Network interoperability plays an important role in the telecommunication industry with the emergence of NFV and SDN. Here, NFV stands for Network Functions Virtualization and SDN stands for Software-Defined Network. These technologies have unrestricted customers from vendor lock-in by interchanging proprietary hardware along with open source software that allows companies to cooperate, differentiate themselves as well as provide new services. Hence, major telecommunication operators have included interoperability as well as openness to generate a more malleable communications network.
Interoperability – Overview
The main concept behind interoperability is the ability for two or more than two networks, systems, devices, apps, or components to communicate. In the telecommunications industry, interoperability can be defined as the interworking of telecom services over several vendors, multi-carrier inter-connections. As networks grow and diversify with the 5G and IoT era on the horizon, it is essential they can interoperate in order to enable end-to-end communication.
Benefits of Network Interoperability
There are several benefits of interoperability. If network interoperability is achieved, users can interact with several devices via an individual terminal on the fly. In addition, without being locked into a specific vendor, the operators of the network can select equipment from several manufacturers based on prices and performance. By the same token, manufacturers can sell the same equipment to several operators with interoperable networks.
Ways to Achieve Network Interoperability
Devices can interoperate with other devices in two ways – either by following a common protocol standard, enduring by a published interface standard or situating a gateway between them to translate all devices’ protocol. These standards serve as a recipe for engineers as well as manufacturers that note all important ingredients to bake interoperability into different systems and products.
Developing these standards is not an easy process. Instead, it is the result of different organizations as well as institutes to work together through tests as well as trials. There are so many organizations that host a Network Functions Virtualization Plugtest event that offer an outlet for vendors and open source community representatives in order to assess the level of interoperability of their implementation. It ensures that they abide by Network Functions Virtualization features presently being defined by these organizations.