What is a VNF?

Transitioning to a virtualized world

As the industry transitions from a dedicated, proprietary hardware-based network model to the new world of virtualized services, the same network functions (routing, switching, Carrier Ethernet access, etc.) are still very much needed.

Software Run on Standard Servers

In a virtualized environment, a virtual network function means that a company has taken the software that actually performs a specific function, abstracted it from their own hardware, and packaged it to run on any standard server. The software package that performs a specific function is generally what people are referring to when they say VNF.

From a dedicated, proprietary hardware-based network model to the new world of virtualized services ...

Decoupling software from hardware

The primary goal for NFV is to decouple software implementations of network functions from the compute, storage, and networking resources in the network.