The Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), which builds sustainable ecosystems for cloud native software, announced the Cloud Native Network Function (CNF) Certification Program. The CNF Certification Program will help Communication Service Providers (CSPs) and other telecommunications organizations identify which Network Equipment Providers (NEPs) follow cloud native best practices.
CNFs are applications that implement or facilitate network functionality in a cloud native way. CSPs and other telecom organizations are migrating away from traditional Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) toward CNFs and Kubernetes-based infrastructures that provide service reliability while lowering capital and operating expenses and encouraging cross-cloud compatibility. The program will enable NEPs and CNF creators to demonstrate the adoption of cloud native best practices in their networking products.
“Moving to cloud native infrastructures has long been difficult for telecom providers who have transitioned to VNFs and found themselves with siloed resources and specialized solutions not built for the cloud,” said Priyanka Sharma, executive director of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation. “The CNF Certification program is designed to fill this gap by creating solutions optimized for cloud native environments. Some of the world’s largest telecom organizations, including Huawei, Nokia, T-Mobile, and Vodafone, already use Kubernetes and other cloud native technologies, and this program will make it easier for others to do the same.”
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The CNF Certification Program runs on CNCF’s CNF Test Suite and supports any product that runs in a certified Kubernetes environment. The CNF Test Suite is an open source test suite for telcos to validate how well they are following cloud native principles and best practices, like immutable infrastructure and declarative APIs. It leverages 10 CNCF-hosted projects and several open source tools, including Fluentd, Helm, Jaeger, and Prometheus. Currently, the CNF Test Suite can run approximately 70 workload tests, which are segmented into seven different categories, including:
- Compatibility, Installability & Upgradability
- Microservice
- State
- Reliability, Resilience & Availability
- Observability & Diagnostics
- Security
- Configuration
To get started, NEPs and CNF creators can self verify an application using the CNF Test Suite and submit results via pull request. Organizations that may not be ready to submit their results can still get started with the CNF Test Suite and use it to improve the “cloud-nativeness” in their products. CNFs that pass the CNF Certification will be considered ‘Certified,’ with more advanced levels to come as the program expands.
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