Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is well on its way to widespread adoption. Recent research predicts carrier NFV investments top $37 billion in 2021 and have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30 percent between 2016 and 2021. North America is forecast to lead the way, accumulating $13 billion in NFV-related investments during 2022, while Europe is anticipated to see growth rates around 53 percent CAGR between 2017 and 2022.
NFV holds tremendous promise for early adopters who look to reap important advantages such as reductions in network CapEx and OpEx, as well as gaining greater service agility and the ability to speed up deployment times of innovative new network elements.
With the advent of 5G, operators are increasingly focusing on facilitating greater efficiencies – which NFV is well suited to support. An important subset of the move to NFV will be Media Function Virtualization (MFV), which will be critical for more effective allocation of network resources during peak video usage.
As 5G advances, Communication Service Providers (CSPs) are expected to place a greater emphasis on capacity. Due to steady advances in millimeter-wave propagation,
CSPs are also placing a larger focus on fixed-wireless access. At the same time, in response to low-latency needs with 5G, operators are looking at mobile-edge computing to achieve desired objectives.
In addition, CSPs are increasingly focusing on B2C and B2B implementations of Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT). NETSCOUT believes network slicing will prove to be an important influence, allowing IoT to deliver on future expectations.
Of course, with all of these new business models, network and service assurance will be absolutely imperative to achieve success. When it comes to service, NETSCOUT is the industry leader, turning real-time network data into actionable insights that allow operators to improve network performance and ultimately, the quality of the user experience.
This blog is based on the article, We’re getting closer to the NFV promised land published on Telecoms.com.