA MANAGEMENT
Storage can become a bottleneck for several virtualized network
functions (VNFs) due to capacity and performance reasons.
CDN or deep packet inspection
requires a dynamic distribution across
a CSP’s network of COs and PoPs.
It is critical that every PoP can support
a storage-intensive VNF any time.
vCPE, vSTB, and more
need 10s of 1,000s instantiated virtual
machines (VMs) or containers. This applies
certainly to a mobile user environment and will
in general turn a small storage requirement
into a big one, where storage access
performance can become a major issue.
Storage-intensive VNFs Performance-intensive VNFs
Importance of data management
in addressing these challenges

Video streaming
is an example of a storage-intensive VNF
Considerations
A virtualized CDN can take advantage
of an NFV and SDN cloud-based
deployment across the carrier network
data centers.
Carriers need to dynamically allocate
resources closer to the network edge,
to optimize cost savings and QoS.
For this, service providers need a
storage management solution that allows
on-demand, scale-out and scale-in
caching resources at peak hours.
2015 2016 2017 2018
x 6
x 24
x 13
Capacity and
Performance Requirements
20 DATA MANAGEMENT

Next-Generation Data Center
Content Delivery Networks
and Video Streaming
Real-Time Deep Packet
Inspection
VNF as a Service
Virtual Customer Edge
and Aggregation
Network Access Control
21 DATA MANAGEMENT
NetApp helps multiple CSPs and enterprises globally
in addressing their NFV & SDN deployments and use cases
The next-generation data center
(NGDC) applied to NFV deployments
has to assure the exponentially
increasing number of applications,
VMs, and containers.
A telco‘s NGDC must be able to address
functionalities, including guaranteed
QoS, scalability, automation, and self-
healing.
NetApp is a worldwide leader
in NGDC through its SolidFire and
StorageGRID portfolio of products.

Real-Time Deep Packet
Inspection
VNF as a Service
Virtual Customer Edge
and Aggregation
Network Access Control
Next-Generation Data Center
Content Delivery Networks
and Video Streaming
22 DATA MANAGEMENT
The virtualization of the CDN and
video streaming network functions
demand the proper management
of hundreds or thousands of new
storage-intensive VMs.
NetApp provides the market's most
comprehensive storage management
solution that allows on-demand,
scale-out and scale-in caching
resources at peak hours with
guaranteed QoS.
NetApp helps multiple CSPs and enterprises globally
in addressing their NFV & SDN deployments and use cases

VNF as a Service
Virtual Customer Edge
and Aggregation
Network Access Control
Next-Generation Data Center
Content Delivery Networks
and Video Streaming
Real-Time Deep Packet
Inspection
23 DATA MANAGEMENT
Understanding and managing network
traffic have become an important
issue for network operators to meet
service-level agreements with their
customers. This requires fast analysis
of a large volume of network traffic.
Traffic analysis in real time is difficult
because a large dataset requires high
processing intensity.
NetApp helps multiple CSPs and enterprises globally
in addressing their NFV & SDN deployments and use cases

Next-Generation Data Center
Content Delivery Networks
and Video Streaming
Real-Time Deep Packet
Inspection
VNF as a Service
Virtual Customer Edge
and Aggregation
Network Access Control
24 DATA MANAGEMENT
NFV opens the ecosystem of
providers, certainly for business-
oriented VNFs that are enabling
an increased role of hyperscale
and other cloud providers in the
network.
NetApp makes VNF as a service
a reality as a world leader in
accelerating business applications
through its Data Fabric hybrid
cloud framework.
NetApp helps multiple CSPs and enterprises globally
in addressing their NFV & SDN deployments and use cases

Next-Generation Data Center
Content Delivery Networks
and Video Streaming
Real-Time Deep Packet
Inspection
Virtual Customer Edge
and Aggregation
Network Access Control
25 DATA MANAGEMENT
Thousands of new virtual
machines need to be managed
as independent workloads when
virtualizing home environments,
including the cloudification
of appliances such as remote
gateways or set-top boxes. This
puts all the stress on the Telco
network edge and core.
NetApp guarantees the QoS of
these workloads in the edge, core,
or data center of the telco.
VNF as a Service
NetApp helps multiple CSPs and enterprises globally
in addressing their NFV & SDN deployments and use cases

Next-Generation Data Center
Content Delivery Networks
and Video Streaming
Real-Time Deep Packet
Inspection
Network Access Control
26 DATA MANAGEMENT
WAN optimization controllers, for
example, use different techniques to
deliver end-to-end reliability and
predictable application performance
for real-time application traffic:
caching, compression, data and
latency reduction, QoS, tagging, and
packet coalescing.
NetApp facilitates these techniques
through data compression, data caching,
and guaranteed QoS.
VNF as a Service
Virtual Customer Edge
and Aggregation
NetApp helps multiple CSPs and enterprises globally
in addressing their NFV & SDN deployments and use cases

