ABSTRACT
The product risks to user service quality facing virtualized network functions (VNFs) fall into three broad categories: faulty VNF configuration specification risk; residual defect in VNF life cycle management script risk; and residual product defect risk. VNF product risks are considered in the following sections: captured risks; baseline risk context; risk causes; risk controls; and risk treatments. Network element outages and problems have traditionally been factored into three buckets: hardware; software; and procedural. VNF software is expected to properly install with cloud infrastructure, management, and orchestration that fully conform to the VNF's configuration specifications. Product/supplier-attributable failures to properly install and function on supported cloud platforms will be captured as problem reports filed by the cloud service customer (CSC) against the supplier. The likely causes of residual product defect risk for VNFs are fundamentally the same as the risks for physical network function (PNFs).
