By Heather Kirksey, VP, Community & Ecosystem
Transform. Innovate. Collaborate.
That’s the theme of the day here at LFN, and we’re super excited to be sharing some community updates based on some of the great work being done through LFN.
First up, I’m very excited to relaunch our updated and renamed compliance and verification program: “Anuket Assured!” Digital transformation is complex, and Anuket Assured aims to reduce the time to revenue and improve interoperability through testing of both VM and container-based infrastructure platforms and eventually CNFs based on service provider requirements. Building on the confluence of reference model, architecture definitions, reference implementations, and testing created by Anuket’s launch earlier this year, Anuket Assured can reduce costs and the risks associated with new digital services. The program also looks forward to further collaboration with ONAP as well as CNCF on CNF testing in particular to ensure that the cloud native innovation journey is as seamless as possible for the communications ecosystem.
We are actively engaged with the first cohort to go through the redesigned program, and it’s not too late for you to join in. Whether you’re a service provider hoping to ease your on-boarding time, or a supplier looking to demonstrate your commitment to faster and higher quality deployment, get involved with Anuket Assured today!
Next, I am incredibly proud to showcase the current iteration of the 5G Super Blue Print.. What started as an integration demo for a basic residential broadband use case five short years ago has now evolved into a framework for creating collaborative, end-to-end solutions for 5G networks. This version builds upon our previous work on cloud native infrastructure and service on-boarding to explore and implement an end-to-end network slicing use case. Network slicing is a key element for tailoring the 5G network for specific enterprise vertical use cases, and it also sets the stage for full private mobile networking and eventual integration with the (I)IOT networks at the Edge. The work on this demo truly broke new technology ground, integrating ONAP with a real live network core and provisioning a live network slice from the back-end out to the radio.
If you missed the live demo during the keynote, it’s not too late to check it out at the Linux Foundation Demo Pavilion, which is accessible with any ONE Summit registration, or watch the video on our YouTube playlist. You can also check out the really cool behind-the-scenes video for a quick tour of how it came together with one of the key developers:
When we say that this has been a collaborative effort, we truly mean it. The work involved nine key open source projects, ten companies and forty-two individual participants. If you’d like to be amongst those helping us forge the next generations of this key innovative effort, please get involved. It’s a chance to learn key technologies with fellow travelers at the cutting edge of what the network can do.
Looking ahead, the entire LFN team is working hard to scale up our cross-community collaboration efforts even further. We are working on updates to our main LF Networking website to showcase these efforts as well as give some guidance to anyone looking to collaborate beyond the bounds of their own organization, whether that’s with LFN, standards bodies, or projects across the LF universe. As part of that we will be publishing two white papers on cross-community collaboration, with a special focus on how we work with standards bodies, from both a legal and relationship perspective. These will provide a refreshed and updated look at the integral ties we have with standards organizations and how to collectively structure those partnerships to foster scalable solutions for the ecosystem. Stay tuned for more info on the white papers!
What’s Next?
We are just getting started with the next chapter, and can’t wait to see what’s around the corner. If it’s not obvious, I can’t wait to work with each of you to take this forward. On the Anuket Assured side, we want to take our current program even further into the realm of CNF testing in conjunction with the CNCF CNF SIG, and we want to give some more guidance on how to use Anuket tools and processes to improve testing around topics like performance and benchmarking.
On the 5G Super Blueprint side, in addition to what I outline above, we’re also working to integrate the great new Magma open source core project, introducing physical radio, building more tangible integrations with LF Edge, and bring in open source RAN from ORAN SC (RAN is so hot right now). We can’t do this without *your* involvement.
Anyone is welcome to join in these efforts! For more information, check the links below or send an email to info@lfnetworking.org.
See below for additional resources:
LF Demo Pavilion at ONE Summit