Network & Cloud
Network meets cloud:
NetApp value to CSPs
Page 27

26 CLOUD & NETWORK
The NetApp value for CSPs:
Network meets the cloud
As outlined earlier, data mobility is a critical factor. Basically CSPs need
data mobility for two reasons. First, CSPs need to ensure data replication
between sites, including business continuity for their infrastructure.
Secondly, CSPs need to ensure that they can dynamically move network
functions and services from one CO or PoP to another. Altogether data
mobility across COs and PoPs becomes the enabler for service availability
and quality. The failure to ensure data availability and mobility will only
prevent silos to be completely removed from the carriersˇnetworks.
NetApp delivers on the promise of data mobility with its Data Fabric
strategy which allows data to be accessed where it is needed most. Data
Fabric delivers exactly on the needs of CSPs and enables them to innovate
and generate new revenue streams driven by new business models.
28 NETWORK & CLOUD

Network Services Across
Multiple Service Providers
Data Fabric is NetApp’s
vision and strategy.
Hybrid Physical and
Virtual Infrastructures
Capacity planning,
trouble-shooting, reporting,
for own and third parties
with OnCommand®
Insight.
Cloud and Network
Operations Collaboration
The same workflows
can be used by both teams
with one single tool.
Dynamic Changes to Physical
and Virtual Device Configurations
NetApp provides a very
large set of API calls, which
transform the storage
in a set and forget platform.
Many-to-Many Services and
Infrastructure Relationships
NetApp secure
multitenancy has been
audited and certified
by specialized companies.
Dynamic Software
and Hardware Relationships
NetApp primes efficiency,
which implies speed
of execution, for example,
when cloning objects.

To maintain availability, adjust capacity, or load balance physical resources,
software running on VMs or containers can be moved between physical
servers or replicated to run on newly created VMs or containers.
Dynamic relationships
between software and hardware components
CSPs can dynamically allocate
resources or quickly move data between
storage nodes without impacting
services or collocated VNFs.
All NetApp features are linked to
efficiency. This includes fast execution,
for example, when cloning objects.
With NetApp Unique Value Proposition
26 CLOUD & NETWORK30 NETWORK & CLOUD

To accommodate the
dynamic nature of
virtualized networks,
end-to-end management
systems must be
able to adjust device
configuration.
Dynamic changes
to physicaland virtual device
configurations
With NetApp
Unique Value Proposition
There is no need for manual storage
intervention. Every single possible task can
be done through APIs which integrate
NetApp systems with NFV architectures.
NetApp provides a very large set of
API calls which transform the storage in a
“set and forget” platform.
26 CLOUD & NETWORK31 NETWORK & CLOUD

A virtualized network service can rely on several VNFs which may
be running on one or more VMs. A single VNF may also support several
network services. And the group of VNFs supporting a single network
service might be running on several physical servers.
Many-to-many relationships
between network services and underlying infrastructure
Using secure multitenancy, CSPs can
run several instances on the same storage
platform, while keeping VMs isolated
on both storage and network.
NetApp secure multitenancy
has been audited and certified for its
security by specialized companies.
With NetApp Unique Value Proposition
26 CLOUD & NETWORK32 NETWORK & CLOUD

With NetApp
Unique Value Proposition
CSPs can choose from several
infrastructure monitoring tools such
as OnCommand Insight as well as
integration through open APIs.
OnCommand Insight is a monitoring tool,
but serves as well for capacity planning, trouble-
shooting, and reporting in an end-to-end
heterogeneous infrastructure, including storage,
SAN, Ethernet, hypervisors, and VMs.
26 CLOUD & NETWORK33 NETWORK & CLOUD
As virtualization is adopted
gradually, carriers must
be able to integrate virtual
environments into their
existing infrastructures for
end-to-end traditional or
legacy monitoring.
Hybrid physical
and virtual infrastructures

26 CLOUD & NETWORK34 NETWORK & CLOUD
Some of the VNFs comprising a virtualized network service
may be hosted in the clouds of multiple collaborating providers.
Network services
across multiple service providers
Customers have a common set of secure
data services to manage, access, and protect
data where it is needed most.
Data Fabric is NetApp’s vision
and strategy for data management.
With NetApp Unique Value Proposition

