ETSI Blog

New release: Data models for resource templates to foster interoperability between VIMs and NFVOs/VNFMs

2020-08-19 Posted by Hiroshi Dempo, ETSI GS NFV-SOL 014 rapporteur, NEC 8414 Hits

The ETSI NFV Industry Specification Group (ISG) has completed the initial release of ETSI GS NFV-SOL 014 titled "YAML data model specification for descriptor-based virtualised resource management". The specification focuses on a set of YAML-based data models used between NFVO and VIM (Or-Vi reference point), and also between VNFM and VIM (Vi-Vnfm reference point) for exchanging information on virtualised resources and their management. The work item and resulting document addresses specification gaps in the area of virtualised resource management and aim at enhancing the integration and interoperability of VNFM and NFVO with VIM solutions.

imageNFVblogSOL14 Medium

In the ETSI NFV specifications, interfaces and information models for the Or-Vi and Vi-Vnfm reference points have been specified in ETSI GS NFV-IFA 005 and ETSI GS NFV-IFA 006 respectively. Based on those specifications, the objective of ETSI GS NFV-SOL 014 is to define a set of YAML-based data models for representing information exchanged over these reference points as input and outputs to perform virtualised resource management. The descriptor-based virtualised resource management assumes a type of VIM which supports templates declaring parameters, requirements, lifecycle and composition of sets of virtualised resources.

End-To-End Management and Orchestration procedures: The ultimate step towards interoperability (Publication of SOL016 – MANO Stage 3 procedures)

2020-08-19 Posted by Rajavarma Bhyrraju, WG IFA Vice Chair 13392 Hits

Following intense technical work, ETSI NFV has just released ETSI GS NFV-SOL 016, the first stage 3 specification of NFV-MANO procedures in NFV Release 2 addressing interactions across several NFV-MANO functional blocks and/or interfaces. This specification builds on the ETSI NFV-MANO API specifications ETSI GS NFV-SOL 005, ETSI GS NFV-SOL 003 and ETSI GS NFV-SOL 002 which have defined the mandatory and optional operations and data attributes per individual NFV-MANO interface. As these specifications are focusing on individual interfaces, it is left up to the operator or the integrator to stitch together the information across different NFV-MANO interfaces to realize the NFV-MANO procedures involving interactions across several NFV-MANO functional blocks and/or interfaces, also referred to as end-to-end procedures. This might lead to various interpretations of how the end-to-end NFV-MANO procedures should work. ETSI GS NFV-SOL 016 defines procedures for selected key NFV-MANO procedures with the target to improve interoperability end-to-end.

labyrinthblogNFV

Convergence in the MEC ecosystem

2020-08-19 Posted by Alex Reznik, Chair of MEC ISG 7522 Hits

I’ve been looking over some of my previous entries lately and noticed how many were touching on the subject of interaction between ETSI MEC and other standard and open source bodies. The subject is indeed still one of significant interest and the question about “fragmentation” and “competition” is one that comes up much too frequently.

Those of you who’ve read some of my previous musings on this subject might recall my position on this subject. Standards and open source serve very different functions: standards ensure interoperability between components where it may be necessary and open source provides implementations of such components. As such, the two types of bodies are highly complementary. Moreover, I’ve also maintained that even in the standards space itself little duplication of effort exists around MEC.   Alas, hard evidence to support my view was previously missing – but that is changing fast.

Mitigating the Cybersecurity Threats Which e-Voting Faces

2020-07-10 Posted by Tony Rutkowski, e-Voting Cybersecurity Group Technical Lead, ETSI 5291 Hits

Over the past few decades, many different kinds of electronic voting systems have emerged to assist elections workers and voters in making elections systems easier and faster.  Trusted, paper-based voting system modules for keeping pollbooks, authenticating voters, receiving elections notices and ballots, and casting and counting them have been in many places around the world been augmented with computer-based systems. In a few places, some experiments with network-based balloting have also occurred.

The experiences with these electronic augmentations have also revealed their substantial vulnerabilities and attack vectors that place the integrity of voting systems at risk, and a newfound realization that paper-based systems have enduring value. The ETSI e-Voting cybersecurity work item is intended to develop a framework for understanding and assessing the use of these electronic augments, the associated treats and risks, and provide best-practice guidelines for reducing those risks. A common consensus at the outset is that significant, enduring risks and corruptibility of network based or connected e-Voting exist, and its use should not be encouraged for anything with legal significance. 

New work on Reactive In-situ flow information Telemetry

2020-07-06 Posted by Dr Ray Forbes, ETSI ISG ENI Chair 6357 Hits

The ENI#14 online meeting took place on 22-25 June 2020.

The meeting was very productive and achieved significant progress with 2nd release drafts.

An open area was approved, for all stable drafts and previously published deliverables. The meeting continued drafting within the work items for the next versions on ENI use cases, requirements and Terminology for Release 2.

