- Linux Foundation’s Nephio project sees 40% yearly increase in contributors, enhancing cloud native network implementation.
- Nephio Release 2 builds upon the success of Release 1, offering enhanced multi-vendor, multi-cloud, and additional cloud native automation capabilities across Cloud, RAN and Packet core domains.
- R2 further builds on cloud native intent-based automation using Kubernetes, boosting telecom network deployment and efficiency.
SAN FRANCISCO – February 22, 2024 – Project Nephio, an open source initiative of partners across the telecommunications industry working towards true cloud native automation announced the availability of its Release 2 (R2). Project Nephio is a graduated project under the Linux Foundation Networking. Nephio R2 introduces significant improvements in the deployment, life cycle management, and scaling of telecom cloud infrastructure and network functions, leveraging advanced Kubernetes cloud native technologies and intent-based automation.
Established in 2022 as a collaborative project between the Linux Foundation, Google Cloud, and other industry partners, Nephio delivers carrier-grade, simple, open, Kubernetes-based cloud native intent automation and common automation templates that materially simplify the deployment and management of multi-vendor cloud infrastructure and network functions across large-scale edge deployments. It brings zero-touch provisioning of cloud infrastructure and network functions, which can offer increased network availability and resiliency while reducing maintenance downtime.
“Nephio’s growth and continued advancements in enabling telecoms to reach true cloud native automation is astounding,” said Arpit Joshipura, general manager, Networking, Edge, and IoT at the Linux Foundation. “The success of R1 last year provided a strong foundation for even more improvements in efficiency and scalability that’s available in R2. We are eager to see more deployments as organizations embrace open source to more fully automate their networks.”
Building on the core automation of Nephio Release 1, Nephio R2 advances with a focus on automating Radio Access Network (RAN) and multi-cloud automation framework. The new release introduces Kubernetes-based cloud native intent automation and new templates, simplifying deployment and management of multi-vendor cloud infrastructure. Emphasizing zero-touch provisioning, R2 aims to enhance network availability and resilience, reducing downtime. R2 further extends Release 1‘s foundation, addressing telecom network complexities and enhancing efficiency, particularly in RAN automation.
To accommodate Nephio’s rapid growth and innovation, the community has created “nephio-experimental” projects to quickly test out additional use cases and technology that allows for clear differentiation between stable, supported code and experimental developments. This strategic initiative ensures that the main Nephio code base remains streamlined and trustworthy, fostering a framework that is conducive to rapid growth and pioneering innovation within the community. Additionally, a Security Special Interest Group (SIG) has been formed, and the community is collaborating with OpenSSF to provide enhanced open source security best practices.
“The Nephio community’s swift journey from concept to multiple releases, coupled with extensive vendor product integration and accelerating telecom adoption, is a remarkable achievement. Nephio’s intent-based automation represents a fundamental shift in infrastructure management, unlocking the potential for AI-driven innovation” said Kandan Kathirvel, TSC chair, Nephio
Release 2 Highlights:
- Strengthened interoperability with enhanced multi-vendor and multi-cloud support for flexible telecom solutions.
- Expanded end-to-end cloud native automation with OpenAirInterface (OAI) 5G core and RAN components
- Integration with the latest release of Porch, ensuring improved stability and security in deployments.
New Feature Details:
- Introduction of API changes for better customization and efficiency.
- Improvements to the sandbox environment and expanded support for Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and OpenShift.
- Deployment of OAI 5G core and RAN (CU and DU) NFs via Python-based operators.
- Enhanced stability and security in deployments, alongside repository watcher changes with Porch integration.
- Improved methods for documentation generation, offering clearer guidance.
- Experimental features such as the Nephio SDK, flux-based deployment of Helm charts, Helm-to-operator converter, and a topology controller with a northbound API.
More information on the R2 release can be found in the documentation.
Since its launch in April 2022 in partnership with Google Cloud, cloud, telecom and network function providers have embraced Nephio by expanding the seed code provided by Google Cloud to deliver R2 and R1. The community is further committed to enhance Nephio with additional use cases in future releases.
Attend ONE Summit
Join Nephio at the ONE Summit 2024 in San Jose from April 29 to May 1, to explore the forefront of cloud native networking. As a key project under LF Networking, Nephio is featured on the event agenda, sharing insights on 5G core management, Gen AI integration, autonomous network orchestration, and more. ONE Summit, organized by LF Networking, is a prime opportunity for learning about advancements in AI, open innovation, network security, and real-world applications in telecom and edge computing. Register now and be part of this industry-leading event.
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About the Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is the organization of choice for the world’s top developers and companies to build ecosystems that accelerate open technology development and industry adoption. Together with the worldwide open source community, it is solving the hardest technology problems by creating the largest shared technology investment in history. Founded in 2000, The Linux Foundation today provides tools, training and events to scale any open source project, which together deliver an economic impact not achievable by any one company. More information can be found at www.linuxfoundation.org. The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see our trademark usage page: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.