With NetApp
Unique Value Proposition
Automatization using APIs or
predefined workflows help manage
end-to-end infrastructures.
Cloud and network operations staff
can define and use the same workflows
through a single tool.
26 CLOUD & NETWORK35 NETWORK & CLOUD
Organizations will need
to cooperate effectively to
establish new operational
processes that meet the
demands of end-to-end
management of hybrid
infrastructures.
Cloud and network
operations collaboration

Human-IoT interaction,
mobile media everywhere
Smart home,
automation & caring
26 CLOUD & NETWORK36 NETWORK & CLOUD
NetApp framework
to solve these challenges
NFV is a hybrid cloud-like environment ... ... that will have to include the edge
Smart vehicles,
transport & infrastructure
Remote industrial
surveillance & services
Public Clouds
Commoditized network
functions & services
Telco Carrier Network Cloud
meets the IT cloud
Private Clouds
NFV reaches
the enterprise
domain

Products & Solutions
The carrier delivery
options determine
NetApp’s products
Page 37

The carrier delivery options
determine NetApp’s products
26 CLOUD & NETWORK38 PRODUCTS & SOLUTIONS
MPLS
To be deployed
when the services
need to be
implemented fast,
and if the access
bandwidth is high.
To be deployed
in areas with
unreliable access or
with high latency.
To be deployed
with high bandwidth
access links.
To be deployed
when the carrier
needs to combine its
network services
with other (IT)
services only
available in public
clouds.
To be deployed
when there is no
need to link with
public clouds.
Subscriber domain Carrier and CSP domain
Public
Cloud
Enterprise
Carrier-Managed
Virtualized CPE
Carrier
Virtualized Network
Termination Unit
Distributed Carrier
NFV Service Node
Carrier Cloud
Gateway
Carrier Data
Centers

STORAGE ARRAYSTORAGE ARRAYDIRECT-ATTACHED
STORAGE (DAS)
+ Scalability, orchestration,
guaranteed performance
+ Simplicity, automation
+ Multiple types of
workloads
+ Very application- and
workload-specific
+ Direct-attached solution
+ Scalability, integration,
orchestration, optimized
performance
+ Data services
Type of deployment
Target customers
Qualifying characteristics
NetApp has multiple
products fit for
various deployment types
Content delivery deployments
As-a-service deployments
CSPs who prioritize the stability of their solution
Enterprises and branches embracing NFV services
provided by their CSPs
CSPs embracing a disruptive approach to NFV,
with a focus on new revenue generation
Element OS on SolidFireONTAP on FAS/AFFEF or E-Series
26 CLOUD & NETWORK39 PRODUCTS & SOLUTIONS

26 CLOUD & NETWORK40 PRODUCTS & SOLUTIONS
Tiscali refocused its
strategy to become a
cloud service provider
to open up new market
opportunities.
Hybrid Cloud
Storage Solutions:
+ Data Fabric
+ Clustered Data ONTAP
Opportunity Product & SolutionResults
50%
Reduction in IT Budget
Businesses are looking to
migrate to the cloud, and they
need to do that while cutting costs
and maximizing efficiency.
Salvatore Pulvirenti | CIO, Tiscali Watch the video

Success Stories
Virtualized EPC,
STB, video streaming,
and CDN storage
Page 41

Key technologies
Ericsson (NFVi stack).
Juniper Contrail (SDN). F5 Firewall.
OpenStack orchestration (Mirantis)
Products
SolidFire SF9605 on iSCSI.
Between 5 and 20 nodes per site
Carrier-grade NFV & SDN next-generation network
and co-hosted IT cloud computing services infrastructure platform
Why NetApp
ƣƣ OpenStack integration:
APIs, capacity to deliver
ƣƣ Partnership with Mirantis
ƣƣ Form factor (1 node = 1U)
ƣƣ Scaling (start small)
ƣƣ QoS guarantee
ƣƣ Performance
ƣƣ Ease-of-use and automation
One of the top 3
telecommunications service
providers in the U.S.
In deployment across all PoPs
Challenge
ƣƣ Deploy a cloud infrastructure for
next-generation network services:
Firewall, DNS, router, VoIP,
mobility services
ƣƣ Allow a progressive growth as the
network resources utilization needs
increase, in a future-proof platform,
with possibility to co-host traditional
IT services
26 CLOUD & NETWORK42 SUCCESS STORIES

