Dell and HP make progress in the world of virtualisation

Dell and Hewlett-Packard (HP) have announced progress toward making NFV (network functions virtualisation) software more accessible.

NFV is upgrading virtualisation, making development and deployment of new services faster, while also lowering network costs.

At Mobile World Congress in February, HP announced the HP OpenNFV Program, and it's now up and running. Werner Schaefer, vice-president of HP’s NFV business says applications from more than 100 software vendors have been validated, so they are reliable and can run properly in a virtualised environment.

The HP program is a way for carriers to explore NFV and test and validate virtualised services without investing a great deal of time and money.

HP developed a reference architecture with technology vendors such as Intel, Mellanox Technologies and Brocade. Some components, such as Brocade vitural service routers, compete with HP’s own products. Therefore, OpenNFV Program offers carriers an unbiased choice, says Schaefer. “The overall aim of our OpenNFV program is to accelerate the adoption of NFV,” he says.

Dell has also recently announced its first NFV platform, which is built around Dell servers, storage, networking and software. Rather than validating specific software for use with the platform, Dell lets vendors step forward, and is open to working with those who want to deliver software using Dell systems.

Two starter kits have been announced by Dell. Along with the Dell NFV platform, they are available worldwide through the company and local sales channels. The starter packs are targeted at service providers who want to experiment with NFV before adopting it.

“The goal of the platform is to be able to accept as many different combinatins as possible that would sit north of this infrastrucutre platform offer,” says Jeffrey Baher, head of product and solutions marketing for Dell Networking.