With both vendors and operators demanding an test environment for NFV/SDN deployments, CableLabs' for-profit subsidiary Kyrio is set to launch a new interop lab at its Louisville, Colo. headquarters next month.
"It's not realistic for any one vendor to acquire all the hardware and software solutions that are available and test it in their own lab," said Mitch Ashley, president and general manage of CableLabs' three-year-old for-profit, security-focused spin-off subsidiary, which was rebranded as Kyrio in early-February.
"Vendors no longer work in a world in which they control all the hardware and software," Ashley added, speaking to FierceInstaller. "This is a lab where both hardware and software vendors can bring their products, not jus for a day or week, and test them across multiple vendor platforms for cross-vendor interoperability."
Ashley said the cable industry is in the early days of NFV and SDN. Evolving the technology to the next stage will require overcoming the challenge of interoperability in a paradigm that is increasingly ruled by the compatibility of different software.
"CableLabs and the cable industry are very focused on SDN/NFV," said CableLabs President and CEO Phil McKinney, speaking at the NFV World Congress in San Jose, Calif. last week, an event covered by Light Reading. "It's part of our core strategies for driving agility, speed and responsiveness for introducing new applications. I can tell you right now, with every conversation I have with the CTOs of the cable vendors, this is not a question of if, it's a question of when."
The lab will be an independent non-profit operation. It will run on the sandbox model, with any company able to come in and test their products.
For more:
- read this Kyrio blog post
- read this Light Reading story
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