Key technologies
Automation and orchestration with
OpenStack/Puppet/Chef hypervisor (KVM,
Glance) and containers (Docker). Block, file,
and object storage (Cinder & Manila)
Products
FlexPod with UCS servers,
Nexus 9000, and Cisco ACI
NetApp FAS8040A, E5660,
StorageGRID
Virtualized evolved packet core (vEPC) carrier-grade platform
with real-time network deep packet inspection & analytics
Why NetApp
ƣƣ Seamless and dynamic scaling,
speed, efficiency, cost. An efficient
utilization versus white-box
translated to a 10x capex reduction
ƣƣ Carrier-grade: QoS, performance
ƣƣ Integration and partnerships:
Cisco UCS, Nexus, ACI, Red Hat
OpenStack, Puppet, Chef
One of the top 3
telecommunications service
providers in the U.S.
In PoC status
Challenge
ƣƣ The customer needed to implement
a vEPC with real-time network deep
packet inspection, analytics, and
tracing to increase its market
positioning through controlled
growth of the selected solution.
26 CLOUD & NETWORK43 SUCCESS STORIES

Key technologies
Remote analytics:
Guavus, Couchbase (NoSQL)
Products
NetApp FAS2552 with
DS2246 shelves, both Vector Data-
and NEBS-certified, carrier grade,
DC powered
Virtualized set-top box (STB) service delivery platform
for customer usage measurement and mobile user billing
Why NetApp
ƣƣ Seamless and dynamic scaling,
speed, efficiency, cost. An efficient
utilization versus white-box
translated to a 10x capex reduction
ƣƣ Carrier-grade: QoS, performance
ƣƣ Integration and partnerships:
Cisco UCS, Nexus, ACI, Red Hat
OpenStack, Puppet, Chef
One of the top 3
telecommunications service
providers in the U.S.
Deployed across 51 sites
Challenge
ƣƣ Enable a customer usage and
billing solution for a virtualized STB
service for mobile users
ƣƣ Future-proof platform for added
services, for example, sponsored or
push content delivery
ƣƣ Enable a progressive growth as
the network resources utilization
increases
26 CLOUD & NETWORK44 SUCCESS STORIES

Key technologies
OpenStack – VMware
Products
FlexPod-based,
12 FAS8200 hybrid nodes.
Three PoPs
Virtualized video streaming
CDN storage platform
Why NetApp
ƣƣ IOPS and capacity requirements
grew rapidly, mainly because of a
video streaming product:
x13 within 2 years and
x24 within 3 years
ƣƣ With a traditional DAS solution,
scaling would not be easy, in terms of
both capacity and performance
One of the top 3
telecommunications service
providers in France
Deployed across three PoPs
Challenge
ƣƣ Storage requirements started
very low at the beginning, because
many VMs didn’t even require
storage
ƣƣ But over time, the NFVi stack
needed to host new VNFs, adding
extra complexity in the overall
management, especially in storage
performance AND capacity demand
26 CLOUD & NETWORK45 SUCCESS STORIES

Key technologies
OpenStack –VMware
Products
8 SolidFire SF2405 systems.
Two clusters
NFV infrastructure (NFVi) stack
Next-generation storage management platform
Why NetApp
ƣƣ The acceleration of telco and
IT convergence and the need to
support a diverse range of
demanding applications requires
an innovative solution that takes
all the benefits from the IT and
open source domains to create a
scalable and distributed
cloud-based architecture.
One of the top 3
global network equipment
providers in Europe
PoC
Challenge
ƣƣ A global network equipment
provider currently looking at
an innovative next-generation
storage management solution
for its NFVi stack platform.
Objective: Gain a competitive
advantage over the
competition.
26 CLOUD & NETWORK46 SUCCESS STORIES

Summary
No doubt, deploying NFV commercially
is a challenge. The good news is that
proven players from within the cloud
industry such as NetApp provide the
experience that CSPs require. The
deeper your partner is involved in cloud
data center infrastructures the better.
The greater your partner’s ability to add
value with technology, functions, and
concepts accompanied by professional
services and real-world experiences the
faster and safer CSPs can move forward.

48 ABOUT NETAPP
Leading organizations
worldwide count on NetApp for
software, systems and services to
manage and store their data.
Customers value our teamwork,
expertise and passion for
helping them succeed now and
into the future.

02
Carlos Ruiz Gómez
Digital Telco Business Development Lead EMEA
Emerging Solutions & Innovation
+ 34 672 025 194
Carlos.Ruiz@NetApp.com
Yves Weisser
NFV Architect
Systems Engineering EMEA
+ 33 6 70 25 81 31
Yves.Weisser@NetApp.com
26 CLOUD & NETWORK49 CONTACT
Get in touch with us and learn more about
NetApp's Telco and NFV business in EMEA

50
© 2017 NetApp, Inc. All Rights Reserved. NETAPP, the NETAPP logo, and the marks listed at
netapp.com/TM are trademarks of NetApp, Inc. Other company and product names may be
trademarks of their respective owners.
Learn more about
NetApp's Telco and NFV
business in EMEA