  • Significant progress was made on the learning techniques and the definition of autonomy for AI in ENI 005 work-item RGS/ENI-0016.
  • The meeting progressed the work-items drafting on the deliverable of Draft GR ENI 008 on Intent Aware Network Autonomicity.
  • Draft GR ENI 009 on Data Processing mechanisms was well progressed in the aspects of data format, data sharing, data management, network telemetry and resource telemetry, etc.
  • Major progress on the evaluation of categories Draft GR ENI 010 was made discussing a five-dimensional system of quantification of the Classes published last year in GR ENI 007.
  • The Draft ES 011 work-item DGS/ENI-0021 on mapping to 3GPP and ONAP was progressed.
  • A new work item (ENI-0022) on In-situ flow information Telemetry (iFIT) Framework was started: Initial draft with skeleton was approved as WI baseline V0.0.1, Key concepts/terminology were approved.

The meeting also approved to send a Liaison Statement to 3GPP S2 & S5 to build a liaison relationship. The LS introduced ETSI Industry Specification Group ENI’s work and asked for further collaboration highlighting ENI 001, ENI 005 and ENI 011.

TC INT working group INT AFI published White Paper in frame of 5G PoC Project

2020-06-16 Posted by Dr. Tayeb Ben Meriem (Orange), Dr. Muslim Elkotob (Vodafone) 5580 Hits

The 5G Proof of Concept (PoC) Project of ETSI WG TC INT AFI published its White Paper #6 “Generic Framework for Multi-Domain Federated ETSI GANA Knowledge Planes (KPs) for End-to-End Autonomic (Closed-Loop) Security Management & Control for 5G Networks/Services”.

Rationale

The 5G PoC White Paper #6 has now been published, and its purpose is to lay the groundwork for the standardization of “A Generic Framework for Multi-Domain Federated ETSI GANA (Generic Autonomic Network Architecture) Knowledge Planes (KPs) for End-to-End Autonomic (Closed-Loop) Security Management & Control for 5G Networks/Services”.

The White Paper is accessible for download via the INT Wiki.

ETSI TC INT has established that E2E Autonomic (Closed-Loop) Service and Security Assurance shall be achievable through the Federation of GANA Knowledge Planes (KPs) (as Platforms) that implement components for Autonomic Management and Control (AMC) intelligence for specific network segments and domains. While such an E2E Federation of KP Platforms for multiple network segments (as domains) has to be primarily considered within a single network operator administrative domain, the E2E Federation of KPs may be extended to even span multiple network operator or enterprise network administrative domains.

TC INT and TC MTS published White Paper on Testing of AI and AI in Test Systems

2020-04-28 Posted by Tayeb Ben Meriem (TC INT), Andreas Ulrich (TC MTS) 5490 Hits

5G PoC White Paper: AI in Test Systems, Testing AI Models and ETSI GANA Model's Cognitive Decision Elements (DEs)

Rationale

The purpose of this 5G Proof of Concept (PoC) White paper #5, is to lay the groundwork of the standardization that has been jointly launched recently in ETSI by TC INT and TC MTS with the support of the Centre of Testing and Interoperability (CTI) on the topic of “Testing of AI and AI in Testing Systems” that will address the various aspects linked to this topic through the development of ETSI assets such as specifications to be used by the industry.

These specifications will include the definition of metrics pertaining to specific classes of AI models that can be targeted for testing and assessment, for such metrics definitions are currently missing in the work being done in the various standardization groups.

Moreover, the specifications will close a gap also identified in the 5G PoC White Paper #5 on the need for a “Test & Certification Framework for AI Models in AMC” (Autonomic Management & Control) to support the Industry in implementing and achieving Multi-Layer AMC for Autonomous Networks being specified by ETSI and other Standards Development Organizations (SDOs) / Fora.

It is noticeable that the framework being proposed by ETSI TC INT is aligned with the European Commission’s White Paper, published on 19 February 2020, on “Artificial Intelligence: a European approach to excellence and trust” that emphasizes the need for:

  1. A Regulatory Framework
  2. The Creation of an AI Testing Center, and
  3. The Creation of a Certification Center

Looking at the topic of “Testing of AI and AI in Test Systems” as a journey, ETSI TC INT has identified, already in 2015, the need for a Test & Certification Framework for Adaptive Networks and their Associated Autonomic Functions using AI Components and published, in 2016, EG 203 341 “Approaches for Testing Adaptive Networks” to anticipate and prepare the Industry’s readiness in implementing Multi-Layer Autonomic (AMC) frameworks for evolving and future networks. 

ENI#13 Progressing Release 2 and ETSI / ITU-T workshop “ENI-Machine Learning in communication networks”

2020-03-31 Posted by Dr Ray Forbes, ETSI ISG ENI Chair 7232 Hits

Due to confinement and travel restrictions, the ENI#13 meeting was successfully organized online only on 17-20 March 2020.