Nephio R2: Supporting Quotes
Member support:
Ericsson
“The complexity and dynamic nature of cloud-native 5G networks drives the need for simplified, harmonized management and automation. Nephio’s use of Kubernetes as a uniform automation control plane and the configuration-as-data pattern is a compelling approach which has the potential to level-up the management domain. It is encouraging to see further development of Nephio’s capability and flexibility with another release, and Ericsson are looking forward to continue working with this vibrant community to drive open standards such as O-RAN and the development of robust, production-grade open source software,” said Anders Vestergren, head of Solution Area Network Management at Ericsson.
F5
“Nephio R2 introduces essential advancements such as multi-vendor cloud support and comprehensive orchestration for multi-vendor 5G networks,” said Ahmed Guetari, VP and GM for service providers at F5. “Leveraging Nephio’s vendor-neutral platform capabilities, F5 can seamlessly integrate vRAN and 5G Core functionalities, offering telcos unparalleled flexibility and efficiency. This brings us a stride nearer to automating multi-vendor and distributed cloud infrastructures, along with large-scale NF orchestration, all while adhering to cloud-native principles.”
“Nephio continues to experience remarkable industry-wide support, as evidenced by the successful launch of R2. We’re thrilled to see the Nephio community’s dedication driving rapid growth in vendor integrations and telecom adoption. Nephio is built upon Google Cloud’s proven fundamentals in intent-based automation, scalable distributed actions, unified framework, and extensibility. These principles form the bedrock of modern network automation,” said Ankur Jain, vice president, Google Distributed Cloud Engineering and Cloud’s Telco Industry.
Nokia
“With Nephio R2, we now have a standardized approach to deploying and managing cloud-native network functions including 5G RAN and core applications, in complex multi-vendor, multi-cloud environments. By simplifying and streamlining resource management across compute, storage and networking, all powered by Kubernetes, the industry now has a path to achieving the true business benefits of cloud-based networks through cloud-native automation,” said Vach Kompella, senior vice president and general manager of IP Networks business at Nokia.
Orange
“Orange is thrilled with the progress made by Nephio, which has successfully demonstrated the potential of Kubernetes intent-based networking in deploying a complete 5G network, including O-RAN components. This achievement marks a significant milestone in the evolution of cloud native automation and perfectly demonstrates the GitOps model as proposed in the NGMN cloud native manifesto.Orange is excited to work with this brilliant eco-system to move forward towards a full stack network function lifecycle management including underlying infrastructure such as cloud native telco project Sylva.” said Philippe Ensarguet, VP software engineering at Orange Innovation.
Red Hat
Bala Varadaraju, Red Hat engineering manager and SIG release chair said, “Nephio’s first release showcased open, intentional and cloud native orchestration principles. Nephio Release 2 continues to live by those principles while supporting Open Air Interface workloads in both 5G core and RAN domains. Collaborating with service providers, vendors and other open source communities such as OAI and OSC exemplifies how powerful open innovation can be in the telco space.”
TELUS
“TELUS is thrilled to be at the forefront of the telco industry, driving open-source innovation through our contributions to Project Nephio and the Linux Foundation. As we embrace cloud-native technologies, we stand firmly behind the adoption of Nephio alongside our industry partners, advocating for greater openness and collaboration across the industry,” said Nazim Benhadid, CTO at TELUS. “Nephio Release 2 is a significant milestone, enabling intent-based automation of 5G core and Open RAN components alongside operator SDKs. The potential of Nephio to achieve automation using intrinsic Kubernetes patterns is truly promising, paving the way for projects like Sylva and the advancement of Open RAN. TELUS’ continuous support for Nephio reflects our dedication to simplifying and reimagining our customers’ digital future, connecting them to what matters most.”
TIM
“Nephio project has provided an innovative pattern for orchestration systems that deserves attention because it may represent a jump ahead in terms of agility in satisfying customer requests for new services and operational costs. Nephio inspired new activities streams we are working on to explore its benefits by building internally an orchestrator based on the same principles and exploiting some parts of its wherever possible. We also count to contribute to the Nephio project with those components that may contribute to accelerate Nephio maturity”.
Additional Support
Accuknox
“Nephio’s foundational elements involving k8s native design patterns are further solidified with its R2 release. R2 release not only enables automation simplicity but also improves the non-functional aspects such as security, test coverage, logging implementation, and new platform support. Nephio’s future releases are in a unique position to leverage these foundational elements for telecom domain implementations and in general to improve its implementation velocity. Nephio’s goal is to improve its security architecture and to ensure that the best practice security guidelines are followed as part of out of the box deployment by its formation of SIG-Security group. Great teamwork across multiple Nephio SIGs to achieve R2 release! On to the next one,” said Rahul Jadhav, CTO and co-founder at AccuKnox & Security SIG Chair for Nephio.
Samsung
“As telecom deployments shift towards Cloud-Native Functions(CNF), we believe Nephio offers a strong potential to operators in the area of management & orchestration of services. In R2, we focused on leveraging our strong expertise in open source and RAN to enable the key feature of RAN Automation in Nephio. We also led the release process, updating the End-to-End testing framework and resolving integration issues. By contributing the Helm to Operator SDK, we have enabled orchestration of helm based NFs into the Nephio Framework. Overall, we are proud to have played a pivotal role in the success of R2 release, we will continue to collaborate with the community for the success of Nephio for network service management and orchestration at scale,” said Dr. Daniel Park, head of open source group, Samsung Research.
