ZTE Corporation Picked for China Mobile Open NFV Test Lab

With network functions virtualization (NFV) adding new capability seemingly on a daily basis, it's not surprising that more organizations are getting together to study the effects of this new technology and bring about new developments in the space. China Mobile is right out in front on this one, opening up the Open NFV Test Lab geared toward bringing out new advancements. It's even gone so far as to name its first group of partners, and toward the front of the line is none other than ZTE Corporation.

ZTE is already well known as a mobile technology provider, and has been working in the NFV space as well as in software defined networking (SDN) for some time now, sufficiently so that the company is reportedly calling these key areas of strategic focus. More specifically, reports note that ZTE is working on the research and development of NFV infrastructure, including things like the virtualized core network as well as virtual data centers (VDC) to help users bring these new technologies forward.

Now, ZTE can make a push on NFV with a little extra support, as the China Mobile Research Institute arm of China Mobile put ZTE on the list as part of the first group of partners. Other such partners include firms from a variety of different markets, including vendors of equipment, integration materials, and IT software.

Lv Abin, who serves as vice president of ZTE, offered up some comment around being named to the partners list, saying “ZTE is delighted to participate in the China Mobile Open NFV Test Lab, which will make a major contribution to the global adoption of SDN and NFV technologies. ZTE is committed to innovations in SDN and NFV solutions and values opportunities to deepen our collaboration with other leading developers and providers of the technologies.”

What really jumped out about this development is that it's an entire test lab staged by one of the biggest names in communications, and it's bringing in a wide array of different partners to drive development under that one banner. As noted previously, there's both hardware and software involved in this development, and that really opens up the field for development possibilities. A development shop that didn't have sufficient background in hardware might have developed software that didn't run well on devices, and the opposite scenario might have ended in software that wasn't sufficiently user-friendly. But with all sides of the technology equation in play, that makes the whole thing more well-rounded, and thus more likely to find value.

While we'll probably have quite a wait to see what the China Mobile Open NFV Test Lab brings out for its user base, the advancements made here will likely spark further growth in other regions, and help bring NFV to its due prominence.