  • 32 were present including 8 operators
  • 4/5 Government Ministry Institutes are members: China, Japan and South Korea
  • 133 documents were handled

A workshop “ENI-Machine Learning in communication networks” was organized on 16 March between two ETSI ISGs, namely ENI and SAI (Securing AI), and ITU-T’s Q20/13 and FG ML5G “Machine Language 5th Generation”, on AI/ML. This workshop was instrumental in enabling synergies between ETSI and the ITU-T in this field and to better understand the needs of industry. ETSI ISG ENI will send the template of ENI Use Cases to the ITU-T groups by liaison for their reference in future work.

As for the meeting, it was very productive and achieved significant progress. After the publication of the approved ENI 006 PoC framework revision, all PoCs will be required to show interworking on an external reference point. The meeting also progressed on the draft reports GR ENI 008 on Intent Aware Network Autonomicity and GR ENI 009 on Data Processing mechanisms. Major progress on the evaluation of categories in Draft GR ENI 010 was made discussing a five dimensional system of quantification of the Classes published last year in GR ENI 007.

Significant progress was made on the learning techniques for AI in the ongoing revision of ENI 005. An open area was also approved for all stable drafts and previously published deliverables. Attendees continued drafting revisions of the next versions on ENI use cases, requirements and Terminology for Release 2.
In addition, we started working on Evaluation of the AI Network Configuration and Mapping of operational systems to ENI architecture. ISG ENI is now progressing into the 2nd Release.

Steady progress on Release 3 and Release 4 work

2020-03-16 Posted by Joan Triay (ISG NFV Technical Manager, DOCOMO Euro-Labs) 9538 Hits

The ETSI NFV community met for its twenty ninth plenary meeting (NFV#29) from 17 to 21 February at the Home of NFV, ETSI Headquarters, in Sophia-Antipolis, France. This time, the plenary meeting took place amidst the unfortunate situation, the Coronavirus outbreak that has hit so many countries and seriously impacted standardization work, and life in general almost worldwide. Consequently, some of our delegates were not able to travel and attend the meeting physically. Our best wishes to all of you all around the world who have been impacted by the outbreak, "wishing you a good and quick recovery".

Addressing the impact of this outbreak on the handling of the plenary meeting, ETSI provided outstanding support, as usual, by enabling remote access for participants that could not travel. Furthermore, the ISG and working group officials made a very good job of adapting the schedule and working procedures to facilitate the active participation and contributions of the remote delegates. As for those of us that had the opportunity to attend the plenary physically, ETSI had provided a very useful new facility: the delegates participating F2F could check-in for the first time by scanning their meeting QR code using a check-in station in the ETSI lobby. check in

All in all, despite the circumstances, the plenary meeting was once again a success. All working groups made steady progress in most of the work items that are currently being developed as part of the Releases 3 and 4.

ETSI TR 103 626 published - an instantiation & implemention of GANA Model

2020-03-04 Posted by Dr. Tayeb Ben Meriem, ETSI TC INT Vice Chair 6544 Hits

ETSI TC INT has published ETSI TR 103 626 on 17 February 2020. An Instantiation and Implementation of the Generic Autonomic Network Architecture (GANA) Model onto Heterogeneous Wireless Access Technologies using Cognitive Algorithms.

TR 103 626 for Int blog

This Technical Report provides a mapping of architectural components for Autonomic Network Management & Control developed/implemented in the European Commission (EC) funded WiSHFUL and ORCA Projects to the ETSI TC INT AFI Generic Autonomic Networking Architecture (GANA) model - an architectural reference model for autonomic networking, cognitive networking and self-management.

The mapping pertains to architectural components for autonomic decision-making and associated control-loops in wireless network architectures and their associated management and control architectures.

ENI#12 with Proof of Concept Demos, interesting discussions and 110 documents handled

2020-01-20 Posted by Dr Ray Forbes, ETSI ISG ENI Chair 8104 Hits

ETSI hosted ENI#12 meeting and Proof of Concept (PoC) Demos in its headquarters in Sophia Antipolis, France, on 9-12 December 2019. The meeting can be summarized as follows:

  • 34 delegates present F2F out of 41 registered, (Vodafone & NTT participating with email)
  • 7 operators represented, from Asia and Europe
  • 110 documents handled

On 9 & 10 December there were demos of most of the completed and progressing PoCs PoC#1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7. This generated discussions and interest with other ETSI members and participants of meetings in the ETSI HQs at the same week. Especially, delegates from Industry Specification Group (ISG) Zero-touch network and Service Management (ZSM) and Technical Committee (TC) SmartM2M.

ENI12blog 1 ENI12blog 2

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