Five years ago, very few telecom suppliers recognized that network software running on dedicated hardware would need to be redesigned to run well in a cloud environment; or that porting monolithic software onto virtual machines would fail to reap the full benefits of Network Functions Virtualization (NFV). Metaswitch was one of the few software vendors that understood all this back then, and that foresight is paying off today.

When we designed our Clearwater Core virtual IMS solution, we built it for the cloud. We started from scratch and applied cloud native design principles to create the IMS solution. Our efforts started before the world’s leading operators signed up to the NFV initiative and, admittedly, there were some in the industry who thought we were crazy to virtualize and open source our IMS solution. Today, Clearwater vIMS is among a small number of truly cloud native virtual network functions (VNFs) communications service providers (CSPs) can deploy.

We’ve been evangelizing and sharing our knowledge about cloud native software design for a few years now, as regular readers of our blog will know. Here’s a brief history of Metaswitch’s cloud native story as told through our blogs:

• Cloud Native is a Hot Topic: CTO Martin Taylor recounted how cloud native emerged as one of the key themes at the SDN World Congress in 2016. Cloud native was going mainstream.
• The Application of Cloud Native Design Principles to Network Functions Virtualization: Taylor’s definitive cloud native white paper staked out our position as the leading cloud native software provider.
• Breakthrough Economics: How CSPs Can Bank on Cloud Native VNFs: It’s not just about clever software engineering. Cloud native VNFs use hardware resources so efficiently that they can deliver 20 times reductions in hardware cost per bit compared to traditional network equipment installations. That’s what we call breakthrough economics!
• What Does "Cloud Native" Mean? and How Cloud Native is Your Virtual Network Function?: As more companies started to make cloud native claims, muddying the definition, it was time to set the record straight on what it really means. We know it takes years to develop cloud native software, because we’ve done it.
• Clearwater Core Proves Cloud Native Capabilities in Deutsche Telekom PoC: More recently, Deutsche Telekom took our cloud native software for a spin in a Network Data Layer (NDL) Proof of Concept. Andreas Hörnes, Senior Core Network Architect at Deutsche Telekom stated: “Metaswitch’s cloud native implementations of Clearwater Core and SAS allowed rapid and smooth integration with a third party NDL system while providing excellent responsiveness, flexibility and robustness.”

That’s just a sampling of our writings on cloud native software. For more details and resources, check out the cloud native entries on the blog.